Walking Lunges
Primary Muscle Group: Quadriceps, Glutes, Hamstrings
Secondary Muscle Group: Vastus Medialis Obliquus (VMO) Soleus and Gastrocnemius
Equipment Needed: Dumbbells or Weights are optional
The Benefits of Walking Lunges
The walking lunge is a variation of the standard lunge that works your glutes, hamstrings, and quads. Walking lunges also make for a great active stretch of the hip flexors, so incorporate them into your warmup or cool down.
You can increase the difficulty of walking lunges by holding dumbbells or weighted plates. This makes it a popular and versatile exercise and great for all fitness levels.
If you are looking for ways to get in fit and incorporate Lunges into one of your workouts then you should check out our Free Workout Plans and our Premium Workout Plans.
If you are looking for other exercises that are the best for building muscle or wanting to lose body fat then you should check our Free Workout Plan or our Workout Plans With Coaching for professionally designed workout plans that have been proven to get results.
The Risks of doing Walking Lunges
When doing walking lunge it’s important to keep your balance and remain upright by keeping your abdominal muscles tight. You need to avoid letting your knee cave inwards or outwards as this will put an unnatural movement on the knee joint causing you an injury. This type of injury could make you not able to exercise for a few months so make sure you keep control of every rep. So before giving walking lunges a go, here's exactly how to do them without risking pain or injury.
How To Do Walking Lunges
1. Stand upright, feet together, and take a controlled step forward with your right leg, lowering your hips toward the floor by bending both knees to 90-degree angles.
2. The back knee should point toward but not touch the ground, and your front knee should be directly over the ankle.
3. Press your right heel into the ground, and push off with your left foot to bring your left leg forward, stepping with control into a lunge on the other side. This completes two reps.
For Perfect Technique
Keep your back straight by having your abdominal muscles tight at all times.
Don’t let your knee go past your toes.
For best results, Keep the exercise slow and controlled so that you really make the muscles work hard.
Variations
Once you have mastered the Walking Lunge exercise you can try alternative exercises that target the similar muscle groups such as;
How To Do Wide Leg Squats
1. Take a extra wide stance.
2. Squat down by bending hips back while allowing your knees to bend forward, keeping back straight and knees pointed same direction as feet.
3. Descend until your thighs are just about past parallel to the floor.
4. Extend your knees and hips until legs are straight.
How To Do Side Lunges
1. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointed straight forward.
2. Step out with your right foot as wide as possible and point this toe outwards slightly.
3. Engage through the right heel as you drop your hips down and back while keeping the left leg straight, stretching the groin on the left leg and keeping both soles of the feet on the ground and toes pointed straight forward.
4. Push up off your right heel to bring yourself back to the full standing start position & that’s one rep complete.