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- Movement pattern: Lunge
- Mechanics: Compound
- Force: Push
Main muscles activated
- Stand with feet together, holding a dumbbell in each hand, with your arms by your sides.
- Inhale as you take a large step forward with one leg, landing on your heel first and then lowering your forefoot.
- At the same time, keeping your torso upright, lower your body until the knee of your supporting leg almost touches the floor.
- Exhale as you drive back up with your heel and step back into the starting position.
- Repeat with your opposite leg.
- Keep alternating the leg with which you lunge.
Comments and tips
- Keep your torso upright, and your head, feet, and knees facing forward.
- Keep the dumbbells by your sides or a little behind you, which can help with balance.
- As you lower yourself into a kneeling position, do not allow your front knee to move in front of your toes.
- The larger your lunge, the more emphasis you will place on your gluteus maximus instead of your quadriceps.
- The dumbbell lunge is a very beneficial exercise that helps you to develop balance, coordination, and the unilateral (one-sided) functional strength of your lower body.
- See also the dumbbell forward-leaning lunge and the dumbbell side lunge.
Dumbbell lunge video