Learn How to Do Lunges to Improve Your Strength and Balance

By Marnie Kunz,
Certified trainer and run coach

Learn how to do lunges and step up your fitness level fast. Doing lunges correctly can give you a whole new toolbox of options for lower body strength exercises. Lunges are great for runners to strengthen your glutes and improve balance, which will improve your running form and reduce your risk of running injury. You can try these beginner lunges as well as the standard front lunges, all illustrated in the video. To add intensity to your workout or for intermediate fitness enthusiasts, you can add dumbbells.

Lunge Basics

When you lunge, it’s important to maintain good form. This will help prevent injuries and strain on your knees or back and ensures you’re targeting the right muscle groups.

How to Do Lunges

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do lunges:

Stand with your feet together and chest up, shoulders back.
Step one leg forward and lower your body toward the floor, bending both legs at the knee at about a 45-degree angle.
Lower yourself until your back leg is a few inches from the floor and your front thigh is parallel with the ground. Keep your core engaged.
Push back up to return to your starting position with both feet together. Repeat on the other leg.

Lunge Tips

For lunges, keep your chest up and core muscles engaged. Squeeze your glutes as you raise and lower your body. It’s ok to lean forward a little if you need to for balance. Think of your body as raising and lowering straight up and down.

Your knee should not jut out past your ankle when you bend your front leg. Bent your knee at a 90-degree angle when you lower yourself into the lunge. This helps keep pressure off your knees.

You can place your hands on your hips if this helps you balance. For an advanced twist, hold dumbbells in your hands as you lunge.

You can lean forward slightly as you lunge to place less pressure on the forward knee and increase the glute workouts, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Lunge Benefits

There are many benefits of learning how to do lunges. They are adaptable for all fitness levels and abilities. Lunges are an excellent glute strengthening workout and they also work your quads, hamstrings, calves, hips, and core muscles.

Runners (and most people!) tend to have weak glute muscles, so lunges can help combat this problem. Weak glutes cause strain on other muscles that overcompensate (like the hamstrings) and can lead to running injuries. Strong glutes will help you run faster, improve your balance, and boost your performance in almost any sports or fitness activity.

Lunges also help stabilize your core and engage your ab muscles. Doing lunges also strengthens your hips and you’ll gain more stability as you move your hips up and down for the lunges. A stronger core improves your posture, balance, and running form.

Lunge Modifications

If you have existing knee issues, consult your doctor before doing lunges. The first beginners lunge in the video is the best option for the lowest impact lunges. In this version, you start from a position with one foot forward so you do not step into the lunge, you just lower your body up and down, keeping your feet planted. Back lunges also have less impact on the knees than standard front lunges.

If you are new to lunges or working out, do the first form of lunges in the video, where you keep your feet planted in place and raise and lower your body. Your balance and strength will increase over time and you can move on to the other forms of lunge exercises.

I recommend that runners do lateral (side) lunges as well because these muscles help stabilize us when running and are usually underdeveloped because most people do not do lateral movements (running is in a forward-backward plane).

How Many Lunges to Do

If you’re wondering how many lunges to do, the answer is not the same for everyone. Generally, it’s good to give your body a day of rest between strength training workouts so I recommend doing lunges two to three times a week, especially if you use dumbbells or weights when you do lunges. Also, when you are first starting out, you can do a few lunges with good form and build up to doing 10 to 15 lunges.

Once you can maintain good form, do a set of 10 to 15 lunges and repeat to do a total of three sets of lunges. As you learn how to do lunges, your form will improve and they will get easier. Eventually, you can add dumbbells for more strength training intensity.

Strength Training and Protein Intake

When you add weights to your lunges, especially if you are doing additional weightlifting exercises, make sure you are getting enough protein to refuel and build stronger muscles. The National Academy of Sports Medicine offers these guidelines on how much protein to consume for active adults:

2 to 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight (0.55 - 0.64 grams per pound) for endurance-trained individuals (defined as greater than 10 hours per week of endurance-type training)

4 to 2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight (0.64 - 0.91 grams per pound) for strength-trained individuals.

A good rule of thumb is to have 20 to 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of your strength training workout. This will help your muscle recovery so you gain the full fitness rewards of your lower body workout.

When To Do Lunges

Lunges are a great workout to do on base run days as your body won’t be too tired from a hard workout or speed training. You can do weighted lunges on hard running days but give yourself at least 5 hours of rest after your run before you do your leg workout. Do not do weighted lunges on your rest or recovery days as lunges are a form of strength training, which is considered a hard training workout.

You can also do bodyweight lunges as part of your dynamic warm-up before a speed workout or training run. Add burpees to your lunge routine for a full body calorie-burning, toning workout to complement your running routine.

Related Post: For more glute exercise ideas, check out the 3 Best Glute Exercises to Get Results.

Do you do lunges as part of your workout routine? Which kinds are your favorite? Comment below, and tag @Runstreet on Instagram to share your workout progress, and we’ll cheer you on. Happy sweating to you.😊

Marnie Kunz is a NASM-certified trainer and USATF- and RRCA-certified running coach, a dog lover, an Akita mom, and the founder of Runstreet. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.

How to Do Lunges for Beginners