# Curtsy Lunge: how to do it

- Main muscles: glutes, quads
- Also works: adductors, abductors
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/curtsy_lunge/45f86cfe3c/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, hands on hips.
2. Step one foot back and across, behind your front leg.
3. Lower until your front thigh is nearly level with the floor.
4. Push through your front foot to step back to the start.
5. Repeat on the other side.

## Cues

- Keep your hips and chest facing forward.
- Front knee follows your toes.
- Most of your weight stays on the front foot.

## Common mistakes

- Reaching the back foot too far back.
- Letting the front knee fall inward.
- Twisting your hips open towards the back leg.

## Starting position

Stand tall, feet hip-width apart (foot centre lines 15–20 cm apart), toes straight ahead, hands on the hips. Shoulders down and back, trunk braced, gaze ahead. The right foot stays planted for the whole rep and carries most of the weight. Leg length (L) below means front of the hip bone (ASIS) to the inner ankle: about 0.86 m on the 1.75 m avatar.

## The movement

Step the left foot diagonally back and across, behind the right leg, and place it on its ball with the heel up, toes pointing forward. Keep the hips and chest facing forward; the pelvis does not swing open. Bend both knees and lower the hips straight down until the right thigh is close to level with the floor. The right knee bends in the direction of the right toes, over the 2nd–3rd toes, and does not fall inward as the left leg crosses behind. The left knee points down and comes to rest just behind and outside the right heel, a little above the floor. To return, press the right heel and ball into the floor, straighten the right hip and knee and bring the left foot back to its start, hip-width from the right.

## End position

Bottom: right knee about 90°, right shin near vertical, left knee 3–12 cm off the floor, hips square. The left thigh must reach back and across about 15–20 cm, so it drops about 0.40 m from the hip and the left knee ends a little higher than in a straight-line lunge. A near-flat left shin then puts the left ankle about 0.65 m behind the right ankle, which matches NFPT's 18 inches (46 cm) from the front heel to the rear toes [1]. ACE starts from a wide stance [2]; NFPT starts hip-width [1], which keeps the crossing step short.

## Tempo

0.8 s step back and across, 1.0 s lower, 0.2 s pause, 1.3 s drive up and bring the left foot back, 0.5 s stand. The app tells users to alternate legs or finish one side, then switch.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Rear foot: front heel to rear toes, diagonal | 46 cm | 40–55 cm | [1] |
| Front knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 75–100° | [1] [4] |
| Front knee over the foot, front view | over the 2nd–3rd toe | within 3 cm | [1] [2] |

## Sources

1. [NFPT, "The curtsy lunge: how to do it and why you should"](https://nfpt.com/the-curtsy-lunge-how-to-do-it-and-why-you-should/)
2. [ACE, "8 butt-toning moves"](https://acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/expert-articles/6355/8-butt-toning-moves)
3. [ACE, Reverse Lunge](https://acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/319/reverse-lunge)
4. [Gao et al. 2022, Bioengineering, "Influence of different load conditions on lower extremity biomechanics during the lunge squat in novice men"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9311947/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/curtsy-lunge