# Dumbbell Walking Lunge: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes
- Also works: hamstrings, adductors, forearms
- Equipment: dumbbell
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/dumbbell_walking_lunge/95b365ec94/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, arms straight by your sides.
2. Take a long step forward and land heel first.
3. Lower your hips until your back knee nearly touches the floor.
4. Push through your front foot and bring your back leg through.
5. Step straight into the next lunge on the other leg.

## Cues

- Drop your hips straight down, not forward.
- Keep the dumbbells hanging still at your sides.
- Chest tall, eyes forward.

## Common mistakes

- Taking short steps so your front heel lifts.
- Letting the front knee fall inward.
- Leaning forward as the dumbbells pull you down.

## Starting position

Stand tall, feet hip-width apart (foot centre lines 15–20 cm apart), toes straight ahead. One dumbbell in each hand, arms straight, palms facing the thighs, dumbbells hanging beside the hips. Shoulders down and back, trunk braced, gaze ahead. 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 forward with the right leg, landing heel first and then rolling onto the whole foot. Drop the hips straight down: both knees bend until the front thigh is level with the floor and the rear knee hovers just above it. The rear heel lifts so the rear foot rests on its ball. Push the front foot into the floor to rise, and in the same movement swing the rear (left) leg straight through into the next step, without stopping on two feet. The dumbbells hang straight down from the shoulders the whole time and move only up and down with the body. No arm swing: that is the one change from the bodyweight walking lunge, where a natural arm swing is allowed.

## End position

Bottom: front knee about 90°, front shin vertical or leaning slightly forward, rear knee 2–5 cm off the floor and pointing down. The hip then sits at about knee height.

## Tempo

Per step: 1.5 s down, 0.2 s pause just above the floor, 1.3 s to rise and swing the rear leg through.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Step length, front heel to rear heel | 0.9 × L ≈ 0.78 m | 0.7–1.0 × L (0.6–0.86 m) | [2] [3] |
| Front knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–105° | [2] [3] |
| Rear knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–100° | [1] [3] |

## Sources

1. [ExRx, Dumbbell Walking Lunge](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBWalkingLunge)
2. [Stastny et al. 2015, J Strength Cond Res, "Does the dumbbell-carrying position change the muscle activity in split squats and walking lunges?"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4640053/)
3. [Form-standards section 7 (walking lunge), which combines ACE Forward Lunge and ACE Walking Lunges with Twists (](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/94/forward-lunge/)
4. [ACE, Walking Lunges with Twists](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/139/walking-lunges-with-twists/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/dumbbell-walking-lunge