# Forward Lunge: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes
- Also works: hamstrings
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/forward_lunge/8a30bfb88d/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, hands on hips.
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 to step back to standing.
5. Repeat on the other leg.

## Cues

- Drop your hips straight down.
- Front knee follows your toes.
- Stay tall through your chest.

## Common mistakes

- Taking a short step so the front heel lifts.
- Letting the front knee cave inward.
- Leaning forward over the front 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. 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, keeping the hip-width gap, and land heel first, then roll onto the whole foot. As the foot lands, drop the hips straight down: both knees bend together until the front thigh is level with the floor and the left knee hovers just above it, pointing down. The left heel rises so the back foot rests on its ball. The front knee tracks over the 2nd–3rd toes. To return, push hard through the right foot, straighten the right knee and hip and step the right foot back beside the left. Stand tall for a moment before the next rep.

## End position

Bottom: front knee about 90°, front shin vertical or leaning slightly forward, rear knee 2–5 cm off the floor. The trunk accept range runs to 15° because ACE allows a slight lean from the hips with a flat back [1]; ExRx asks for an upright trunk [2].

## Tempo

0.8 s step and land, 1.2 s down, 0.2 s pause, 1.3 s push back to standing, 0.5 s stand. The app tells users to alternate legs or switch sides.

## 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° | [1] [4] |
| Rear knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–100° | [2] |

## Sources

1. [ACE, Forward Lunge](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/94/forward-lunge/)
2. [ExRx, Lunge](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BWLunge)
3. [Escamilla et al. 2008, J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, "Patellofemoral joint force and stress between a short- and long-step forward lunge"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18978453/)
4. [Comfort et al. 2015, J Athl Train, "Joint kinetics and kinematics during common lower limb rehabilitation exercises"](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26418958/)

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