# Walking Lunge: how to do it

- Main muscles: quads, glutes
- Also works: hamstrings, adductors
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/walking_lunge/c208428d98/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 and swing your back leg through.
5. Land in the next lunge and keep walking, switching legs each step.

## Cues

- Drop your hips straight down, not forward.
- Front knee follows your toes.
- Chest tall, eyes forward.

## Common mistakes

- Taking short steps so your front heel lifts.
- Letting the front knee fall inward.
- Walking on a tightrope line and wobbling.

## 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, keeping the hip-width gap, and land heel first, then roll onto the whole foot. Drop the hips straight down: both knees bend together until the front thigh is level with the floor and the rear knee hovers just above it, pointing down. The rear heel is up, so the rear foot rests on its ball. The front knee tracks over the 2nd–3rd toes. To move on, press the front foot into the floor and straighten the front hip and knee; at the same time lift the rear foot and swing it straight forward past the standing leg into the next step. The body carries on forward without stopping on two feet. Each step swaps the lead leg.

## End position

Bottom: front knee about 90°, front shin vertical or leaning slightly forward, rear knee 2–5 cm off the floor. A step equal to leg length [3] is the long end; 70% of leg length [4] is the short end. ExRx asks for an upright trunk [2]; ACE's walking variant allows a slight forward lean [1], so the accept range stops at 10°.

## Tempo

Per step: 0.3 s at the bottom, about 2 s to rise, swing the rear leg through and land, then lower into the next lunge, 0.3 s settling. A controlled 1–2 s drop, never a fall into the bottom.

## 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) | [3] [4] |
| Front knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–105° | [1] [3] |
| Rear knee flexion at the bottom | 90° | 80–100° | [2] [4] |

## Sources

1. [ACE, Forward Lunge](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/94/forward-lunge/)
2. [ExRx, Walking Lunge](https://exrx.net/Stretches/Miscellaneous/WalkingLunge)
3. [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/)
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/walking-lunge