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- Strengthening Your Legs
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- Making Cardio Less Painful
- Avoid Crashing
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- The Best Running Shoe
- Strength or Aerobic Capacity?
- Toning Legs with Cardio
- My Doctor's Scale is Off
- More Reps and their Effects
- 04/24/08: Newsletter
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- 5-08-07: Friendly Pressure
- 4-27-07: Running Routines
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- 4-10-07: Back Injury
- 4-03-07: Lunges Quads Butt
- 3-27-07: Running Off Fat
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- 3-23-07: Eating Late
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- 2005: Archives
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04-03-07// Lunges - Quads or Butt
Do lunges work the quads or butt?
Chris:
I am a 40 year old female who enjoys lifting weights and running to stay
in shape. Just like every other female my age I have been searching for that
magic exercise to firm up my butt. I recently started doing lunges as a way
to accomplish my goal.
I first did my lunges with just the weight of my body. Yesterday one of the trainers at my gym told me that I should start holding dumbbells in my hands while I lunge. My first question for you is why do people use weights to do lunges? I always though that I was only supposed to use my body weigh in order to protect my knees. My second question is whether lunges are a good way to tone you butt? The reason I am asking is because my son says that he does lunges to isolate his quads. Which muscles do lunges work more the quads or the butt? I am confused.
Rachel
Rachel:
Let me get started by answering you last question first.
Lunges are an excellent way to tone your butt. In fact I consider them one of my favorite overall leg and butt exercises. This is because they indirectly work your entire leg, they effectively target the hamstrings and they work the butt all in one shot. How’s that for getting the most out of an exercise.
Your son’s right. Lunges do work the quads. However lunges also work the hamstrings and butt. It all depends how you do them. That’s why I classify lunges in two separate categories: Lunges for quads and lunges for butt and hamstrings. Most people don’t know the difference between the two. Here’s a brief description how to do both.
If your goal is to work your quads- upper leg- you should take a shorter step when lunging. Descend to about 90 degrees and push back to the starting position by using the quad muscle. If you feel the quad muscles doing most of the work you are on the right track. Be sure to bend both legs equally.
If your goal is to isolate the butt and hamstrings- back of the upper leg- you will need to take a longer step. As you step further out you should feel the butt and hamstrings begin to stretch stretch. Descend to a depth of a little deeper than 90 degrees and you will effectively engage your glute’s as well as your hamstrings.
It’s important to remember whenever doing lunges that your knees should never extend over your toes. This will place too much stress on your knees and could cause you to be injured. I would also advise anyone that has a previous knee injury to stay at 90 degrees or above.
People add weight to their lunges to make them more challenging. Once you master lunges with your body weight you may also need to make them more difficult to continue making progress. Adding weight is a great way to accomplish that goal. Caution: Adding too much weight will only put stress on the knee joint and could cause injury. Add weigh in small increments. Most women will never need more than 5-10 pounds to do the job effectively.
Remember the key to targeting the muscles of your choice is proper form. Making a few small changes as to how you do your lunges could be all you need to get the results you’re looking for.