- Stand with your torso upright holding two dumbbells in your hands by your sides. This will be your starting position.
- Step forward with your right leg around 2 feet or so from the foot being left stationary behind and lower your upper body down, while keeping the torso upright and maintaining balance. Inhale as you go down. Note: As in the other exercises, do not allow your knee to go forward beyond your toes as you come down, as this will put undue stress on the knee joint. Make sure that you keep your front shin perpendicular to the ground.
- Using mainly the heel of your foot, push up and go back to the starting position as you exhale.
- Repeat the movement for the recommended amount of repetitions and then perform with the left leg.
Caution: This is a movement that requires a great deal of balance so if you suffer from balance problems you may wish to either avoid it or just use your own bodyweight while holding on to a fixed object. Definitely never perform with a barbell on your back if you suffer from balance issues.
Variations: There are several ways to perform the exercise.
One way is to alternate each leg. For instance do one repetition with the right, then the left, then the right and so on.
The other way is to do what I call a static lunge where your starting position is with one of your feet already forward. In this case, you just go up and down from that starting position until you are done with the recommended amount of repetitions. Then you switch legs and do the same.
A more challenging version is the walking lunges where you walk across the room but in a lunging fashion. For walking lunges the leg being left back has to be brought forward after the lunging action has happened in order to continue moving ahead. This version is reserved for the most advanced athletes.
Lunges can be performed with dumbbells as described above or with a barbell on the back, though the barbell variety is better suited for the advanced athletes who have mastered the exercise and no longer have balance issues.
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Feb 20, 2016 7:14 AM: I don't remember the voice over on this vid being socreepy. Is it new?
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Feb 6, 2016 5:56 AM: What happened to the audio, hahaha! Almost spat my coffee over my keyboard! :D
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Jan 9, 2016 11:10 AM: These lunges are killer with weights. Love them! I had to listen a couple of time too. The first time I was too busy cracking up to pay attention to the video. The second time I was able to pay attention to the video. Wow, working out is soooo fun.
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Nov 7, 2015 12:47 PM: A killer!
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Oct 6, 2015 1:42 PM: I both love and hate this exercise! I had to listen to the voice over just to see what everyone has been talking about. Hilarious! Need some Barry White playing in the background for that guy. Anyway, great exercise for the entire leg.
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Jul 14, 2015 12:10 PM: that was a good exercise for my legs
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Jul 2, 2015 8:08 AM: THe exercise is a good one but was that video voice for real???? Really!
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Tip: Dumbbell Lunges
Jun 14, 2015 10:27 PM: good for cellulite
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Apr 23, 2015 5:13 PM: This is an absolute killer. I mix it up with alternating or just rep out each leg individually (and switch). Great for your core as it's continuously tight. Guaranteed every muscle in your leg is going to ache.. in a good way :)
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Review: Dumbbell Lunges
Apr 8, 2015 11:20 PM: the voice over is hilarious!!!