Walking lunge
Lunging forward step after step: each landing is braked by the front leg before the back foot swings through.
Split squat and lunge family
Walking lunge
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Source-researched guide. Clinical review is pending.
How to move
- Step forward into a lunge and lower until the back knee is close to the floor.
- Drive through the front foot to rise and swing the back foot through into the next step.
- Keep travelling in a straight line, the trunk upright.
Form cues
- Keep the front knee tracking over the toes.
- Lengthen the step if the front heel lifts.
Practice and cautions
No universal dose is assigned. Choose a manageable amount for your current capacity, leave room for controlled repetitions, and allow recovery. A clinician’s individual plan takes priority.
The forward step loads the knee more than a reverse lunge, so start with reverse lunges if your knees are sensitive. This is movement education, not an assessment or treatment prescription. Stop for sharp or increasing pain, dizziness, numbness or tingling; seek individual guidance for symptoms, injury or restrictions.
Sources and review status
Sources support the educational description; they do not establish that this exercise is suitable for you.
No variation is labeled clinically validated.
What it works
Muscles
Main: Quads, Glutes. Also: Hamstrings, Adductors, Calves.
Anatomy: Sartorius, Quadriceps, Rectus femoris, Vastus medialis, Vastus lateralis, Gluteus maximus.
Equipment
None: body weight and floor space.
Level
Intermediate. See the easier and harder options above.
Workouts that use it
- Runner's warm-up · 8 min
- 10-minute dynamic warm-up · 10 min
- Asthma warm-up: intervals before exercise · 15 min
- Strength workout for runners (gym) · 45 min
- FIFA 11+ warm-up · 20 min
- Ski fitness workout · 40 min
- Learn to lunge: split squat to walking lunge · 25 min
- Tempo run: comfortably hard · 45 min
Show all 23 workoutsShow fewer workouts
- Basketball injury prevention warm-up · 10 min
- Volleyball injury prevention · 30 min
- Activate rugby warm-up: the adult sample phase · 25 min
- Hyrox strength workout: legs, pulling, carries and sleds · 50 min
- Hyrox compromised running workout: runs and stations · 60 min
- 5K intervals: 3-minute repeats at 5K effort · 50 min
- Cricket warm-up · 12 min
- Netball warm-up: the KNEE programme · 20 min
- American football warm-up: run, move, land and accelerate · 15 min
- Squash ghosting workout · 30 min
- Gaelic games warm-up (built on the GAA 15) · 15 min
- Obstacle race conditioning workout: hill repeats, carries, crawls and landings · 50 min
- Wrestling conditioning workout: sprint intervals, sprawls and mat drills · 40 min
- Handball warm-up: Knee Control, Shoulder Control, landings and a throwing build-up · 20 min
- Sled workout: pushes, drags and rows for speed or fitness · 40 min
Pain guides that use it
Part of a staged plan, with when to get help first.
- Quad strain (pulled thigh muscle): exercises from the first days to kicking
- Back pain from bowling: fast bowling in cricket, young bowlers, ten-pin, and what helps
- Wrist pain from bowling: the thumb and little-finger sides, bowler's thumb, ball fit and what helps
- Knee pain after rugby: twists and tackles, the ACL and MCL, the meniscus, the kneecap and what helps
Guides that use it
- Runners guide
- Exercise with asthma
- Exercise after a concussion
- Rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo) and exercise
- Warming up guide
- Lunges guide
- 7-minute workout guide
- How to get bigger legs guide
Show all 26 guidesShow fewer guides
- Start running guide
- Sled push guide
- Walking lunges guide
- Reverse lunges guide
- Jumping lunges guide
- Sled drags guide
- Strengthen your legs guide
- Toned legs guide
- Breathing when running guide
- Running in the cold guide
- Football guide
- Basketball guide
- Hyrox and other fitness races guide
- Triathlon guide
- Squash guide
- Gaelic games guide
- Obstacle course racing guide
- Australian rules football guide
Similar moves
3D demoBodyweight walking lungeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoReverse lungeIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSmith machine lunge jumpAdvanced · Strength machine
Kettlebell lunge pass-throughIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoAlternate-leg boundingAdvanced · No equipment
3D demoBox drop landingIntermediate · A stepBrowse more
Questions people ask
What muscles does the Walking lunge work?
Mainly the quads and glutes, with help from the hamstrings, adductors and calves.
What equipment do I need for the Walking lunge?
No equipment: your body weight and a little floor space.
Is the Walking lunge good for beginners?
It is graded intermediate. If it is too hard right now, start with the Split squat.
What is an easier alternative to the Walking lunge?
Try the Split squat or the Bodyweight squat. Both are written steps in the same progression.
How do I make the Walking lunge harder?
Progress to the Split squat with dumbbells or the Smith machine split squat. Follow that guide’s technique and any stated timing.