How to Do a Reverse Lunge

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How to Do a Reverse Lunge

If you’ve grown a little bored with your typical bodyweight workout, try taking a step back — literally — with the reverse lunge.

Unlike the forward lunge, where you lunge forward on one leg, the reverse lunge requires you to step backwards. This movement offers variety to help keep your brain engaged and your body challenged (and far away from the dreaded fitness plateau) while still providing many of the same benefits of the forward lunge, plus some unique ones.

“In addition to working just about every muscle below your waist — especially your quads — the reverse lunge can help enhance stability and balance,” says Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S. Also, there’s inherent value in moving backward.

Besides offering you the opportunity to move in a direction you may not often travel, the reverse lunge puts less stress on the joints, making it a smart alternative for people with problematic knees, hips, and ankles.

Here’s a guide on how to perform the reverse lunge with perfect form and tips to make it harder or easier.

Reverse Lunge: Step-by-Step Instructions

Program: Tough Mudder T-MINUS 30

Workout: Extreme Conditioning 1.0

  • Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your hands at your sides. If you’re adding resistance, hold a pair of dumbbells at arms’ length by your sides.
  • Keeping your chest up, back flat, shoulders back, and core engaged, take a large step back with your right leg as you bring your right arm forward and your left arm back.
  • Lower your body until your left thigh is parallel to the floor. Your knees should be bent about 90 degrees, with the right knee hovering a couple of inches above the ground.
  • Pause, and then push off your back foot to return to the starting position.
  • Perform equal reps on both sides.

Reverse Lunge Muscles Worked

While the reverse lunge will fire up your core, it’s primarily a lower body-strengthening exercise that targets the quads and glutes while also engaging a handful of other muscles below the waist.

1. Quadriceps

quad muscles | reverse lunge

Located on the front of your thighs, the quadriceps are comprised of four muscles — the rectus femoris, the vastus intermedius, the vastus lateralis, and the vastus medialis — that work together to extend your knee.

2. Glutes

glute muscle anatomy | dumbbell deadlift

Beyond giving you a shapely profile, your butt muscles, aka your “glutes,” play a key role in hip extension, pelvic stabilization, leg rotation, and leg abduction (lifting out to the side).

The three muscles that make up the glutes are the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius, and the gluteus minimus.

3. Hamstrings

hamstrings muscles anatomy | reverse lunge

The hamstring muscle group is found on the backs of your thighs below your glutes.

They’re responsible for bending your knees, and also help extend your hips and rotate your legs inward and outward.

4. Adductors

adductors and abductors anatomy | reverse lunge

The adductors run along your inner thighs and draw your legs toward your body’s midline.

5. Calves

calf muscle anatomy | reverse lunge

Found on the backs of your lower legs, the two muscles that comprise your calves — the soleus and gastrocnemius — are responsible for pushing your foot downward (plantar flexion).

How to Make the Reverse Lunge Harder

If you’re cranking through reverse lunges without breaking a sweat, it’s time to dial up the intensity.

  • Add resistance by holding dumbbells at your sides, a weight plate or kettlebell in front of your chest, or racking a lightly weighted barbell across your shoulders.
  • For an added stability challenge, try an offset reverse lunge, holding a weight in just one hand.
  • Thieme also suggests experimenting with your foot placement and the direction of your reverse lunge. “Perform a crossover lunge by stepping your rear foot behind your front foot when you step backward,” he says. “Or do a reverse lunge with rotation: Hold a dumbbell in front of your chest and alternately rotate left and right in the direction of your front leg as you step back.”
  • For an additional glute challenge, add a leg extension at the top of the move.

How to Make the Reverse Lunge Easier

If you’re a beginner and find using weights too challenging, stick to just your body weight until you’ve built up enough strength to start adding iron.

And if you can’t drop down into a full lunge (in which both knees are bent at 90-degree angles) without compromising form, limit your range of motion until you can, lowering yourself just halfway or three-quarters of the way down.

Reverse Lunge Variations and Alternatives

The following variations on the reverse lunge will similarly help build unilateral (one-sided) strength, along with balance and stability.

1. Curtsy lunge

  • Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides (palms in) with your feet hip-width apart.
  • Keeping your back flat and your core engaged, step your left foot behind and outside your right foot, lowering your hips until your right thigh is parallel with the floor. Allow the dumbbells to hang at arm’s length on either side of your right leg, but don’t let them touch the floor.
  • Reverse the movement to return to the starting position. Complete all of your reps, and then repeat, this time stepping your right foot behind your left.

2. Bulgarian split squat

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  • Stand facing away from a bench, holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides. Place top of your left foot on the bench behind you. This is the starting position.
  • Keeping your torso upright, lower your body down and back until your right thigh is parallel to the ground. Don’t let your right knee travel past the toes of your front foot or let your left knee touch the ground.
  • Pause, and then reverse the movement to return to the starting position.
  • Perform all reps, switch legs, and repeat.

3. Reverse lunge kick

reverse lunge kick demo | lunges

  • Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells by your sides at arm’s length (palms in). This is the starting position.
  • Keeping your chest up, back straight, and core engaged, take a large step back with your right foot and lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the ground (your rear knee should be bent about 90 degrees).
  • Pause, and then push off with your right foot, kicking it in front of you before immediately stepping back into your next rep.
  • Do all of your reps, and then repeat, this time stepping back and kicking with your left leg.

4. Forward lunge

  • Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides (palms in) with your feet hip-width apart.
  • Keeping your chest up, shoulders back, core engaged, and back flat, take a large step forward with your right foot.
  • Lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the ground and your rear knee is bent about 90 degrees (it should hover a couple of inches above the floor).
  • Pause, and then push off your front feet from the heel to reverse the movement and return to the starting position. Repeat, this time stepping forward with your left foot. Continue alternating legs with each rep.