While a traditional lunge involves stepping forward with your leading leg, a reverse lunge involves stepping back with the leading leg. This challenges different muscles in the lower body. Adding reverse lunges to your regular resistance-training routine can help you strengthen the lower legs and provide an alternative to traditional lunges. As you gain in muscle strength, you can incorporate weights or dumbbells to increase the muscle-building benefits.
How to Perform
To perform a reverse lunge, you should start with your feet hip-width apart. Take a step back with your right foot, placing the toes and ball of your foot on the ground without putting the heel down. Bend your knees to drop the right knee toward the floor and creating a deep bend with your left knee. You should feel the muscles in the front of your leg working. Push off with the right toes to bring the legs back to your starting position. Repeat the exercise eight to 10 times on your right leg and then perform the exercise on your left leg.
Major Muscles Worked
The chief muscles worked in the reverse lunge are the quadriceps muscles. The quadriceps muscles are a combination of four muscles that comprise the front of the leg. Also known as the quads, these muscles include the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius and vastus medialis. Because these muscles act on the knee and hips, the reverse lunge helps to stabilize the leg.
Minor Muscles Worked
While the quadriceps muscles are the major muscle group worked during the reverse lunge, there are other muscles that also are strengthened by performing the reverse lunge properly. Examples include the gluteus maximus or the buttocks muscles. The soleus muscles, which are the calf muscles, also are worked as well as the adductor magnus, which helps you to pull the leg in toward your other leg.
Tips
To increase the effectiveness of the reverse lunge maneuver, make an effort to step back as far as you can while retaining your balance. This increases the stretch as you sink to the ground. You may wish to use a mirror to watch and make sure you are keeping your back straight. Your front knee should not go over your ankle -- doing so could place too much strain on your ankle. To increase the intensity of the exercise, you may wish to hold dumbbells between 5 and 10 lbs.
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