Lunges are a hotly debated topic in the bodybuilding industry. Many people swear by them as a fantastic quadriceps and hamstring builder, and include them in every leg workout. Others believe that lunges are too easy, that they're not a hardcore exercise, and that they may even cause injuries. Whether you decide to include lunges in your routine or not is up to you. They have many benefits, but they also have their drawbacks.
Muscle Builder
Lunges target most of your lower body muscles; your quads and hamstrings work to extend and flex your knees and hips, while your glutes, adductors, abductors and calves all help to provide balance and stability. When done correctly, lunges can help to pack serious muscle on to your lower body, and there are many different lunge variations, such as forward, reverse, walking, elevated, barbell, dumbbell and chain lunges, which can help you to break through muscle-building plateaus. Former Mr Olympia champion bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman used to load up a barbell with 135 lbs. and perform walking lunges until he could go no more. As far as he was concerned, there were few better bodybuilding leg exercises.
Causes Injuries
Due to the unstable nature of lunges and the fact that your legs are working independently of each other, injuries can occur. According to weightlifting coach John Broz, lunging is not a natural movement, and it places the knees at a dangerous angle. As with any exercise, there is also the risk of using too heavy a weight with poor form and causing damage to a muscle, ligament or tendon. Broz advises sticking to squatting movements for leg training.
Prevents Injuries
On the other hand, the instability of lunges could be an advantage. Corrective exercise specialist Mike Robertson advises making unilateral leg exercises like lunges staples in your routine. Working one leg at a time forces you to concentrate more on technique and balance, which helps to improve your coordination and strengthens the ligaments around your knee and ankle joints, thus reducing your risk of injury.
Programming
If you do decide to include lunges in your program, execute them with perfect form and use light weights to start off with. If you are new to bodybuilding training, performing squatting movements is probably enough stimulation for your legs to grow, so leave lunge variations for when you need to break through a plateau. Try to rotate the type of lunge you do every training cycle. For example, do forward dumbbell lunges for four weeks, reverse barbell lunges for the next four weeks and walking lunges for four weeks, before returning to forward dumbbells lunges.
