Lunges and squats provide a good lower-body exercise to which you can add challenge as your muscles develop. While the standard exercise for both lunges and squats work you efficiently, both exercises also offer variations that allow you to target your workouts to particular muscles. Start with the basics to ensure you use correct form, avoiding the potential for injury.
Basic Exercise
Lunges and squats both work your quadriceps, at the front of your thigh, and your hamstrings, at the back of your thigh. They also both engage your core, calf and gluteal muscles. Start with your body weight only to ensure that you're using correct form. Advance to using dumbbells, cables, barbells or a Smith machine to add additional weight once your form is correct and you need more challenge to develop your muscles further.
Muscle Building
When working to build muscle, one set with a heavy weight is sufficient, according to the Mayo Clinic. You don't need to complete more than one set unless you hope to build significant muscle mass. Choose a weight that leaves you fatigued after 12 repetitions. If you can lift the weight easily after 12 repetitions, use a heavier weight at your next workout. If you can hardly lift the weight for eight repetitions, drop to a lower weight.
Variations
Work your lower body using lunges and squats of different types to provide additional challenge. Walking lunges, where you step forward, one leg after the next, work your core muscles and calves more than a standard lunge as you must maintain a stable leg and torso as you walk forward. They also combine well with shoulder presses or biceps curls to make the exercise even more efficient. V-squat lunges use a special apparatus that allows you to lean back on a pad and raise and lower the weight on an incline. Step forward to challenge your gluteal muscles further. Step back on the platform to engage your quadriceps and further build up this muscle group. One-legged squats build your muscles by focusing intensely on one leg at a time.
Form
To build your muscles, you need to exercise regularly. Exercising regularly requires correct form, as you must stop and recuperate if injury occurs. With both lunges and squats, you must pay attention to the position of your knee relative to your toes. Your knee must stay behind your toes throughout the exercise to avoid hyperextension. At the bottom of your lunge or squat, pause and check that you can see your toes in front of either both your knees when squatting, or your front knee if lunging. If you cannot, either move your bottom back when squatting or move to a lighter weight. If you can't see your toes when lunging, step forward further with your front foot to widen your stance.
