Walking Lunge: Muscles Worked and How to Do It
TL;DR
The walking lunge is a quad-dominant leg exercise: your quadriceps extend the front knee to drive you up from each step, while your glutes and hamstrings extend the hip and your calves help stabilize your ankle and push off. Stepping forward with each rep also challenges balance.
- Primary muscle:
- Quadriceps
- Secondary muscles:
- Calves, Glutes, Hamstrings
Muscles worked
Your quadriceps do most of the work on the front leg, extending the knee to raise your body back up out of each lunge. Your glutes and hamstrings work together to extend the hip on that same leg, especially as you drive back up to standing.
Your calves help stabilize your ankle and assist with the push-off as you step into the next lunge. Because you're moving forward with each rep instead of staying in place, your legs also get a real balance and coordination challenge alongside the strength work.
Log Walking Lunge in PR Streak
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How to do it
- Begin standing with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands on your hips.
- Step forward with one leg, flexing the knees to drop your hips. Descend until your rear knee nearly touches the ground. Your posture should remain upright, and your front knee should stay above the front foot.
- Drive through the heel of your lead foot and extend both knees to raise yourself back up.
- Step forward with your rear foot, repeating the lunge on the opposite leg.
Form tips
- Keep your front knee tracking over your foot rather than caving inward.
- Take a step long enough that your front knee stays roughly above your ankle at the bottom.
- Keep your torso upright instead of leaning forward over your front leg.
- Drop your back knee close to the ground for a full range of motion before driving back up.
Exercise details
| Equipment | Other |
|---|---|
| Level | Beginner |
| Mechanic | Compound |
Used by lifters following PPL, 5x5, upper/lower, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is walking lunge better than a stationary lunge?
It trains the same muscles but adds a forward-momentum and balance challenge that a stationary lunge doesn't. Stationary lunges can be easier to control with heavier weight, so both have a place in a leg program.
How many walking lunges should I do?
Many lifters count each step as one rep and aim for 6-12 reps per leg with a moderate load for muscle size, or 12 or more reps per leg with just bodyweight for muscular endurance.
What's a good exercise to add more glute focus?
A single-leg Romanian deadlift shifts more of the work onto the hamstrings and glutes through a hip-hinge pattern instead of a knee-dominant one.
More quadriceps exercises
Exercise instructions and photos come from the free-exercise-db library, public domain, the same library used inside the PR Streak app.
