Hi everyone.
I would like to tighten my butt.
I do forward and reverse lunges but am wondering if it is better ( with this goal in mind) to do them with the extended leg straight or bent?
And what is a good number of reps in each set (3) to be aiming for?
Thanks so much!

Katie, in a lunge, both knees should be at a 90 degree angle, like this:

Lunge

Your back knee will only be a few inches off the floor.

As for reps, I shoot for 10 reps per leg per set. If that's really easy, add some more weight!

I don't have the answer to your question: I always do stationary lunges. Are you doing them with weights or with body weight?

But I will say that deadlifts have completely changed the shape of my butt. I think it's one of the more noticeable results of my weight training: a higher and rounder butt. Not bad.

Hi Meg,
Thanks for replying.
Goodness I was going by an old book by Bill Pearl ( my husband bought it a long time ago and thinks he is wonderful)called "Getting Stronger".
I think it's from 1986, and he says to do all the lunges with as straight a leg as possible???
Is he just out of date???
Baffled I am doing my lunges holding on to a 10 lb weight in each hands.
Uhmm pathetic I know but my arms have always been weak though I have been doing WL for about 6 months but I had to start out only doing 1 set and have been doing 3 sets for awhile now.
Also Baffled can you tell me which deadlifts you do and where I could find a description as there seem to be so many different kinds?
Can they be done with dumbells rather than barbells?
Thanks

Hey Katie,

These are the standard deadlifts : http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...BDeadlift.html

I'm sure they could be done with dumbbells, right Meg?

deadlifts can be done with either barbell or dumbells. Also if you have a high step like this...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2590790

... u might want to try a leg press. I have certainly changed the shape of my butt and thighs with leg presses.

The exercise is similar to this one...

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/.../BBStepUp.html

Katie, I've honestly never seen a lunge with the rear leg straight before, but I googled "Bill Pearl lunges" and by golly, that's what he recommends. It's new to me! My issue with a straight rear leg is that you can't go very deep at all. Like I said, above, your rear knee should only be inches off the floor and you can't do that with a straight leg.

I'll be curious if you feel a difference if you try them with both knees bent?

Here's an article that has videos of correct lunge form: The Hardcore Lunge

And yes, traditional deadlifts can be done with dumbbells as well as a barbell.

Thanks Meg and everyone.
I had started out doing the lunges with the stretched leg bent --the way you said to do it Meg when I first posed the question I think a couple of months ago but then when he recommended the straight stretched leg in his book especially for tightening the butt I switched to the straight leg.
Now I am totally confused.
Since my aim is to tighten my rear I really don't know which kind to do.
I do do leg presses -since we have a leg press machine at home-- and have worked up to 90 lbs --I know most of you start there but I had to work up to it.
Since I am not strong in my arms ( but a lot stronger than when I started WL) what lb dumbells would you recommend Meg for starting out doing the deadlifts?
And are the deadlifts similar to leg presses?

The leg presses that I know use a machine and don't involve your upper body at all, so are very different from deadlifts.

You don't need arm strength per se to do deadlifts, but you do need to be able to hold onto the DBs with your grip. How about starting out deadlifts with a 5# dumbbell in each hand and see how that goes? You can progress from there if it's easy.

Have fun!

Hey girl,
back leg bent, bent, bent, touch the knee to the ground if you can (safely, hard but that could be a goal)
also, you can try squats, or plia squats, those are fun too.