Does a good leg/glute routine have to include them? I just don't feel I'm ready for them. I don't have that great of balance and when I did them on the Smith machine I hurt my quad. I feel guilty not doing because everyone says "squats & lunges, squats & lunges" but I just end up hurting myself and/or feeling ridiculous. I do squats, plies, leg presses, dead lifts, etc I just hate those lunges!

I'm with you here Stacy. And even if someone says I must, I still won't. Maybe I'll try when I'm at goal, but I've never been an effective lunger. I always feel like my knee is in jeopardy of going out. It just doesn't feel right and I think other things can make up for them. Better to have fat thighs than knee replacement surgery, believe me! I watched my mom go thru it -- not fun.

I'll tell you a secret if you promise not to let anyone know ...

It took me almost a year of weight loss and working out before I could do lunges properly. My sense of balance was (and still is) awful and my center of gravity kept changing with every ten pounds gone. I was about twenty pounds from goal before I consistently started doing them -- and they kicked my butt!

Sure, they're a fantastic exercise and you really want to keep working on them ... but no, the world isn't going to come to a screeching halt if you don't do lunges.

Does your gym have a hack squat machine, by chance? You can get a lot of the same benefits from one.

I hate lunges, but I force myself to do them. My balance is not good enough for walking lunges, so I stick to stationary ones. I also don't use a barbell, but I will hold dumbbells. I am working on going lower with lunges; my flexibility is the pits.

The same holds true for squats.

For developing the legs, nothing beats those two exercises.

I am subbing forward lunges for dips (aka backward lunges.)
I have no sense of balance so I am working on that every day in my training and when I do dip I do not go far back and just take a shallow dip down- enought to get the glute/thutt area to contract and then return to standing.
Try lessening the movement, or trying the back ward step. If you have a dowel/broom/mop, hold it in the hand of your moving leg for added stability and work your way up to wsing weights/barbell.

Really needed to read this thread! My knees "squeak" with each lunge (am trying not to even put the thought out to the Universe about knee replacement some day)

They are effective as all get out. Thanks for sharing your *secret* Meg
- it's encouraging to us beginner liftees!

Jean

Everyone? I doubt more than 10% of the trainees in my gym do them; and 0% of the stronger lifters.

Unless you are really putting the final touches on your physique, I would focus on the squats and deadlifts.

I've started doing lunges more recently after hating them for years. I have horrible knees, so I'm very careful. What's made the difference for me is doing them next to a fitball. I keep one hand lightly on the ball to steady myself and it really, really helps with the whole balance thing. You can carry weight with the other hand if you want, but right now, because of my knees, I'm not using extra weight. You can do forward or backward lunges this way. I saw one of the trainers at my gym showing this to someone one day, so I tried it and like it alot!

Chickadee

Unless you are strictly a power lifter, I'd do them. They aren't just for putting the "finishing touches" on your physique. They develop strength, endurance, and BALANCE. If you can't do walking lunges without falling over, start with stationary ones. Holding a heavy dumbbell on one side only (then switch) forces your core muscles to really work to stabilize the rest of your body. Lunging forward onto a BOSU ball really works core and balance as well.

Not all weighted exercise is about how much you can lift. Balance, endurance, core strength all contribute to overall fitness.

Mel

I am not a fan of lunges either. Maybe after I lose 700 - 1,000 more pounds I will have better balance and be able to perform them.

chiarij

I hate lunges also. I have been doing them on a machine ( I don't know what it is called but it has a bar on each side of you that you can put weight on and you lift the bars as you do your lunges and it keeps your leg straight), the machine helps, but I also have really bad knees and started getting fluid on my left knee and had to stop doing them. The funny thing is, that if I don't work on the treadmill the same day as I do lunges, the fluid isn't so bad. The doc said no more lunges at all, but I really think I need them. Going to wait a while before I start them again, and hope that if I strengthen muscles around the knee maybe I can do lunges. Any suggestions?

I'm a bit of a clod and walking lunges work best for me. I don't use much weight and I can feel a good long set later.

Put me in the "I don't like lunges" category - but I've started doing them. I just am very careful to not twist my knee while it's got weight on it. This was my problem with a lot of areobics - you jumped and twisted and basically could really wreck your knees quickly! If I place my "stepping" leg first, then transfer weight to it, I'm fine. I'm working on going lower and better balance too.

Meg, yes my gym has a hack squat machine. How is it different from barbell or dumbell squats? Is it the angle?

It's good to see I'm not the only one. I may wait and every 5-10 pound lost try them out. As others said I don't think it's worth screwing up my knees or pulling muscles just to do a lunge.

If you have a step that you can incline (or transfirmer) you can do them on the incline which helps out a billion so far as form and such., again this way it keeps emphasis on glutes/hams/thutt area/quads and not the knees.