Reverse Lunges: #1 beginner exercise for stronger legs

There are so many exercises you should be doing. Squats, deadlifts, split squats, reverse lunges and the list goes on and on. 

So many choices. So many opinions. What do you do!?

Well, what do YOU want to do?

I’m a personal trainer and in my practice, I work with a lot of clients who cannot answer this simple question.

I usually get some type of convoluted response that includes less pain, more flexibility and bigger muscles.

I recently heard financial wizard Ray Dalio say something wise – “you can have anything you want, but not everything you want.”

This really hit home for me. I think this is a great principle for improving movement. 

You can’t max out your deadlift while increasing your 5k time while also trying to develop a deeper squat.

Especially if on top of that you have normal life responsibilities, like work and family.

You’ll burn out. Fast.

You can’t possibly do all the exercises recommended out there or reach all your goals at once.

But there are certain exercises that will build a foundation for many other fitness and movement pursuits.

The key is selecting exercises that have carryover to other more challenging exercises you'll do in the future. 

In this article, I’ll explain why I think the reverse lunge is one such exercise.

I’ll also demonstrate how to do this exercise as a beginner and explain how to slowly progress to more challenging variations as you get stronger.

Why reverse lunges are great for beginners

I got into the movement business because of hip issues I dealt with when I was younger.

I looked at exercise as some kind of saving grace and spent hours everyday mobilizing my hips.

The only problem was that I didn’t get more mobile. Nor did I get stronger.

What I was doing was wasting energy and taxing out an already stressed-out nervous system.

Good thing I got this out of my system in my 20s because if I tried that now, I wouldn’t be able to have a functional life.

Some of you might relate to my experience on some level. Maybe you never spent hours on mobility exercises like me but you’ve probably tried some mobility-style exercises to improve how your body moves and feels.

There are many influencers out there that make us think more is better.

They make you think that If you don’t do their daily protocol, you will never move or feel the way you want. 

You might then blame your lack of progress on a lack of effort. 

But this could not be further from the truth, dear hipster. More is NOT always better and in fact can make things even worse.

The key is to give your body the right dose and then give it plenty of time to recover and get stronger.

For some people, this might mean only practicing a movement 1x a week while for others, it can mean training every day.

A big part of the process is to step away and reflect on what you’re doing. This is the opposite of what most people do in their movement practice which is doing too much and reflecting too little.  

This is why I love the reverse lunge so much. It's a true strength exercise that you don't need to do too often to get a ton of value out of it. 

It’s easy enough for most people to master within just a few training sessions and builds the foundation for many popular movements you might want to explore in the future.

If you want your hips or lower body to feel better, the reverse lunge will help build balance and coordination.

If you want more flexibility or mobility, the reverse lunge will build the requisite strength you need to get more out of stretching.

And of course, if you want a stronger lower body, the reverse lunge can be loaded with as much weight as you can handle to build more power and strength.

Muscles Worked in Reverse Lunges

The main muscles worked in revere lunges are the glutes and quads. And worked they will be once you get the movement down.

Expect to be quite sore after your first couple training sessions. This is normal and healthy. Just wait for those muscles to recover before loading them up again.

Although some will argue that the lunges are just a glute and quad exercise, I don’t think this is true, especially for beginners.

I like to think of exercise as way to practice movements, not just beef up.

If you’re goal with exercise is purely aesthetic like a body builder, then yes, the reverse lunge will probably not “hit” other muscle groups. 

But if you think of exercise as a way of improving how you move then the reverse lunge will work just about every muscle in the body. 

This is especially true for those not accustomed to lunging or squatting. Daily life does not require much deep bending of the knees and when you do it under load, you can feel some interesting new sensations. 

My point of bringing this up here is to emphasize that you should not worry too much on where you feel this exercise in the very beginning. 

Focus more on getting your form right. If you’re doing the exercise correctly then you will feel it where you’re supposed to feel it.

This is why I always recommend recording yourself during the first few sessions to make sure you have solid form.

In time and with more practice, you’ll start feeling the exercise more where most people feel it – the quads and the glutes.

The Dumbbell Reverse Lunge

You can load reverse lunges with dumbbells or barbells. I recommend you start with dumbbells for two reasons.

First, the barbell is already 45lb, which is substantial. The key to this exercise is to work toward 8-10 high-quality reps. This will be hard to do with a 45lb barbell on your back if you’re just starting out.

Second, it’s easier to move with dumbbells than a barbell. The barbell is fixed to your back and makes movement awkward and more challenging.

The dumbbells allow your joints to move more freely and with less restriction. Barbells should be used when the main goal of the exercise is to simply lift as much possible weight as possible.

For programming, I recommend performing 3 sets for 6-10 reps, 1x a week. Make sure you increase either the weight or amount of reps each week.

For example, if on the first week you do 3 x 6 with 10lb dumbbells, the next week you can try 7 reps with the same 10lb dumbbell. The week after that you can try more weight or more reps again. 

Closing Thoughts

The advice in this article is relatively easy to understand but much more difficult to master.

The key to moving better is getting really good at the basics. 

This means you need to get disciplined and focus on getting the best possible reps out of a select few exercises. This is not the most exciting, I get it. But if you can enjoy this process, you will reap the rewards for years to come.

It’s amazing to me how much more complicated I made this process when I first started out.

Once I finally got out of my own way and paid more attention to the movements that mattered most, more strength and flexibility finally opened up for me.

Some of this misguided approach was due to my own ignorance. But some of it was also due to the type of content I was consuming online.

I urge you to be mindful of what type of content out there you consume. 

There are many great coaches out there putting out some life-changing stuff, but there are also some that are just in it for the clicks.  Click at your own risk.