Forward Lunges

Forward lunges are one of the most basic—but effective—bodyweight exercises for toning the legs, glutes, and thighs. While weighted strength training is great, sometimes the best exercises you can do utilize just your own body! Although lunges seem simple, proper form is the difference between seeing results and wasting your time. Watch as Chris Freytag demonstrates how to do alternating forward lunges in this quick instructional video. Once you’ve got the form down, you can practice your lunges as often as you want and incorporate them into your next workout.

To start, stand tall with your shoulders back and down. You can keep your hands at your sides or on your hips. Step forward with one foot into a lunge, with your front knee tracking over the top of your shoes. Your back knee will point down and you’ll stay on your back toe, keeping your chest and heart lifted and your gaze forward. Step back into beginning position and then step forward with the other leg, again coming down as far as you can with a good range of motion. Alternate right and left forward lunges and make sure you’re keeping your torso upright as you do so. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll start to see how effective forward lunges are at toning and defining your legs and butt.

This basic bodyweight movement can help tone, tighten, and strengthen the legs and glutes— especially when combined with weekly cardio training sessions. Even if you’ve been doing forward lunges for years, it can be nice to revisit the proper form for some of the “staples” of bodyweight workouts in order to remind ourselves of how to do them effectively. Performing these exercises correctly is crucial if you want to see results, so brush up on your form and get to those lunges!