Lunges vs squats: which leg day beast works you harder? (2024)

FAQs

Lunges vs squats: which leg day beast works you harder? ›

Runners looking to build stronger quadriceps should consider incorporating lunges into their workout routine. If building muscle is your goal, squats could be the optimal exercise for targeting and toning your glutes, inner thighs, and hamstrings.

If you want to improve your balance, coordination, agility, and endurance, choose lunges over squats. The movement of a squat concentrates more on building up your mass and power because you can add more weights to it, while lunges focus on stability and balance.

Each leg is alternately used as you literally walk the floor, making the walking lunge the apparent lunge of choice for maximal thigh and hip development. Even so, the significantly different muscle recruitment of the stationary lunge is enough to warrant including it regularly in your leg program.

“I think the main reason a lot of people find lunges harder than exercises like squats is because lunges are a single-leg movement,” Ashby says. “You're relying on one side of your body to carry your weight.” Lunges also require a lot of balance, which might make you feel like you lack stability.

Lunges are considered a unilateral exercise given the workload required of the lead leg compared to the rear. This allows you to better improve asymmetries in strength, compared with squats, for instance. Also, lunges challenge and improve your balance and stability in unilateral movements.

“Squats are more balanced than lunges and lunges need more coordination which is why squats are better for beginners. When you do a lunge, the front foot takes more load, so the muscle activation is different. As a beginner, start off with squats and progress to lunges when you have confidence in your strength.

The fact that you are now exercising with a single leg, immediately doubles the load on that leg (compared to the shared load of a two leg squat).

Not only do they contribute to building muscle, but they also help out with muscular imbalance as well. Lunges target everything below the waist when it comes to the legs. Lunges help develop the quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and even the harder to hit muscles that are in the inner thigh (adductor muscles).

Start with one set if you're a beginner, and add more as you get stronger. If you're doing lunges with challenging weights with a goal to increase strength endurance, do fewer repetitions per set. You might do two to four sets of 8 to 12 repetitions, Pata says.

Research confirms that lunges are beneficial for muscle stability, and static and dynamic balance as they require, and help you to develop, hip, knee, ankle, and foot mobility and stability.

Why are lunges bad for you? ›

The problem with forward lunges, is momentum tends to take you out of that front heel, which can translate into a lot of stress on your knees.

Lunges are another versatile and effective squat alternative for your lower body workouts. The great thing about lunges is they aren't a technical movement, and they are an excellent way to get your heart rate up while targeting the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hips, and calves.

They may have the edge over squats, too; McIntyre points to a 2021 study in the Journal of Isokenetic and Exercise Science which found that activation of the quadriceps and glutes was generally stronger in the lunge than in back squats.

So the majority of studies support that your left leg is the side of choice for strength or balancing needs, whether it be the plant foot before kicking, the takeoff foot for jumping, or the front leg of a baseball swing to stop rotation.

The forward lunge is knee-dominant, meaning the quads work slightly more than the hamstrings. The reverse lunge is hip-dominant, focusing more on the glutes and hamstrings. With most lunge variations, taking a small step forward or back activates the quads more, and a larger step activates the hips and hamstrings more.

Lunges increase muscle mass to build up strength and tone your body, especially your core, butt, and legs. Improving your appearance isn't the main benefit of shaping up your body, as you'll also improve your posture and range of motion. Lunges target the following muscles: abdominals.

Lunges are another versatile and effective squat alternative for your lower body workouts. The great thing about lunges is they aren't a technical movement, and they are an excellent way to get your heart rate up while targeting the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hips, and calves.

Lunges and squats work many of the same muscles, but they aren't exactly the same (and no, one isn't superior to the other). They each offer unique benefits, which is why you'll often see both in well-rounded workout routines.

So, despite the popularity of squats, they don't activate the glutes as much as lunges. Keep in mind that EMG measures muscle activation and tension and doesn't take into account other promoters of muscle hypertrophy, including metabolic stress and muscle damage.

I would say back squat places more stress on your back than front squats and lunges. Front squats however place the load more on your lower back, so while you're saving your spine, you might be stressing your lower back muscles. Performing lunges with dumbbells is much more safe than any type of bar movement.