If you have ever wanted to tone your thighs in a more effective way, then lunges might just be the best way to do so. A weight training exercise that is meant to strengthen a whole bunch of muscles, lunges can also be thought of as short lunges and long lunges. The short lunges focus on your quadriceps, while the long lunges make your glutes the focus of the exercise.
If you have always wanted to sport more impressive-looking thighs, then lunges are the ideal exercise for you to try to achieve this goal. They are easy to do, do not demand any extra equipment or prohibitive costs, and can be done without any preparation.
Muscles WorkedLunges are a spectacular exercise for toning your thighs in part because they also work out a whole bunch of muscles. Lunges work out your quads, your glutes, your hamstring muscles, your biceps femoris, your semitendinosus and your semimembranosus. Your quads are a big group of muscles that includes the four main muscles on top of your thigh, while the glutes are the three muscles that together form your derriere.
Your hamstrings are your posterior thigh muscles. The semitendinosus muscles, the semimembranosus muscles and your biceps femoris muscle are the muscles that make up your hamstrings. Because of the great number of muscles all across your thighs (both front and back) that are being worked out by lunges, toning your thighs is made easy. Lunges are one of the most ideal as well as essential thigh exercises.
Performing LungesStart in a position where your feet are shoulder-width apart as you bring one foot forward while you keep the other planted firmly in place. Bring down your foot in such a way that your heel touches the ground first. Then, shift your weight forward on the foot you stepped out with so that your knee becomes bent at a 90 degree angle, and your knee lines up right above your toes.
Continue shifting your weight forward until your back knee is almost making contact with the ground. At this point in the lunge, stop your momentum forward and reverse course, bringing your body up again to its original, starting position by way of pushing upward on your front leg. Do the same procedure with the opposite leg to exercise the other leg, too.
Increasing the DifficultyIf you feel like you have mastered the basics of lunges, then it is time to push yourself harder and farther still by adding some weights into the equation. You can either use dumbbells (which you will hold in either hand), or you can use a barbell that has weights on it, which you can hold on top of your shoulders and neck. If you are trying to add weights to your lunges, you may experience that you may have an ordeal with holding the dumbbells in your hand during your lunges. If that's the case, go with the barbell lunges instead.
