---
title: 'Stop Doing Lunges Like This! (Save a Friend)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pwsn3HR4L90'
video_id: 'Pwsn3HR4L90'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 496
---

# Stop Doing Lunges Like This! (Save a Friend)

> Source: [Stop Doing Lunges Like This! (Save a Friend)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pwsn3HR4L90)

## Summary

This video explains why reverse lunges are superior to forward lunges for knee health and muscle targeting, providing detailed biomechanical reasoning and form cues. It covers foot placement, upper body positioning, torso lean, loading, and depth to help viewers perfect their reverse lunge technique.

### Key Points

- **Forward Lunge Knee Stress** [00:01] — Forward lunges place 4.6 times body weight on the patellofemoral joint and patellar tendon, with high force rate that can exceed knee capacity.
- **Reverse Lunge Reduces Stress** [00:30] — Stepping backwards keeps the front foot on the ground, eliminating impact and reducing knee stress compared to forward lunges.
- **Push-Off Compensation** [01:09] — Forward lunges often cause hip sliding back during push-off; reverse lunges naturally allow straight up and full hip extension.
- **Foot Placement Width** [02:07] — Step back and out to at least shoulder width for a stable base, avoiding narrow stance that turns it into a balance test.
- **Step Length Using Toe** [02:50] — Reach back with your toe; when it contacts the ground, go straight down from there for proper spacing.
- **Upper Body Rotation** [03:29] — Rotate your upper body slightly toward the lunging leg on each step to stabilize the pelvis and prevent balance issues.
- **Torso Lean and Muscle Focus** [04:12] — Upright torso targets quads; leaning forward (hinge at waist) loads glutes and hamstrings more effectively.
- **Loading Based on Position** [05:18] — For posterior chain focus, use dumbbells as they allow forward lean; for quad focus, use barbell on back or rack position with upright torso.
- **Depth and Knee Contact** [06:23] — Lower until back knee lightly touches the ground (kiss, not bang). Ankle limitations may prevent full depth; adjust as needed.

### Conclusion

By switching to reverse lunges and applying the form cues—proper foot placement, upper body rotation, torso lean, and depth control—you can build strong legs while minimizing knee stress.

## Transcript

don't see someone doing my favorite leg exercise, the lunge. And that makes my heart sink. The only problem is, they're [ __ ] it up. we're lunging. And of the two popular directions that we can lunge in, forward
or backward, [music] the most popular happens to be the most stressful to your forward, [music] we're placing a lot of undue stress on that patellofemoral patellar tendon, that doesn't have to be there [music] if we just simply were to
direct our step backwards. And the issue is not just how much force, which is actually 4.6 times your body weight, but the rate that we apply it. When we step, hits the ground. And when it does, we have to quickly be able to adapt to that
stress. So, even if you are able to handle 4.6 times your body weight, like a lot of knees can, the speed that we apply that force can sometimes be more than you can handle, which causes the knee pain. So, if we step backwards,
that front leg stays in contact with the ground. It's not stepping up and applying itself down every single time. It's already there, which gives us a lot pain. The next thing though is also, what is the effect on the legs that
you're trying to grow? When we step, the issue is not just how we land, but how we push out of the lunge from this position, we oftentimes compensate [music] instantly. We slide the hips back and then we stand up. Rather than
straight up out of there and step backwards. When we do the reverse lunge, that all happens naturally. We step back, the leg goes straight down, we to [music] full hip extension. So, biomechanically, you're doing the lunge
properly. Now, if you wanted to step forward, [music] you have to at least continue in a walking direction. You'll see The Rock doing this variation here, [music] having to try to compensate backwards, you just simply rise up and
step through and take your next step. That will help fix a lot of those doesn't take away that negative effect of the stresses on the knee joint. You with the step direction in place, the most important next thing for you to
focus on is where you're specifically putting that [music] back foot. Every for you to step to. And what we want to do is not turn the lunge into a field sobriety test by stepping too close together. If your feet stay in line with
primary focus rather than building your legs with this fantastic exercise. Instead, what I want you to do is step back and out. Get at least two shoulder width or outside of shoulder width with your step to give yourself a wider base
of support and provide the balance and stability that you need to focus on just building up your legs rather than maintaining balance. As far as how far back you should go, that's determined by [music] the length of your leg, which
can easily be fixed by just using your toe as a landmark. As I [music] step back, reach with your toe. Once your toe makes contact with the ground, that's as straight down from there. Now, that distance is going to be different for
everyone that does the exercise, [music] but as long as you're using your toe as the guideline, it makes contact, you go straight down, that width is properly spaced, and you've got GPS-like accuracy in terms of the foot placement to make
we have to think about what's going on with your upper body. Cuz even though this is a lower body exercise, the position of our upper body will body exercise. [music] Cuz you have a great opportunity to screw your body
into place and provide additional stability by just simply rotating your you do the exercise. [music] So, what I'm saying is every time I step back, I want to turn my body just a little bit from my shoulders in the direction of
actually create a little bit of internal rotation at the hip, but more so with going to provide a little more stability and locking of the pelvis in place so [music] could derail the success of the movement. Remember, every time I step
back, I get a little turn from the upper body in the direction of that lunging easy. Now, the position of the torso doesn't just matter in terms of how rotated your shoulders are, but also how forward or
when you do the exercise because it determines which muscles you're actually focusing on. So, if I do an upright [music] reverse lunge, then most of the focus is going to be directed right here at the quads, [music] the anterior
Because when I come out of it, I maintain this upright position much like I would during a front squat that targets the same muscles. If instead I were to lean forward a little bit by hinging at the waist, what this does is
lunge. We're looking like [music] we're position here, well, this is going to load up that backside glute and hamstring more effectively. So, if I do it from this side, you can see that by
yourself just by doing this, you get a lot more loading posteriorly, and this is the focus of the exercise itself. So, I can do the exercise either way, just be aware of the fact that changing your position, be it upright or leaning
dramatically change the focus of the muscles that you're trying to target Which brings us to the next consideration here, which is how you load the exercise. And that has a lot to do with what we just covered, the body
Because if you were to try to do, let's say, a posterior chain focus version of and you were going to do it with some type of object, either a kettlebell or a rack position here, then leaning forward is going to become very, very difficult.
weight close enough to your chest to [music] avoid [ __ ] up your back beyond just messing up the exercise. So, what we do instead is choose [music] the implement that works best. For anything posterior here, you're best off going to
be holding a pair of dumbbells because no matter what I do, my arms are going to be independent of the rest of my body. So, I can tilt my torso forward but not have that affected by the position of the dumbbells that hangs
do want to do this even forward or backward and you want to make sure you're focusing more on your quads, then the upright position would allow you to put the barbell on your back or the rack position with the weight held up here
against your chest. Either one would work but mostly for that anterior focused upright body position. But how you apply the load to your body is up to the position of your body while you do it.
>> Which brings us to the question of depth. Hey Jessie, how deep is good >> I hope 2 and 1/2 inches. >> Poor guy. Listen, the depth is going to it's going to be determined by the position of that back knee in relation
to the ground. Or if you have orthopedic limitations either in your hips or most often in your calf or Achilles, then it's going to be determined by how far you can go based on how tight you actually [music] are. First of all, the
knee can actually make contact with the ground. I hear [music] all the time that contact with the ground. It's not supposed to make contact with the ground hard. You never want to direct that kind of force into your knee unnecessarily,
but it can kiss the ground cuz it gives you the idea that you know you actually got down all the way to full depth. This would be full depth. If instead you had limitations at the ankle, then what would happen is as I go back, I run out
of dorsiflexion at the ankle there and I'm stuck. So, my only option at that point is to pitch forward to give myself the appearance of actually getting shift the focus to the posterior chain away from the quads. Or I'm just going
continue. And again, I mentioned the rock before, [music] he had an Achilles limitation you see here, but there's nothing incorrect about that lunge. It's just working with what he had. That being said, I love the lunge, and if you
you're going to improve the way you're doing yours. If you want to do it, I total body workout that I'm giving to you for free just by visiting athleanx.com/tbfree
guys, if you haven't done so, head to athleanx.com, get the Athlean-X training find the program that's right for you and your goals. We have complete lines subscribe, turn on your notifications so you never miss a video I'm putting out.
Try this out. Let me know if it helped you out. See you.