Workout Wednesday: Walking Lunges

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Since I am back to blogging more regularly, I thought I would bring back my Workout Wednesday series.  Walking lunges are a great workout to add to your leg workout routine.  According to Jennifer Pattee, owner of Basic Training, Walking Lunges are "a dynamic stretch, so as you're lunging you're preparing your body for movement, but you're also lunging your body weight up and down so it's also resistance training.  And it's also helping strengthen ligaments and muscles around your joints."

Walking lunges are great for toning your legs and a great way to tone your butt!  Who doesn't want a great butt?  Speaking of butts, I am starting to see a major change in mine.  I do walking lunges regularly with my personal trainer and I can see the difference.

Walking lunges also replicate the movement of a runner.  So runners should perform this exercise to help increase their speed.

To perform walking lunges follow these steps:

-Stand upright, feet together, holding two dumbbells (5-10 lbs.) at your sides.

-Take a controlled step forward with your left leg, curling the dumbbells to your shoulders, keeping your elbows close to the body.

-Lower hips toward the floor and bend both knees (almost at 90 degree angles). The back knee should come close but never touch the ground. Your front knee should be directly over the ankle and the back knee should be pointing down toward the floor.

-Push off with your right foot and bring it forward to starting position, lowering the dumbbells to your side. This completes one rep.

-Next step forward and repeat with the right leg.

-Do two to three sets of 15 reps.

You can easily modify this move for beginners without weights, keeping your arms by your side.

Do you perform walking lunges?

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