Are Lunges Better Than Squats?

Fellas, lunges ain’t just for girls.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that if you aren’t already doing lunges, then adding them to your next leg workout will leave you crying.  You won’t feel so manly then.

But the good news is that after a few weeks, you’ll start to love lunges.  And you will start to feel more manly – in the sense that you’ll feel muscles growing that you either thought you were already hitting hard, or else didn’t know existed.

But don’t cut out your squats!  There are some advantages to lunges, as I’ll explain, but they don’t replace squats.  They complement them.

In this article you’ll learn what lunges are, how to do them (and variations), why they are effective, and how they compare to squats.

Let’s start with what lunges are…

What Is a Lunge?

The lunge is a weight training exercise used to target and strengthen the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteus muscles.  Some core stabilizers are involved as well.  And I don’t know of any other weight-bearing exercise that stretches your hip flexors like lunges do.

To perform the standard forward lunge, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and then step forward, landing with the heel first. The forward knee should bend at 90 degrees and end directly above the toes, not further. That leading leg’s hip also bends at 90 degrees. If in doubt about how far to step, it’s better to overstep than understep.  Taking a shorter step, and bending more than 90 degrees, can put added pressure on the knee.

The trailing leg’s knee comes straight down, also bending at 90 degrees but the hip stays straight.  See the picture to the right.

To end the forward lunge, you fire up and backwards with your leading leg’s quads and step back to the starting position.

There are many variations of lunges beyond the forward lunge just described.  The most popular are listed below (if there’s interest, I can create videos of each – leave a comment if you think it would be worthwhile).

Lunge Variations

• Forward Lunge – step forward, then step back to straight position

• Reverse/Backward Lunge – step backward, then return forward to straight position

• Rotational Lunge – like a forward lunge,  but using a dumbbell you cross the dumbbell over the stepping knee; adds challenge for stabilization

• Lateral Lunge – step to the side, then back up straight; a bit awkward with dumbbells

• Static Lunge – step forward, but then keep feet planted and rise up to the mid position, not straight up, and do all reps before switching legs; essentially this is a split-squat

• Combinations of the above

With the exception of the static lunge, most lunges are done alternating legs.  Step with your weaker leg first, then your other leg, then the weaker leg again, etc.  In contrast, static lunges are usually done for a full set on one leg, then you switch and do a full set on the other leg.

Performing a lunge can be done without the use of weights when you are learning or as dynamic warm-ups. But using weights such as dumbbells or barbell weights with lunges will obviously increase difficulty and resistance. Most heavy lifters would prefer the barbell lunge, since grip strength will be a factor in dumbbell lunges.

Which is Better – Squats or Lunges?

Trainers and fitness aficionados have had arguments on the effectiveness of lunges against squats. The factors of discussion would be form, effectiveness and safety.

The squat works the almost same muscles as the lunge but is a totally different movement pattern. The squat is an extension exercise which positions both feet firmly on the floor instead of the lunge’s stepping movement.

Lunges take longer to do. To get 6 reps on each leg, you actually have to do 12 total reps.  In contrast, 6 reps of squats work both legs for 6 reps.

Lunges are easier to do properly – complete range of motion.  Too many people cheat on the squat and only go half way down.  If that describes you, then lunges would be far better.

Lunges are unilateral and really allow you to identify movement oddities or weaknesses on one side that could be holding back your regular squats.  In fact, if you have a weak side (some guys even have one glute weaker and smaller than the other), you have to do unilateral movements to bring it up to par with the stronger side.

Lunges work your oblique stabilizers more. A lunge’s base of support changes throughout the movement, from the initiation of the movement to the mid stance to end phase. The center of gravity is harder to control on the lunge than the squat as you are moving away from the trailing leg.

Lunges can isolate specific muscles better, because of their variations and the single-leg focus.

Squats build more overall muscle. Squats are usually done with more weight, so your core is working much harder.  This theoretically means more testosterone and growth hormone is released, though I’ve not seen any science on that.

Squats are also a much better test of absolute strength.  The higher weight, plus the superior balance, means that squats are better when you are doing low-rep workouts.  In contrast, you never want to do a “1 rep max” with lunges.  The weight you’d be using would be so great that you’d probably topple over.  So lunges are better for traditional bodybuilder style rep counts: 6 to 12 reps (per leg!).

(This leads people to think of lunges as “finishing work” or “good for adding definition”.  “Definition” really comes from two things:  having sufficient muscle mass and having low body fat.  The low fat comes from eating right and there are various routines for adding muscle mass.  So you can get “defined” with either squats or lunges.)

Lunges are generally better for your glutes.  This applies for pretty much any variation of lunges compared to just about any variation of squats.  Sure, front squats do work your glutes a bit more, but not as well as most lunges.

But for your hamstrings and your quads, comparing the effectiveness depends on which variations of the squats you are comparing to which variations of lunges.

For safety, it’s a toss-up. Barbell lunges (which I love) are precarious balance movements.  It’s really hard to balance and so I always do them inside a power rack.  On at least one occasion, I’ve tilted too much and the safety bars did their job!

But squats can be very dangerous too, when not done properly.  The amount of weight guys stack on there to feed their ego, plus the tendency of some to lean too far forward so that their knees are way past their toes, really can be dangerous.  But that’s ignorance/stupidity.

Are Squats And Lunges That Different?

All the strength gurus talk about the squat.  And only the squat.  You almost never hear them talking about lunges except as a filler exercise or for mobility drills.  They’d have you believe that things are black and white and that there exists a clear line separating all the exercises in the world.  In reality, lunges and squats exist along a continuum of movements.

I’ve gone on record many times about the importance of squats.  But I still love lunges and if you were to push me about which is better overall, I might have to punt and argue that lunges are a subset of squats anyway.

I also would argue that some of the exercises with the word “squat” in them are really lunges in disguise.  Any so-called “supported” squat, where one leg is in front of another and your trailing leg is still touching the ground for balance support.  For example: split squats and Bulgarian squats.  In my book, these are really static lunges.

What do you think?

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Related posts:

1. Getting the Right Stance for Squats
2. What You’re Missing With Half Squats
3. Abs and Squats

Tags: lunges, squats