Written by Sam Coleman | Co-founder
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
Thinking about incorporating kettlebell lunges into your routine? Smart choice. They may make you hate us for teaching you but your glutes and legs will thank you later. Not only will your muscles be on fire but you will greatly improve your proprioception, balance, and coordination, which is extremely important.
The best part is...there are many kettlebell lunge variations! We are going to teach you 8 of the best ones as it is necessary to change up the variables of your workouts so you’re hitting all angles, planes of motion, and muscles effectively. Plus, it'll make your workouts more fun.
Contents:
- Different grips for KB lunges
- Kettlebell lunges muscles worked
- Benefits of kettlebell lunges
- 8 best variations of kettlebell lunges
- Programming tips
WHAT IS A KETTLEBELL LUNGE
The kettlebell lunge is one of the most powerful exercises you can do for your legs, butt and core. Not only are you working some of the biggest muscles in the body, you are working on single-leg strength that will help improve your sports performance, core and hip mobility/stability, and overall your everyday life.
Walking upstairs have your legs burning? Not anymore with adding KB Lunges to your workout routine.
DIFFERENT GRIPS FOR KETTLEBELL LUNGES
There are 4 main grips for the kettlebell lunges:
- Holding them down with arms extended
- Goblet
- Racked
- Overhead
In order of easiest to hardest...
1. Arms Extended Down Grip:
- Place bells besides your feet.
- Grab bells by horns and pack your shoulders down and back.
- Stand upright without rounding your back.
- Begin lunges from here.
2. The Goblet Grip:
- Place the bell between the feet that are hip distance apart.
- Grab the horns of the bell with both hands.
- Lift to chest height.
- Keep elbows tight to the body and the horn of the bell below your line of sight.
3. Racked Grip:
If you’re more advanced with kettlebells and know how to hip hinge and swing the bell:
- Place bell out in front of you.
- With one hand, grip the horn of the bell.
- Perform a 1 arm swing and clean bell to the racked position.
If you aren’t advanced or don’t have a good kettlebell swing, you will use both hands to assist the bell to the racked position:
- Place bell out in front of you.
- Grab with both hands, in a cradle position.
- Hip back, deep.
- Hiking the bell into the racked position.
- Very carefully and gracefully.
4. Overhead Grip:
The overhead grip will require the most upper body mobility. However, it won't allow for as heavy of loads as the other grips. So, this is more of a speciality option.
To do this grip, you will do the above techniques for the racked grip and then from there, press the kettlebell overhead. Make sure to pack the shoulder and keep the bell over the shoulder. Knuckles to the ceiling to make sure the wrist stays neutral and isn’t bent in an awkward and uncomfortable position.
Containing 41 exercises, 10 complexes, and an 8 week program that you can follow. We've created the only guide you'll need to master the kettlebell and bring your training to the next level...
KETTLEBELL LUNGE MUSCLES WORKED
The primary muscles that are worked during a kettlebell forward lunge are the glutes, hamstrings, adductors, and quadriceps. It’s clearly a full-body movement but these are the muscles more emphasized. Especially, as you move up in weight.
It’s important to have strong legs and glutes as they are responsible for hip stability and hip extension, protection of the lower back, they keep us upright and pushing forward. The quadriceps are especially important in protecting the knee joints and aid in everyday activities such as walking, climbing stairs, and rising from a seated position.
The single-leg strength is extremely important as humans we spend a lot of time moving back and forth between legs. This means for even just a millisecond we are balancing on one foot with so many other things going on. We shouldn’t have to be thinking about our strength and balance each time a step is taken.
It should also be noted that depending on your grip, other muscles will be worked...
For example: With the racked position and goblet, your upper back and arms work hard to keep the kettlebell in position and your torso upright; With the overhead position, your shoulders and traps will work overtime to keep the bell in place; and all grip variations will work your grip strength.
The lunge is an exercise with a multitude of variations which leads to different techniques and emphasis on different muscle groups. If you want an in-depth look at the biomechanics of lunges, check out our article on what muscles lunges work.
There are plenty of variations of the lunge to add to your workout regime.
Besides the front (aka forward) lunge, which we've went over above, you have...
- Reverse Lunges: The reverse lunge has more emphasis on the glutes and hamstrings. The main functions of the glutes muscles are internal and external rotation of the hip, hip extension, and hip abduction and the hamstrings are responsible for knee flexion and hip extension
- Lateral Lunges: The side (lateral) lunge has a big focus on the groin muscles aka the adductors as well as the medial quadriceps. The primary action of the adductors is adduction of the thigh i.e. bringing the thighs together. The medial quadricep aids in the extension at the knee joint and extension of the thigh at the hip joint.
- Curtsy Lunges: The curtsy lunge targets the gluteus medius as well as the hip adductors. The gluteus medius sits in the lateral side of the hip and contributes to pelvic stability and lower extremity function. The hip adductors are again, responsible for adduction, squeezing the thighs together.
- Split Squats: The split squat hits the medial and lateral quadriceps, the same as the forward lunge. You can compare split squat vs lunge differences with this article.
Your calves will also be working to stabilize your movements! All of these variations will work your core and upper body too.
You will see all of these variations below...
BENEFITS OF LUNGES
- Core Stability: Working one leg at a time forces the stabilizing muscles to engage to keep you upright.
- Improvement in Posture: Specifically, doing a weighted lunge will strengthen your back and core without putting too much strain on your spine. A strong back and core help with your posture.
- Strengthen the Glutes & Core: The lower body gets hit hard with the lunge variations, it is a great way to strengthen the glutes. The core is fired up and working during all different lunge techniques.
- Hip Mobility: Sitting all day creates tight hips, while not implementing lunging into your workouts, you are continuing down the path of tight hips. Proper technique in your lunges will help improve your hip mobility.
- Improve Balance: The single leg work in the lunge forces your body to be uncomfortable and stabilize itself which can help you in your everyday life; stepping off sidewalks and uneven surfaces.
- Improve Coordination & Proprioception: Since the stabilizing muscles help with balance, coordination follows.
Related: Benefits of Kettlebell Training
8 BEST VARIATIONS OF KETTLEBELL LUNGES
As we've already went over the difficulty level of the different grips and how the muscles worked are altered with different lunge variations, we will simply provide step-by-step instructions on how to do each of the kettlebell lunges as well as some important tips where applicable. After, we have a video of all of these exercises in action.
While we tried to put these in order of easiest to hardest, the difficulty may depend on your limitations, such as mobility. For example, if you have good shoulder mobility but not so great hip mobility, the overhead grip lunge may be easier for you than the lateral lunge. So, take the difficulty level with a grain of salt as it depends on the individual...
1. Static Lunge:
The static lunge is the perfect way to introduce kettlebell lunges into your routine. While it takes away some coordination demand, as you don't need to move in and out of the lunge position, there is still plenty of demand on balance and stability. And like all of these exercises, you can progress simply by adding reps, volume or weight load.
One thing we really love about this variation, and why it's great for all fitness levels, is that since your feet stay in the same position, you can really hone in on the glutes and quads. Moreover, you can generally use a heavier load.
How To:
- Start in a split stance with your back heel up.
- Engage the core muscles.
- The kettlebell will be in the hand of the back leg.
- Drop your back knee straight down to the floor, hovering just above at the bottom of the lunge.
- Push through your front heel to feel your glutes and rise back to standing.
- Repeat for reps and switch sides.
Pro Tip: Don’t allow the front knee to collapse in. If you feel that start to happen, grip the ground with the toes and fire up the external side of the hip.
2. Front Lunge:
The forward lunge is a powerhouse of an exercise for the lower body. If you are looking for an all around lunge, this is it. It will challenge the glutes, hamstrings, quads, transverse abdominal muscles, and calves. Plus, with the goblet grip, your arms and upper back get some love too.
How To:
- Grab the kettlebell and hold in Goblet Grip.
- In your starting position, stand with your feet together and upright.
- Inhale to lift your right leg and step forward, lowering yourself to where your knees are at a 90/90 angle.
- Drive through the front heel to push back to a standing position.
- Repeat on the other side. Note: You can also do these in an alternating fashion rather than one side for reps, then the next.
Pro Tips:
- Make sure to keep the chin back and proper upright posture.
- Brace your belly, and keep your rib cage down at all times.
3. Goblet Reverse Lunge:
The Goblet Reverse Lunge has a large emphasis on the quadriceps, while also getting the glutes, hamstrings and hip flexor muscles more involved than a forward lunge. Moreover, if you are going to move forward with strength, you better be able to move backward with strength too!
Overall, the importance of having a powerful lower body is great. Strengthening the lower body muscles will help improve so many aspect of your physical health. While having a strong lower body, it with help aid in burning calories and weight loss, reduction of joint pain, reducing the risk of injury and help correct muscle imbalances.
How To:
- Get one kettlebell to the Goblet Grip position.
- Make sure to keep the elbow close to the body and engage the core.
- Alternate reverse lunge technique.
- Step backward and drop the back knee almost to the floor and push. through the front foot to push you forward to your standing position.
- Continue alternating each leg for reps. Note: You can also do these one side at a time rather than alternating each rep.
Pro Tip:
- Don’t let the front knee buckle it. Concentrate on on using the large leg muscles to execute this movement.
- Don’t lean forward, brace the trunk and keep the rib cage down.
4. Racked Position Lunge:
The racked position lunge will not only make your lower body scream but also your core. The racked position of the kettlebell forces you to stabilize throughout your trunk, especially if you are going to do a single racked bell. This is the most powerful way to do lunges and squats with kettlebells. It's total body.
Another reason this lunge is extremely useful is it will find all your imbalances meaning because it can be done as a unilateral movement with one bell, you will figure out which movement patterns are dominant/weaker on each side of the body. The kettlebells are a great tool to have to correct those imbalances.
How To:
- Get bell to a racked upright position.
- Make sure chin is pulled in, the gaze is forward.
- Brace your belly and punch down your hand without bell.
- Roll shoulders down and back.
- Take a step backward and bring both knees to a 90/90 position.
- Drive through the front heel, fire up those glutes to push you forward back to a standing position.
- Stay on the same side and finish your full rep range than do the opposite side.
Pro Tips:
- Knuckles to the ceiling to keep the wrist neutral.
- Don’t grip the bell too tight, it will keep the forearm fired up and exhaust you more quickly.
- Pack the shoulder down and back to get the lattisimus dorsi fired up to aid in holding the kettlebell in the correct position.
5. Overhead Lunge:
The overhead lunge is very challenging on the shoulder stabilizer muscles as well as the core. It will also challenge your balance and upper body mobility. This is an advanced exercise to incorporate into your workout regime.
How To:
- Get your kettlebell to a racked position.
- Then press the bell overhead.
- Make sure the shoulder is in the proper position to get the lat working as well.
- Brace the belly and pull the rib cage down. Do not let the ribs flare
- You will complete a reverse lunge with the same side leg you are holding the kettlebell on.
- Pull through the front foot and use the glute to push you forward back to your upright position.
- Continue engaging the core throughout the entire movement.
Pro Tips:
- When the kettlebell is in the overhead position, make sure the bell is over the shoulder, not the hand. It will pull you too far forward, putting too much weight on the shoulder stabilizers.
- Core has to be in engaged the whole time, it will help with stabilizing the bell overhead as well as your balance moving through this exercise.
6. Lateral Lunge:
Adding the lateral lunge to your workout regime is important because we sit, stand, walk, run, bike all in the sagittal plane of motion. The lateral lunge will take you out of that and force you to work in the frontal plane. It’s smart to train in different planes of motion so when real life takes you out of one plane of motion, you don’t injury yourself stepping off that sidewalk! As we said, if you are strong moving forward, and strong moving backward, then you better be strong moving to the side too!
The muscles that are targeted while executing the lateral lunge are quadriceps, abductors, glutes, adductors, and hamstrings.
How To:
- Hold the kettlebell in front of you, you will be lunging to the loaded arm side
- Step out laterally, sit the hips back and bend the knee.
- Push through the foot to fire up the glutes, hamstrings, abductors and adductors to return to your starting position.
- Repeat on the same leg until you finish your rep range and repeat on the other side.
Pro Tips:
- Make sure to sit the hips back and not put all the weight on the knee joint.
- Stay upright and engage the core.
7. Racked Lateral Lunge:
The Racked Lateral Lunge is a movement for an advanced practitioner. The rack position lateral, especially with a considerable load, is very challenging. The same muscles are worked as the previous Lateral Lunge but now there will be a lot more emphasis on the core muscles and obviously with more added weight comes a more powerful lower body.
How To:
- Either get 1 or 2 kettlebells to the racked position. If you’re using 2, you’ve done this before!
- If you’re using 1 kettlebell, you are to step to the opposite side of the loaded arm.
- Perform your lateral lunges as you did in the previous exercise.
- Stay on the same side until you finish all your repetitions.
Pro Tips:
- Rib cage stays down and the belly braced. Keep your torso and hips facing forward.
- Core has to stay engaged to keep you upright and to work the anti rotation of using one kettlebell.
8. Clean Lunge:
The clean lunge will give you more complexity which is always great for the brain when the upper and lower body connects during a complex movement. If you DON'T know how to do a kettlebell clean, you must learn that first before incorporating it into a lunge.
The Clean Lunge is a powerful movement used to achieve an advanced combination of stability, reactive strength, acceleration, and deceleration. The Clean Lunge activates muscles in the entire body including the quads, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, core, and triceps.
How To:
- Clean the kettlebell to a racked position.
Then you can either:
- Simultaneously, step back into a reverse lunge with the same side leg of the loaded arm
- OR, finish the clean and get the kettlebell to the racked position and then step back into the reverse lunge with the same side leg of the loaded arm.
This exercise is better to watch in video. Here are all 8 variations demonstrated for you:
BEST REP RANGE/VOLUME
The best rep range and volume will be dependent on the individual and the goal they are seeking to achieve. The rep ranges will be different if you are seeking to build muscle or for muscular endurance.
The weight of the kettlebell needs to be taken into consideration as well. It should be challenging enough but don’t work to failure. The last few reps should burn but you should still have gas left to continue on your workout.
Rep Ranges based on your fitness goals:
- Strength: 1-6 reps
- Hypertrophy: 7-15 reps
- Muscle Endurance: 16-25 reps
If you’re looking to build muscle, work in the hypertrophy rep range of 7-15. Make sure the weight of the kettlebell is making you work. Don’t speed through the reps, slow down a bit to create tension and to get all the muscles working together. You’ll want to keep your rest time on the shorter side to maximize your work volume. 30-90 seconds of rest is appropriate for hypertrophy training.
Related:
PROGRAMMING LUNGES INTO YOUR KB WORKOUTS?
If you are looking to increase strength, build muscle or work on your muscle endurance, you should implement kettlebells into your current workout regime.
You can program lunges into your workout 2x/times per week on a lower body day, push day or full body day. Rep ranges and sets will depend on your overall goal in a particular program. While making sure you’re still working towards the end goal of what you want to accomplish with this workout program.
CAN LUNGES REPLACE SQUATS?
Let’s just say not every exercise is for everybody. In a perfect world, you should be able to do incorporate and perform both lunges and squats BUT we don’t live in a perfect world.
There are many reasons why you could want to replaces squats with lunges:
- Experience lower back pain while squatting.
- Too much pressure on your knees.
- Quite possibly the simple fact that you just don’t like squatting.
Not squatting or not lunging isn’t a forever decision. You made change your mind in a few weeks/months etc.
The squat is performed from a young age just to pick something off the ground and as we age, we use it less and less, as we sit in chairs, are in cars, trains, planes etc. We lose the repetitions of the squats in our everyday life. While lunges mimic walking, running, walking up and down stairs which are movements most people perform everyday.
Lunges will force you to work more on your stabilizing muscles, specifically the core and obliques while doing the unilateral work on the lower body to develop powerhouse muscles.
There are options to add weight, reps and trying different variations of the lunges to find what works and feels the best for you. And which ones will help you reach your overarching fitness goals.
Lunges as with any or most unilateral work will highlight imbalances that you may have that may be hidden when doing bilateral exercises such as squats.
If you aren’t a fan of squatting, its okay, add lunges to your workout regime and you’ll see you will still be able to build muscle and gain strength.
FINAL NOTE:
As we can see there are an endless number of benefits to adding kettlebell lunges to your workout program. With that being said, the kettlebell lunge can help with an imbalances you have in your body, increase strength, gain muscle, weight loss and additional calorie burn. Lunges are a great way to develop the lower body and create powerful leg and buttocks muscles. Doing lunges will help make your every day life movements a little easier. Remember, lunges mimic walking, running, climbing up and down stairs, so why not train something you have to do everyday. Not only will they help with your lower body muscles but your core and obliques will reap the benefits of the lunge as well. The whole point of lunges is to gain strength, reduce the risk of injury, aid in injury recovery, and muscle growth!
The SFS FIVE Kettlebell Workout Package has 5 fun and challenging full length workouts that only require one piece of equipment, a kettlebell! Each kettlebell workout has a unique protocol, and when combined, they make for the perfect weekly workout routine.
More Kettlebell Exercise Articles:
- Kettlebell Swings
- Kettlebell Rows
- Kettlebell Squats
- Kettlebell Deadlifts
- Kettlebell Windmills
- Kettlebell Turkish Get Ups
- Kettlebell Cleans
- Kettlebell Snatch
Kettlebell Exercises by Muscle Groups:
Sam Coleman
Author