When it comes to building lower-body strength, lunges are a pretty efficient exercise: not only do they target your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves, but they also work your core, improving your posture and range of motion But what if you added 100 lunges to your daily routine for a week? I started to find out.
As a fitness editor, I’m no stranger to the odd fitness challenge. You can read what happened when I did it. 100 dead insects a day for a week, 30 sit-ups a day for 30 days and when I added a one minute plank to my morning routine.
It goes without saying that what works for me might not work for you. If you’re a complete beginner, starting with 100 reps of any exercise is a lot, and it’s a good idea to check your form with a personal trainer before increasing the number of reps you do or adding weight to an exercise.
How to do a reverse lunge
Let’s start with how to do a lunge with the correct form. To do a reverse lunge, you’ll want to start at the top of your exercise mat with your feet shoulder-width apart. Engage your glutes (squeeze them together) and brace your core as you step back with your right or left foot, making sure your legs remain shoulder-width apart and your hips facing forward.
Keeping your spine perpendicular to the ground, lower your body to the ground until both legs form a 90-degree angle. The front knee should be over the front ankle and the back knee should be under the hip. Press back from your back foot to your starting position and repeat the movement on the other side.
For more details and information on variations, see our guide on how to do a lunge.
I Did 100 Lunges A Day For A Week – Here’s What Happened
On the first day of the challenge, I realized how many 100 lunges was. I opted for bodyweight reverse lunges, doing four sets of 25 reps on each leg. It was repetitive and quite boring, but it didn’t feel too challenging. The next day I had a slight twinge in my buttocks, but nothing too intense.
On the second day, I added weights to the exercise, holding a 5kg dumbbell in each hand (see our best adjustable dumbbells here). This time, I lunged forward and alternated which leg she stepped on each time. I did two sets of 50 reps, with a two-minute break between sets. The weights definitely made things more challenging, and I had to really focus on my form for the last few reps, making sure I didn’t arch my back or collapse forward in the movement.
On day three, I could definitely feel the 200 lunges in my legs as I started my challenge, so I opted for static lunges instead of mixing things up. This time I did 25 reps on one leg, before switching to the other, twice. Once again, I forced myself to slow down and think about keeping my core engaged As I was taking the plunge, three days into the challenge, I realized how often I was rushing through my workouts. Really focusing on one exercise forced me to really think about whether or not I was engaging my glutes and squeezing my core during the movement.
On days four and five, I stuck to static lunges, adding a 11-pound dumbbell, then a 13-pound dumbbell in each hand, and keeping the movements slow and controlled. I now had 500 lunges and my legs could feel the pangs of hard work. I also opted to do the lunges before putting my running shoes and run out the door. I’m definitely guilty of just going out without doing any warm-ups, so lunges helped me ‘turn on’ the muscles I needed when running.
By the sixth day, the end was in sight, but he was completely sick of lunges. I decided to mix things up and try side or side lunges, stepping to the side, rather than forward. Side lunges generally target the inner and outer thighs, as well as building stability in the ankles and knees, all of which are important to runners. I found side lunges much more difficult after days of reverse lunges, but it was good to mix things up. As a reminder, it’s not a good idea to train the same muscle group every day.
Finally, the final 100 lunges. For the sake of an interesting article, I decided to switch to jumping lunges. I did ten at a time, pausing 30 seconds between each set to let my now-shaky legs recover.
My lessons after seven days? I’m definitely done with lunges for a long time and while I haven’t noticed any difference in the mirror, it takes a lot longer than seven days to build real muscle, but I’ve seen the benefits of activating leg muscles before I run. . I was also reminded of the importance of really nailing your form: sometimes it pays to drop the weights and your ego, and really slow down to make sure you’re doing things right. I’ll definitely be doing lunges in the future, but 100 reps of anything a day, as I’m learning, is enough to put you off for a while.
Looking for more exercise inspiration? This is what happened when I tried the 25-7-2 viral workout for a weekY Tried Carrie Underwood’s Leg Workoutthe best exercise to sculpt your arms using only your body weight, three of the best resistance band exercises for the lower body.
