Work Your Hamstrings More When Doing Walking Lunges

There are few injuries as bothersome and harder to recover from than hamstring injuries. Prevention of hamstring injuries is the best solution. Similarly, weak hamstrings can lead to other serious injuries, such as knee ACL tears. For example, female athletes tend to have weaker hamstrings because they use their quadriceps muscles more while walking and running.

See my post here for a detailed discussion of hamstring flexibility and strength.



The walking lunge can be a great strength and flexibility exercise for your hamstrings. The further you "lunge out" with the lead leg, the more your hamstrings are worked. And, if you don't "lunge out" very far, your quadriceps will get more work than your hamstrings. The quadriceps get plenty of work with other exercises like leg presses, squats and leg extensions. So, why not use walking lunges to help out those hamstrings!

When you do your walking lunges today, don't forget about your hamstrings!