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Exercises

Lunge alternatives: what to do instead of walking lunges

Published October 23, 2026

The best walking lunge alternative is the dumbbell reverse lunge: same one-leg work, done in place, and easier to control. If balance is the problem, do split squats with your feet planted or a single-leg leg press on a machine. For more glutes, use step-ups; with no equipment, reverse lunges and skater squats load each leg with bodyweight alone.

What a walking lunge alternative has to replace

Walking lunges train your quads and glutes one leg at a time, with your adductors helping to steady you. Each step loads the front leg hardest at the bottom, with your knee deeply bent, and the walking adds a balance challenge on every rep.

A good replacement keeps one leg doing most of the work through a deep knee bend. Whether you walk to get there does not matter for your legs.

How to do the walking lunge

Machines in the gym

The usual answer to "what machine replaces lunges": train one leg at a time with something holding you steady.

Closest machine to a lunge

Single-Leg Leg Press

Quads

Each leg pushes on its own with your back supported, so you keep the one-leg work of a lunge with no balance and no walking space. Set your foot higher on the platform for more glutes.

How to do it

  1. Sit in the press and set one foot in the middle of the platform, the other resting on the floor or frame.
  2. Bend your working knee with control and let it come toward your chest until it is well bent and your hip stays on the seat.
  3. Press through that one foot to straighten the leg without twisting your pelvis.
  4. Finish all reps on one side, then switch.

Cues

  • Hips square
  • Same depth on both legs
  • Smooth, not jerky

Common mistakes

  • Rotating the hips to cheat the platform up: drop the weight until both hips stay flat.
  • Starting with your stronger leg and doing extra reps: match the weaker side's reps on both.
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Heavy one-leg work on rails

Smith Machine Bulgarian Split Squat

Quads, Glutes

The rails hold the bar steady, so you can load a one-leg squat heavier than you could carry on walking lunges. Pick it when balance, not your legs, ends your lunge sets.

How to do it

  1. Put a bench behind the Smith machine, set the bar on your upper back, and rest one foot on the bench behind you.
  2. Place the front foot far enough forward that your shin stays close to vertical at the bottom.
  3. Unhook the bar and lower straight down until your back knee is close to the floor.
  4. Drive through the front heel to stand up, finish the set, then switch legs.

Cues

  • Front foot well forward
  • Straight down on the track
  • Heel stays heavy

Common mistakes

  • Setting the front foot too close so the knee travels far forward: move it out before you load the bar.
  • Pushing off the back foot: it only rests on the bench.
Build a session with Smith Machine Bulgarian Split Squat

Lunges done in place

If space, balance or your knees are the issue, stop walking. These keep the split stance and the one-leg load.

Lunge without the stepping

Dumbbell Split Squat

Quads, Glutes

Your feet stay planted the whole set, so all you do is lower and stand. It is the easiest swap to balance and lets you set the depth rep by rep.

How to do it

  1. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and take a long step back with one foot, landing on the ball of that foot.
  2. Check your stance: feet about hip-width apart side to side, like two rails, and your front foot flat from heel to toes.
  3. Brace, then bend both knees and lower straight down until your back knee is a couple of inches from the floor.
  4. Push the floor away with your whole front foot and stand up to just short of locking out, without moving your feet.
  5. Do every rep on one leg, then switch, starting each set with your weaker side.

Cues

  • Elevator down, not forward
  • Front foot flat, heel down
  • Back knee nearly kisses the floor

Common mistakes

  • Feet on a tightrope: if you wobble, widen your feet sideways until each sits under its own hip.
  • Stance too short: if your front heel lifts at the bottom, slide the back foot further back before the next set.
  • Rocking forward instead of dropping: keep your weight between both feet and let the back knee travel straight down.
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Best swap in a small space

Dumbbell Reverse Lunge

Quads, Glutes

Stepping back instead of forward keeps you in one spot and most of your weight on the front heel. Most lifters find it easier to control than a forward or walking lunge.

How to do it

  1. Start tall with a dumbbell hanging from each hand and your feet under your hips.
  2. Step one foot back and lower until your back knee is just above the floor and your front thigh is near parallel.
  3. Keep your front heel flat and your chest tall.
  4. Push through your front foot to bring the back foot forward to the start, then alternate or finish all reps on one side.

Cues

  • Front shin stays vertical
  • Back knee kisses the floor
  • Drive through the front heel

Common mistakes

  • Taking a short step so the front knee shoots forward and the heel lifts: step farther back.
  • Letting the torso twist or lean to the side as you tire; keep both dumbbells hanging straight down.
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Hardest dumbbell swap

Bulgarian Split Squat

Quads, Glutes

With your back foot on a bench, almost all of the load sits on your front leg, so it beats walking lunges for one-leg work with light dumbbells.

How to do it

  1. Stand about two of your own foot lengths in front of a knee-height bench, a dumbbell in each hand, and set your back foot laces-down on the bench.
  2. Shuffle your front foot until it sits straight under your hip line, hip-width from the back foot, so you are not balancing on a tightrope.
  3. Brace, then drop your back knee straight toward the floor until it almost touches and your front thigh is at or below parallel.
  4. Drive through your whole front foot and stand back up without pushing off the back leg.
  5. Finish every rep on one side before you switch, and start each set with your weaker leg.

Cues

  • Back knee drops straight down
  • Whole front foot stays heavy
  • Back leg is a kickstand, not a motor

Common mistakes

  • Front foot too close or too far: if your front heel lifts, step it forward; if you feel a stretch in the front of the back hip and little else, step it back.
  • Bench too high: if your back knee cannot get near the floor, drop to a lower box or a stack of plates.
  • Pushing off the back foot: keep the back toes relaxed on the bench and slow the lowering until the front leg does the work.
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Same forward step, in place

Dumbbell Forward Lunge

Quads, Glutes

A forward lunge with one dumbbell at your chest, stepping back to the start each rep. You keep the forward-lunge feel for your quads without needing a long room.

How to do it

  1. Hold a dumbbell upright at your chest, cupping one end with both hands.
  2. Step forward and drop into the lunge until both knees are bent near 90 degrees.
  3. Drive off the front foot back to standing.
  4. Alternate legs each rep, keeping the torso upright.

Cues

  • Tall chest
  • Step out, push back
  • Front knee over the middle of the foot

Common mistakes

  • Hopping back to the start: push back in one controlled move.
  • Letting the front knee cave inward on the push: keep it pointed over the toes.
Build a session with Dumbbell Forward Lunge

Other dumbbell swaps

A box, a sideways step, or two feet on the floor: different shapes that train the same quads and glutes.

Glute-heavy swap with a box

Step-Up

Quads, Glutes

Driving up onto a box trains the same front leg as a lunge and works your glutes hard at the top. A low box makes it an easy entry if lunges feel unstable.

How to do it

  1. Stand facing a sturdy bench or box at about knee height, a dumbbell hanging at each side.
  2. Plant your working foot flat in the middle of the box, close enough that your heel is fully on it.
  3. Lean your chest slightly over that knee, then push down through the whole foot and stand tall on top.
  4. Let the trailing foot come up beside the working one without pushing off the floor to get there.
  5. Lower the trailing foot back to the floor slowly, keeping the working leg bent and in charge the whole way.
  6. Do every rep on one leg before switching, and start with your weaker side.

Cues

  • Back foot is a passenger
  • Whole foot on the box
  • Lower in two to three seconds

Common mistakes

  • Bouncing off the back foot: lift the toes of the trailing foot before each rep so it cannot help, and lighten the dumbbells until you can.
  • Box too high: if your hips shift sideways or you have to lurch to get up, drop to a lower box until you can rise straight.
  • Dropping down: if the trailing foot lands with a thud, you skipped the lowering; slow it down and count it.
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Side-to-side swap for inner thighs

Dumbbell Lateral Lunge

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

Stepping out to the side trains your quads and glutes and stretches your inner thighs, a direction walking lunges never cover. Use it as a second one-leg lift.

How to do it

  1. Stand tall, feet under your hips, holding two dumbbells by your thighs.
  2. Take a big step out to one side, landing with your toes pointing forward or turned out slightly.
  3. Sit your hips back and down into that leg, bending the knee over your foot while the other leg stays straight with its foot flat.
  4. Lower until your bent thigh is near parallel to the floor, letting the dumbbells hang on either side of the working knee.
  5. Push hard through the whole foot of the bent leg to return to standing, then repeat to the other side or finish one side first.

Cues

  • Sit back, not just down
  • Heel stays heavy
  • Straight leg stays long

Common mistakes

  • Knee caving in or shooting past the toes: push your hips back first and keep the knee tracking over your middle toes.
  • Heel lifting on the working foot: take a slightly shorter step and keep your weight toward the middle of the foot.
  • Rounding forward to reach depth: keep your torso upright and go only as low as your hips and inner thigh allow; depth improves with practice.
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Two-leg swap if lunges are not working

Goblet Squat

Quads, Glutes

Both feet on the floor and one dumbbell at your chest. Pick it when every lunge variation feels unstable; it trains the same quads and glutes.

How to do it

  1. Pick up one dumbbell, stand it on end and cup the top plate in both palms so it rests against your breastbone.
  2. Set your feet a little wider than your hips with your toes turned out slightly, and point your elbows at the floor.
  3. Take a breath and brace, then sit straight down between your heels, letting your knees travel forward over your toes.
  4. Go as deep as you can while your heels stay down and the dumbbell stays against your chest; your elbows should finish just inside your knees.
  5. Drive your whole foot into the floor and stand up tall, then breathe and brace again before the next rep.

Cues

  • Dumbbell glued to your breastbone
  • Sit down between your heels
  • Elbows inside your knees at the bottom

Common mistakes

  • Letting the dumbbell drift away from your chest: your arms tire before your legs and you tip forward, so keep it pinned and pick a weight you can hold for the whole set.
  • Heels lifting at the bottom: stop the rep a little higher or put a small plate under each heel.
  • Knees falling inward on the way up: push them out toward your little toes and use your elbows as a guide at the bottom.
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Bodyweight

No weights at all: one leg at a time is enough load.

Best swap with no equipment

Reverse Lunge

Quads, Glutes

Stepping back in place puts nearly all your weight on the front leg, so bodyweight alone gives each leg real work. Hold a kettlebell or dumbbell at your chest once 20 reps get easy.

How to do it

  1. Start tall with feet hip-width apart, hands on your hips or holding a kettlebell at your chest or a weight in each hand.
  2. Shift your weight onto one foot and step the other foot straight back about two feet, landing on the ball of the foot.
  3. Lower your back knee toward the floor until it nearly touches, with your front shin close to vertical and your chest up.
  4. Keep most of your weight in the front foot and push through its whole sole to stand and bring the back foot forward.
  5. Finish standing tall on both feet, then repeat on the same side for all reps or alternate legs.

Cues

  • Weight stays in the front foot
  • Back knee straight down
  • Push the floor away to stand

Common mistakes

  • Stepping back too short: if your front knee shoots far past your toes and your heel lifts, take a longer step.
  • Pushing off the back foot: the back leg only balances you; drive up through the front heel and mid-foot.
  • Front knee caving in: keep it tracking over your middle toes; slow the descent or reduce the weight until it does.
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Hardest bodyweight swap

Skater Squat

Quads, Glutes

A one-leg squat to a knee touch, hard enough to replace loaded walking lunges with no weight at all.

How to do it

  1. Stand on one foot and bend the other knee so that foot is behind you, arms straight out in front as a counterweight.
  2. Push your hips back and lean your chest forward as you bend the standing knee.
  3. Lower until the back knee is just above the floor.
  4. Drive through your standing foot to stand tall; sets are per leg.

Cues

  • Arms forward as the counterweight
  • Chest leans, back stays flat
  • Back knee to a folded towel

Common mistakes

  • Only going down a few inches: put a folded towel or cushion where your knee should land and touch it every rep.
  • Letting the standing knee collapse inward: track it over your toes, and slow the lowering if it wobbles.
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Hamstrings to pair with them

Each example session adds one exercise for the back of your legs.

Hamstrings, to pair with the swaps

Lying Leg Curl

Hamstrings

Lunges and their swaps mostly train the front of your thighs and your glutes. A curl covers the hamstrings.

How to do it

  1. Set the machine so your knees line up with the pivot point when you lie face down, and move the ankle pad to sit on your lower calves, just above your heels.
  2. Lie flat with your kneecaps hanging just past the end of the bench, hold the handles and press your hips into the pad.
  3. Bend your knees and pull the pad up in a smooth arc until your heels are as close to your glutes as the machine allows.
  4. Pause for a moment at the top without letting your hips lift off the bench.
  5. Lower the pad over about two seconds until your legs are almost straight, and start the next rep before the stack touches down.

Cues

  • Hips glued to the pad
  • Heels to glutes
  • Slow on the way down

Common mistakes

  • Lifting your hips as the weight gets heavy: your lower back takes over and the hamstrings do less. Drop the load until your hips stay down on every rep.
  • Stopping short at the bottom: that cuts out the part of the rep where your hamstrings are longest. Let your legs come back to almost straight before you curl again.
  • Swinging the pad up: a kick from the bottom hands the hardest part of the rep to momentum. Count two seconds down and start each rep from a dead stop.
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Hamstrings and glutes with dumbbells

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Hamstrings, Glutes

The hinge to pair with a dumbbell leg day, so the back of your thighs gets trained too.

How to do it

  1. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, one dumbbell per hand resting against the front of your thighs, palms facing you.
  2. Unlock your knees slightly, pull your shoulders down and back, and take a breath into your stomach.
  3. Push your hips straight back and let your chest tip forward, sliding the dumbbells down the front of your legs with your back flat and knees barely changing angle.
  4. Stop when your hamstrings are fully stretched and your hips will not travel back any farther, typically with the dumbbells somewhere between the knee and mid-shin.
  5. Drive your hips forward and squeeze your glutes to stand tall, finishing upright without leaning back.

Cues

  • Hips back, not down
  • Dumbbells skim your legs
  • Stand tall, don't lean back

Common mistakes

  • Bending the knees more as you go down: that turns the hinge into a squat; keep the knee bend you started with and let the hips do the moving.
  • Rounding the back to reach lower: end the rep where your hips stop going back, even if the dumbbells are only at your knees.
  • Letting the dumbbells drift forward: keep them brushing your thighs and shins so the load stays over your feet and off your lower back.
Build a session with Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

Hamstrings with no equipment

Nordic Hamstring Curl

Hamstrings

Lunges and their swaps leave your hamstrings mostly untrained. With a partner or a couch holding your ankles, the Nordic curl loads them hard using bodyweight alone.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on a pad with a partner holding your ankles, or hook your heels under a couch or a loaded bar.
  2. Keep your body straight from knees to head, hips pushed forward, arms ready in front of your chest.
  3. Lean forward from the knees as slowly as you can, resisting with your hamstrings, until you can no longer hold it.
  4. Catch yourself on your hands, push lightly off the floor, and pull back up to kneeling with your hamstrings.

Cues

  • Hips stay forward
  • Fight the fall the whole way
  • Push off the floor only as much as you need

Common mistakes

  • Folding at the hips and sticking your butt out: the hamstrings only work if the body stays straight.
  • Dropping fast once it gets hard: aim for 3 to 5 seconds on the way down, even if the range is short.
Build a session with Nordic Hamstring Curl

Example sessions without the walking lunge

Session 1

Gym, no room to walk lunges

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets22 a week
  • Per workout~30 min
  • EquipmentSmith Machine, Leg Press, Dumbbells, Lying Leg Curl

You train in a busy gym with machines and a Smith machine, and there is no clear lane for walking lunges.

The Smith machine Bulgarian split squat does the heavy one-leg work, the single-leg leg press adds volume with nothing to balance, and the lateral lunge covers the side-to-side direction. A leg curl trains the hamstrings. 11 working sets.

Legs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Smith Machine Bulgarian Split Squat1 warm-up set firstSets are per leg. 3 × 8–10 2 2 min
Single-Leg Leg PressSets are per leg. 3 × 12–15 1 90 s
Dumbbell Lateral LungeSets are per side. 2 × 10–12 2 75 s
Lying Leg Curl 3 × 10–15 1 1 min
How to run it
Twice a week on non-consecutive days. Start every one-leg set with your weaker side.
How to progress
When every set reaches the top of its range at the RIR shown, add the smallest weight jump next session and start again at the bottom of the range.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Lunges bother your knees

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets24 a week
  • Per workout~30 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Flat Bench

You have dumbbells and a low box, and forward or walking lunges leave your knees sore.

The reverse lunge and the split squat let you control the depth with your weight on the front heel, the step-up starts from a low box, and a Romanian deadlift trains your hamstrings with no knee bend to speak of. Every set stops 2 reps short of failure. 12 working sets.

Legs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Dumbbell Reverse Lunge1 warm-up set firstSets are per leg. 3 × 8–12 2 90 s
Dumbbell Split SquatSets are per leg. 3 × 10–12 2 90 s
Step-UpStart with a low box. 3 × 10–12 2 75 s
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift 3 × 10–12 2 90 s
How to run it
Twice a week. Work only through the depth you can do without pain, and add depth before you add weight.
How to progress
Add an inch of depth or a rep each week. Once every set reaches the top of its range at full depth, move up a dumbbell.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

No equipment, small room

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets30 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You train at home with your bodyweight, a few square feet of floor, and a couch or a partner to hold your ankles.

Everything is done in place and one leg at a time. The reverse lunge replaces the walking lunge, the skater squat is the hard one-leg squat, and the Nordic curl covers your hamstrings. 10 working sets.

Legs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Reverse LungeSets are per leg. 4 × 12–20 1 1 min
Skater SquatSets are per leg. 3 × 6–10 1 90 s
Nordic Hamstring CurlAnkles under a couch or held. 3 × 3–6 1 2 min
How to run it
Two or three times a week. Take each set within one rep of failure.
How to progress
Add reps until you reach the top of each range, then slow the lowering to four seconds, then lower the knee touch on the skater squat. On the Nordic curl, control the fall a little farther each week.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What machine is equivalent to walking lunges?

The single-leg leg press is the closest: one leg at a time with your back supported. The Smith machine Bulgarian split squat also trains one leg hard with the bar on rails.

What is a replacement for walking lunges?

The dumbbell reverse lunge does the same one-leg work in place. Split squats, step-ups and Bulgarian split squats are good swaps too.

What can I do if I can't do lunges?

Do a split squat with your feet planted and one hand on a wall, or a goblet squat with both feet down. Both train the same quads and glutes with far less balance.

What to do instead of lunges for bad knees?

Try reverse lunges, split squats or low step-ups, and work only through the depth you can do without pain. Keeping your weight on the front heel and stepping back rather than forward is easier on the knees for most people.

Are lunges a good leg workout?

Yes. They train your quads and glutes one leg at a time and expose a weaker side. Any swap here does the same if you take sets close to failure.

Should your knee touch the ground in a lunge?

Lower until your back knee is just above the floor, or lightly touches a pad. Dropping it hard onto the floor adds nothing.