Are lunges bad for your knees?

[Chris09]

I have noticed that my knee is a little soar after doing lounges. It goes away after a day or so. I have no problem working through pain, I was just wondering if that is not the best approach.

I do know that if you step further out, your knee does not bend as much as if you only stepped a little ways out when doing the lunge. This seems to put a little less stress on the knees. Is this making the exercise less efficient.

Are their any other execrises that work like a lunge using only dumbells, not machines?

Thanks

[DarkLord]

Hello Chris, as far as I know lunges are only bad for your knees if you lunge to far forward. I think, when you lunge you are supposed to go to the point of your front leg just hitting that 90 degree angle. Hope this helps.

[Todd]

DarkLord is correct! If you lunge too far forward like he said, where your knees travel beyond your toes, then that is bad...as well, if you lunge forward but your balance is not stable and you sorta wobble to either side while lunging, then your knee may not track right, and that can put a lot of undue strain on them. Just be sure you control the weight and the action, and not the other way around, and you should be fine.

[Chris09]

I was looking to prevent my leg from hitting th 90 degrees. In a lunge, you typically step foward about 2.5 to 3 or so feet, allowing to get a 90 degree angle bend in that knee. If you step out about 3.5 to 4.5 feet in front of you, your knee can not bend to a 90 degree angle. But this is the improper way to do it.

Are these any tougher on your knees than working your quads on a machine?

[Klinger]

This is a tricky exercise, so use light weight until you get used to the motion and the action. Do them in front of a mirror if you can.

All exercises, whether free-weight or machine, are safe if you use proper form.