Am I doing lunges wrong - I just don't feel them in my butt?

[wendybdh]

Whenever I do lunges, I make sure I have two 90 degree angles and that my knees are not over my feet. I lower myself close to the ground without touching. However, I never seem to feel lunges in my butt. I feel them more in the fronts of my thighs than anywhere else. Aren't I supposed to feel it more in my butt? If someone would give me some insight into what I'm doing wrong, I'd appreciate it. Thanks, Wendy

 

[LAEnggren]

Wendy
I am by no means the expert but when I first started doing lunges I felt them alot in the quads I reall concentrate now on pressing down on the heel that is forward a squeezing the butt cheeks as I come up you will feel lunges in the quads too but if you try this you should feel them in the hamstrings and glutes practice w/out weights make sure your upper body is straight
hope this helps Lisa

 

[clareMc]

I don't think you are "supposed to feel them more in the butt", rather than feeling them in the quads. Just because your glutes are not screaming, doesn't mean they aren't being worked. When I do say, Leaner Legs, it's the quads that are screaming throughout, but the next day, the glutes are complaining like mad. Goes to prove that the glutes are still working away, but perhaps they are stronger than the quads and therefore neither you nor I feel so much the strain in the glutes.

And yes, I keep correct form for lunges and always keep in mind pushing off that front heel. Doesn't matter: when doing low ends with lunges, the quad of the back leg gives out before anything else. The glutes could keep going for days......

Cathe herself remarks during a particular set of low ends lunges (perhaps on PH?) that what's getting her is the "fire in the thighs". So, take it from the expert, sounds like you aren't doing anything wrong.

Clare

 

[CathydsRNA]

I feel it in the butt during the push back off the working leg after the lunge has been executed. To really get those backside muscles, I prefer Slow&Heavy static lunges. The muscles in your derriere really become engaged when you are lifting alot of weight slowly. You can feel it in the cheek of your front leg as you are slowly lifting or slowly lowering.

 

[naughtoj]

You will feel it more in the butt also if you step back further with your back leg (so now you DON'T have a 90 degree angle, but greater). This will also fascilitate a greater stretch in the hip flexor of the leg that is back. In P90X they do lunges trying to keep the back leg completely strait, and you will find also that this turns into much more gluteal than quad. Try it and you may feel the difference. The P90X Legs workout is a great one if you are trying to feel things in your butt. You will after that one.

 

[cab54]

I feel them way too much in the quads, if I don't remember to really concentrate pushing off from the heel, and engaging those muscles in right where the glute meets the hamstring.