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Did you know that stronger knee muscles can transform your yoga practice? They really can!

stronger knees can benefit yoga's high lunge

Just think about it: how common is it for yogis to dislike chair pose and to want to abandon the asana as soon as they arrive in it? 😬

If the muscles that cross our knees were stronger, they'd support us more in this quintessential yoga pose, and we might (just might!) start to like chair pose, at least a little. ;)

Stronger knee muscles will also make all of our other standing yoga poses feel more easeful. They'll help with so many of our daily life tasks, as well – think of picking up that heavy bag of dog food and rising up from a low chair.

For all these reasons, adopting a strength training practice to build up strength in the knee muscles is a terrific ideas for yogis (and for everyone with a body, for that matter! 😀).

Enter... the loaded lunge!

A lunge with weight is a perfect exercise for targeting the knee muscles – especially for yogis!

adding load to a yoga lunge to strengthen the knees — Loaded lunge

In yoga, we're used to practicing many lunge-type asanas (warrior 1, high lunge, etc.). But because our yoga practice is unloaded, we adapt to the resistance our bodyweight provides, and we can plateau in these poses in terms of strength.

But if we add a weight to the equation, suddenly our strengthening potential in this position has been restored. 👏

Whereas in yoga we tend to hold our lunge positions statically, in a strength training context, we generally step in and out of lunges dynamically.

Which knee is getting stronger in lunges?

In lunges, the main knee we're targeting for strength is the knee of the front leg.

But did you know that lunges come in many variations, and each variation targets the knee muscles differently?

How do we decide which variation of a lunge to practice? 🤔

Here's one important element to take into consideration: the range of motion the knee moves through. This is a major factor in terms of how much of a strength stimulus the knee muscles receive.

To help inform you in your own strength practice, here are 3 considerations for knee range of motion in a lunge!

1) A forward-leaning torso loads the knee less:

reverse lunge with forward lean — Reverse lunge w/ forward lean

When we hinge our torso forward in a lunge, we emphasize hip range of motion while slightly de-emphasizing knee range of motion.

This shifts more of the load in the exercise onto our posterior hip muscles (i.e., our glutes and hamstrings) and less onto our knee.

The knee is definitely still being loaded but just to a lesser extent than other lunge variations.

This variation might be extra relevant if you're specifically wanting to target the posterior hip or if you're wanting to back off working the knee – perhaps because you're temporarily practicing around a knee issue.

2) An upright torso loads the knee more:

By keeping our torso more upright, we move our knee through more range of motion than we do with a forward-leaning torso, and this will apply a greater strength stimulus to the knee.

This is the setup for a classic lunge, and it's a solid and effective means of building knee strength.

3) Heel elevation loads the knee even more!

Reverse lunge with heel elevated — Reverse lunge w/ heel elevated

If we elevate our heel in a lunge, this encourages our knee to move through even more range of motion. This is an excellent way to stimulate even more strength adaptations in the muscles that cross the knee!

This variation might be extra relevant if you've built a solid foundation in a classic lunge and want to increase the work in that front leg. It can also be a good way to target ankle range of motion!

But wait – there's more! 😀

Lunges aren't the only great exercise for working on knee strength. We're also major fans of squats for knee strength in Strength for Yoga!

Watch our 3-minute video for the lowdown on how to target the knees in both squats and lunges – all with more detail than we could fit into this brief email.

We hope this helps inform your exercise selection in your strength practice. Enjoy!

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