‘I’m A Trainer With Arthritis—Here's My Secret To Pain-Free Lunges’

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Whether you hate planks because they're hard on the wrists or treadmill workouts because they're downright boring, everyone has an exercise they'd prefer to skip altogether. A biggie that trainer Ashley Nicole, CPT, hears client complaints about? Lunges... and the knee pain that so-often comes with them.

First, avoiding lunge variations isn't the solve. Why? Lunges are a super effective lower-body exercise for strengthening the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves, as well as the core. They are also useful for improving balance and stability because you move between working from two feet to a less-stable split or staggered stance.

Variations on the staple move also allow you to train in different planes of motion (think: moving side to side in a lateral lunge versus forward and back in traditional forward and reverse lunges), which is how we actually move in everyday life and is key for movement efficiency, healthy functioning, and injury prevention. All of this is to say: Don't skip lunges!

Meet the expert: Ashley Nicole, CPT, is the founder and coach behind RA Warrior Fitness. She is certified by the National Federation of Professional Trainers (NFPT), specializing in personal training, fitness nutrition, endurance, and strength training. She founded RA Warrior Fitness with the mission to empower women with autoimmune conditions to improve their quality of life by reducing joint discomfort and increasing energy.

Watch now for Ashley Nicole's three form fixes to make lunges pain-free and effective:

What causes knee pain during lunges?

There are a few reasons for why you might experience discomfort from the lunge position and/or the repeated motion, according to Ashley Nicole.

• You are not warming up properly before doing lunges.

• Your knee is tracking too far forward from or behind the ankle joint when you land in a traditional forward or reverse lunge position.

• Your weight is in the ball of your foot/toes instead of the heel on your working leg.

• You have too much weight in the back leg in your lunge position, instead of loading the muscle groups (glutes, hamstrings, quads) on the working leg.

When you are not in the correct lunge position due to any of the reasons above, you can put unnecessary stress on the knee joint and surrounding tendons and ligaments, she explains.

How To Alleviate Pain From Lunges

A proper lower-body warm-up is key to ensure you activate the main muscle groups responsible for the lunge movement before you start moving.

Try Ashley Nicole's warm-up sequence in the video, which includes knee huggers, heel-elevated squats, chair squats, and step-ups. "The purpose of doing these dynamic warm-ups is to make sure you are greasing the knee and the ligaments around it, getting it ready for the activity that you are about to perform," she says." Move through 10-15 reps of each exercise (and don't forget to do both sides for unilateral movements).

If you can, spend a few minutes foam rolling the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and IT band in addition to doing a proper dynamic warm-up.

Next, make sure when you do forward and reverse lunges that your thigh and shin create a 90-degree angle in your lunge position, she says. If you're having trouble finding the correct position, slow down the movement, try it bodyweight first, and/or hold onto a wall so you have more control over your form.

Ashley Nicole also notices knees tracking over the ankle most often with forward lunges, she notes. So if you need to practice with reverse lunges until the correct lunge position feels more natural to you, do so before "graduating" to forward lunges.

Lastly, make sure your weight is in the heel in the lunge position, and that you drive through the heel when you return to standing. "You should be able to wiggle your toes at the bottom [of the lunge]," she says. Lunges, on lock!

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