Help! I hate lunges, how can I learn to like them???

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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,671 Member
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    I am simply saying it doesnt have to be this way. Hate is never good and honestly even walking briskly burns fat with out all the hate and pain from other excersises. Maybe get on a treadmil and add some inclines to work your muscles in your legs. Yes you can enjoy excersise. OP said she HATES lunges. Well then try squats or other similar excersises. Also to repeat what some of you keep missing in my posts is that she does not have to tough them out when there are many other options that are just as good that she might not "HATE" but rather will still keep her challenged with the same results or better for that matter.
    If you read the OP's statement, there's an indication that she might not be doing them correctly. Unless you've actually SEEN her do them and assessed the form, how can you emphatically make the statement that they aren't an exercise for her? If her form is wrong and causing her pain, and you correct it and now it doesn't would that change the attitude towards the exercise?

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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,671 Member
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    To this I say cudos. There is excersise that is a pain and then there is painful exercise. Make sure you get this right to avoid injury.

    I have ostio-arthritis in my hip and through a PT who knows what they are doing and my ostiopath I have been limited to a 90 degree bend in my hip. Can't go lower without injury and that is fine by me. To push me out of my comfort zone I add weight.

    ^^Moonshadow this may be true for you since you have an injury but lets be honest guy I hardly think the OP wants to "add weight" lol and to "add weight" even in body building/weight lifting you have to eat a surpluss in cals in which some of that will be stored as fat.
    Where does Moonshadow even indicate any bodybuilding here? Moonshadow indicated adding weight to push him out of comfort zone. You added a statement that had NOTHING to do with his reply.
    Sometimes actually "hearing" what a person says will actually help to make the right decisions for the person.

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  • MangoAmanda
    MangoAmanda Posts: 22 Member
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    They are a necessary evil. Throw on your earbuds with your most favorite song & just do it ;-). I think I say "I HATE LUNGES, but man, I feel great!" every single time I do lunges.
  • staceyseeger
    staceyseeger Posts: 783 Member
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    I used to hate lunges because they hurt...because I never did them...because they hurt. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: These days I am doing close to 200 lunges per workout with PT...with weights, kettlebells & on the treadmill. I still don't like them very much, but the benefits & results definitely rank higher than my dislike. :wink: :wink: :wink:
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,671 Member
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    I used to hate lunges because they hurt...because I never did them...because they hurt. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: These days I am doing close to 200 lunges per workout with PT...with weights, kettlebells & on the treadmill. I still don't like them very much, but the benefits & results definitely rank higher than my dislike. :wink: :wink: :wink:
    And if you didn't let your PT "push" you a bit even though you disliked them, you may not be getting the results you're getting with them now. Good for you!

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  • goldfinger88
    goldfinger88 Posts: 686 Member
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    I personally believe that if there's an exercise you hate, you simply shouldn't do it. There are far too many good, fun exercises you can do to tone the legs. Try a 90 second wall sit. You'll have the most powerful legs you can imagine. If you have to, work up to 90 seconds. Lunges hurt some people's knees. I don't like them either.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,671 Member
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    I personally believe that if there's an exercise you hate, you simply shouldn't do it. There are far too many good, fun exercises you can do to tone the legs. Try a 90 second wall sit. You'll have the most powerful legs you can imagine. If you have to, work up to 90 seconds. Lunges hurt some people's knees. I don't like them either.
    If it hurts one's knees, then they shouldn't do them. That's a given, but if someone just has a "hate" relationship with an exercise, it doesn't always mean they hate it enough to not do them.
    I "hate" doing ANY ab work. If I took the philosophy of avoiding exercises I "hate" then my abs would be weak and unconditioned regardless of how many various exercises there are for them.
    There are exercises that many prefer to do yes, but sometimes it's the ones you "hate" that get you the results you vie for.

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  • jdjefferson
    jdjefferson Posts: 55
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    @ninerbuff
    You are taking this too personally!
    I agree that you shouldn't stop doing something just because you do like it (like eating cauliflower or doing the dishes), but when there are alternatives that you enjoy more that provide similar results, then do that instead (like eating broccoli or running the dishwasher).
  • callikia
    callikia Posts: 226 Member
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    I think I'll always hate them. I will still do them because I know they provide results.
    It's like work. Hate it sometimes, but I do it anyhow because I love the paycheck at the end. :) Always think of the payoff, not the hate. :)
  • hiker282
    hiker282 Posts: 983 Member
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    When you don't think of them as lunges, they are easier to do. I do the Insanity program by Beachbody and there are a lot of squats, lunges and plank work, but they don't call it that. I'd give it a try if your budget can handle it.
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
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    I personally believe that if there's an exercise you hate, you simply shouldn't do it. There are far too many good, fun exercises you can do to tone the legs. Try a 90 second wall sit. You'll have the most powerful legs you can imagine. If you have to, work up to 90 seconds. Lunges hurt some people's knees. I don't like them either.

    I don't see many powerlifters training for their 1 rep max using wall sits. So no, wall sits aren't for strength.
  • msbanana
    msbanana Posts: 793 Member
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    Keep doing them and then LEARN to love them when your booty's high and tight, your quads are cut and you have sunshine thighs. :bigsmile:
  • mndamon
    mndamon Posts: 547 Member
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    I never learned to love them. I learned to hate them, and hating them helps me go after them harder. If I could apply that to yoga it'd be a perfect world, but I just don't think I'll ever "get" yoga.
  • bigbugboo
    bigbugboo Posts: 161
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    Someone once told me "Lunges are the differemce between granny panties and thongs." I think of that everytime I do lunges and it makes them seem easier, haha.

    Lol, I just love this!

    I always feel I'm not doing them properly, and when I try to get into a deep lunge with weights I feel like I can't get up again!
  • Tina8838
    Tina8838 Posts: 1
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    I am in the same boat girl! I find that if I start my lunge routine with little (like not deep at ALL) and do pulses for twenty seconds then stop then go a little deeper for twenty seconds then I can end up into really deep lunges and those muscles will be warmed up so it wont hurt as bad and I can go deeper than usual. Also, if this does not work you can stand on your stair or a stairstepper with your heel off the back and do squats like this; make sure you are holding on to something for balance only. Anyways, this makes the squat only work your butt and front things which is the same as a lunge!

    Good luck and congrats on the weight loss!!
  • patheticgit
    patheticgit Posts: 31
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    just avoid them. I hate them. Do leg press its easier and tones the muscle better and saves the knees.
    who gives a monkeys about lunges. Just do leg press x
  • czechsmate
    czechsmate Posts: 556 Member
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    i hate lunges and squats ... despite everyone i know says they are a really good exercise i do not like them . unless my trainer really insists, i do the leg press, leg extension, leg curls, brisk walk backwards on the treadmill on an incline .. hip adduction and abbduction .. for some reason lunges and squats bother my knees but these other exercises do not so you have to work with what you are comfortable with

    I do all of the above and bar bell squats, no lunges...they are hard on my hips and I have had a history of a slipping patella so I avoid lunges
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
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    just avoid them. I hate them. Do leg press its easier and tones the muscle better and saves the knees.
    who gives a monkeys about lunges. Just do leg press x

    Leg press isn't the same (nor as effective) as a compound movement like lunges. Lunges aren't the same as leg presses anyway. A free weight squat is more directly related and again more effective.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,671 Member
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    @ninerbuff
    You are taking this too personally!
    I agree that you shouldn't stop doing something just because you do like it (like eating cauliflower or doing the dishes), but when there are alternatives that you enjoy more that provide similar results, then do that instead (like eating broccoli or running the dishwasher).
    It's the internet and I don't take it personally. I sold vacuums door to door for 12 years so I've learned the difference.
    For many, alternatives don't get the same results. For instance, if someone doesn't like to do legs (many men in general) they will opt to just do leg curls and leg extensions to suffice. I truly doubt that you can get the same kind of results from just those 2 exercises compared to squats.


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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,671 Member
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    just avoid them. I hate them. Do leg press its easier and tones the muscle better and saves the knees.
    who gives a monkeys about lunges. Just do leg press x
    If lunges are done correctly, then knees issues aren't the problem. Most people who hurt their knees do them wrong, just like the squat.



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