Are y’all tired of hearing me talk about my latest and greatest exercise plan? Haha! Well, I need plans to keep me going until the warm weather is here to stay and I can fill my exercise quota via tennis, swimming, long walks and hiking.
Until then, I’m trying to stay focused. I am walking everyday for about 30 minutes (I know, the bare minimum for health 
). But I know I need some strength and was discussing my thighs with my good friend, Alexis, the other day. She challenged me to lunge.
Now lunges are something I do all the time… 5 here, another 3 or 4 there, but I never feel any different from them. But she challenged me to go up and down my driveway once a day for 2 weeks. I’m not one to turn down a challenge, so I agreed! And y’all, I have a LONG driveway.
I gathered my equipment: 2 hand weights. Easy enough!
Then I found my starting line,
and checked my form.
Then I was off! I alternated legs and did bicep curls with each lunge. I’m sure my neighbors thought I was nutty.
When I was about half way through (one way), I realized my heart rate was already up! Yay! But the most challenging part was the kisses from this one every time I lunged…
I counted and it ended up being a total of 184 lunges and took me about 20 minutes.
By the end, my legs felt like jello!
However, I’m feeling great because this morning my thighs and my butt (woah my butt!) are feeling it! Slightly sore and fatigued… just the way I like ‘em! I also measured my thighs and plan to take another measurement in 2 weeks… just for fun!
So, my exercise experts out there, do I rest my thighs for a day in between? Or continue to do the 184 lunges each day and fight through the uncomfort?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh man, lunges kick my butt! I don’t have any good advice for fighting through uncomfort or muscle pain, people have told me both. I know that when I’m sore though it’s worse on the second day, so it would be more difficult to work out then.
Sounds like a great and FUn way to get exercise in! Ive lunged down the street too!
I would think its okay to go back out the next day and cont with your lunges, you just might want to make sure you stretch enough after and then maybe warm up the next go around and stretch and then cont to work out, which may help with the soreness…it helps me if I warm sore muscles and then stretch them.
Lunging is one of my favorite weight-training moves! I love that “jello” feeling afterwards! And I love that Koda was giving you kisses while you went…He was clearly trying to motivate you!
I am not an expert, but I would do every other day. From what I have read, it’s better for muscles to have a day to recover in between workouts. That’s why a lot of exercise plans have alternating days of upper and lower body or push and pull muscles, etc.
My legs hurt just thinking about it…clearly I am not an expert, but you are supposed to rest in between “weight” days, and I think all those lunges count towards that…
YAY!! So glad you’re doing this!! I think it’s safe to say do the lunges every other day. On those “off” days, do push ups instead!! And lucky you with your hot tub- soak in that thing nightly!!!
Can’t wait to hear your results!
I’m not an expert but I agree with Melissa…I think every other day is your best best. Your muscles do need recovery time and leg muscles get a lot of use from day to day activity so I think you want to make a point to rest them. Also, make friends with a foam roller which will help eleviate some of that soreness and tightness. And a few good ol’ squates will help keep it all balanced out too
What a great challenge.. that is so many lunges! I would say do it every other day…
if you DO work your legs/butt tomorrow, do a different move/exercise to work them. your muscles get way too used to the same motion over and over, and you’ll see less results if you keep doing the same lunge.
for a changeup, do one lunge in little baby spurts.. go halfway up over and over, then go halfway down over and over. that’ll really work your tush!
Woah – that’s a LOT of lunges! Good for you!
I’d have at least one rest day in between and do a jog or long walk on those days to loosen up the muscles. If you want to really challenge yourself, at the end of the lunges, try and hold the position for as long as you can. I did this in a class the other night and was shocked by how difficult it was!
Good luck!
That is a lot! You go girl. I’d take a rest day in between (from lunges at least) and do something else.
I don’t do them frequently enough to give others advice but I like the challenge and applaud your effort. I might just give it a try. Honeymoon is fast approaching….
All trainers I’ve talked to say definitely let your legs recover. I would do that every 3 days & like others said, do some upper body work on one of the off days, and maybe an abs or extra cardio day for the other. Stick with it, girl!! =)
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