Mix up your lunges with this off-center variation that makes for a great addition to your leg-day workout. Curtsy lunges target your quads, your hamstrings, the muscle on the side of your butt (called the glute medius), and the abductor muscles in your hips. You can do this move with only your bodyweight, as pictured, or with dumbbells (hold them at chest height or down at your sides).
- Start standing with your feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells at your sides or one dumbbell at your chest.
- Step your right leg diagonally behind you and to the left so your thighs cross, bending both knees to lower into a lunge. Try to keep your front knee over your front ankle, and keep your rear knee hovering off the floor. Engage your core and try to keep from arching your back or leaning forward.
- Push off your right foot to step it forward and return to standing. That's one rep.
- Do the same number of reps on both sides.
