The sound hits first. A dull, wet slap of shoes on rubber flooring, a faint squeak, then that tiny groan people think they’re hiding. In the corner of the gym, a group forms an uneven line facing a mirror. The coach claps: “Alright, we’re doing lunges.” A couple of people look away, suddenly fascinated by their water bottles. One woman quietly tightens her knee brace. A guy at the back mutters something that sounds a lot like a prayer.
Two minutes later, half the class is grimacing. And yet, this very exercise – the classic forward lunge, the one so many dread – is suddenly all over physiotherapy blogs and orthopedic consults as **the best thing you can do for your knees**.
Something doesn’t add up, and everyone feels it.
The exercise everyone hates… and doctors keep insisting on
Ask around in any gym changing room and you hear the same thing: “Anything but lunges, please.” Squats, fine. Elliptical, alright. A light jog, why not. But that forward step, drop, and wobble? That’s when people feel the knee complain.
The irony is that lunges are now popping up as a go-to recommendation for chronic knee pain, especially when it comes from weak thighs and unstable hips. While swimming and Pilates still get all the gentle-health halo, some sports doctors are quietly saying, *“If your knee can tolerate it, we’ll get you lunging.”*
No wonder half of social media disagrees violently.
Take Sophie, 44, who spent months avoiding stairs because of a stabbing pain over her right kneecap. Her GP sent her for scans, which came back boringly normal. No big tear, no arthritis in flames, nothing “spectacular”. She left with anti-inflammatories and frustration.
Then a physio asked her to try something she hated: slow, controlled lunges, holding onto a chair. “I thought she was crazy,” Sophie recalls. “Lunges are what hurt me at the gym.” So they started with barely a bend, five reps per side. Weeks later, she was walking down stairs without gripping the handrail.
Sophie didn’t suddenly become a lunge fan. But she went back to the gym with a different question in mind.
The misunderstanding comes from one simple confusion: pain during an exercise is not always a sign that the exercise is the enemy. With knees, the story often begins long before the first twinge. Hours sitting, weak glutes, thighs that are strong in one plane but useless in another.
The humble lunge attacks all of that at once. It trains the quadriceps to stabilize, the hamstrings to coordinate, the hips to stop collapsing inward. That’s precisely why it feels so awful at first. This is the exercise that exposes where you’re weak, off-balance, or relying on momentum instead of muscle.
And nobody enjoys being exposed under bright fluorescent lights.
How to do the “hated” lunge so your knees don’t scream
The problem isn’t always the lunge itself. It’s the way most of us throw ourselves into it. The heroic stride, the crash to the floor, the back knee slamming into the mat. For a knee that’s already suspicious, that’s a horror movie.
A knee-friendly lunge starts much smaller. Think “split squat” rather than deep dive. Feet hip-width apart, one foot back just one natural step, both heels planted to start. Then, gently drop your back knee towards the floor, stopping way before pain, like you’re testing a creaky stair. Front knee stays above the ankle, not racing ahead of your toes.
If you’re wobbly, hold on to a wall or a bench. Pride is optional, balance is not.
One of the biggest traps is ego. You see the person next to you dipping low, almost touching the floor, and your brain whispers, “You can go that low too.” That’s how people end up grinding into the very pain they came to escape.
Start at a range that feels almost too easy and watch how your knee reacts the next day, not just in the moment. A tiny, controlled movement done three times a week beats one heroic, Instagram-worthy set that leaves you limping for days. Let’s be honest: nobody really does this every single day.
If your knee pain spikes sharply, or swells, or locks, that’s not “discomfort”, that’s a stop sign.
Physio and sports therapist Marco L., who works with amateur runners, puts it bluntly: “Lunges aren’t bad for your knees. Bad lunges are bad for your knees. When you use them to build strength and control, they’re one of the best protective tools we have.”
Now, if you’re going to give this a fair try, it helps to have a simple, non-intimidating roadmap. A “knee-friendly lunge starter pack”, if you will:
- Begin with support: a wall, chair, or rail for balance.
- Keep the front knee roughly above the ankle, not shooting far past your toes.
- Stay in a pain-free or low-discomfort zone, especially at first.
- Aim for 2–3 sets of 6–8 slow reps per leg, two or three times a week.
- Progress range and depth only when last week felt noticeably easier.
So who’s right: the physios or the people who hate lunges?
There’s a quiet war of experiences playing out online. On one side, people who say lunges saved their knees and let them hike again, run again, kneel again. On the other, those who tried them once in a crowded class, felt a stabbing pain, and swore never to go back.
Both stories are valid. The missing piece is context: which knee, which movement, which load, which history. A post-surgery knee is not the same as a stiff, sedentary knee. The person with a torn meniscus doesn’t have the same green light as the person whose scans show only mild wear-and-tear and weak quads.
So when headlines claim lunges are the “best remedy” for knee pain, they skip the messy middle, the nuance, the “for some people, under the right guidance”. That’s where frustration explodes. People read the claim, try lunges alone at home on a hard floor, hurt more, and feel tricked.
The plain truth is that no single exercise deserves that crown. Not swimming, not Pilates, not lunges. Some knees adore water. Some desperately need strength. Some hate impact but respond beautifully to slow, loaded control. The best remedy is the one your body can adapt to, over weeks, not minutes.
And yet, this shift toward strength-based solutions for knee pain says something about where we are. We’re moving away from the old “rest forever and avoid everything that hurts” mindset. We’re edging towards a more uncomfortable, empowered place: you might need to work the joint that scares you, carefully, under watchful eyes.
That’s not a very soothing message. It demands patience, curiosity, and the courage to say, “This hurts in a bad way,” or “This feels like effort, and I can handle that.” For some, that will mean discovering that lunges – the most hated exercise in the class – slowly become a weird source of pride.
For others, it will confirm that their knee needs a different path entirely. And that’s okay too.
| Key point | Detail | Value for the reader |
|---|---|---|
| Hated doesn’t mean harmful | Lunges feel tough because they expose weakness and imbalance, not because they automatically “destroy knees” | Helps you question old fears and explore strengthening safely |
| Technique over depth | Small, controlled lunges with support are often more effective than deep, unstable ones | Reduces pain risk while still building joint stability |
| No one-size-fits-all remedy | Some knees improve with lunges, others need different exercises or professional guidance | Encourages you to seek a tailored approach instead of chasing magic fixes |
FAQ:
- Are lunges really safe if my knees already hurt?
Often, yes, when adapted: smaller range, support, and slow tempo. That said, if your pain is sharp, locking, or from a recent injury, get a professional opinion before loading that joint.- What if lunges always hurt, no matter how I modify them?
Then they’re probably not your starting point. A physio might begin with wall sits, leg presses, or bridges to build strength without that specific angle of stress.- Are lunges better than swimming or Pilates for knee pain?
Not “better”, just different. Swimming unloads the joint. Pilates improves control. Lunges target strength and stability in positions close to real life – stairs, steps, getting up.- How long before I notice a real difference in my knees?
For many people, 4–8 weeks of consistent, pain-managed strengthening brings noticeable changes in confidence and function, even if pain doesn’t fully disappear.- Should I do lunges every day to fix my knees faster?
Your muscles and joints need recovery. Two to three sessions a week, with rest in between, usually works better than daily grinding that leaves your knee irritated.
