I did db lunges for the first time the other day, and I was using a shorter ROM trying to focus on quads. I still feel more soreness in my glutes and hams than my quads.
Am I doing these wrong? I was using 27.5kg dbs, maybe too much? Maybe my quads are just much stronger than my hams/glutes?
Check out this article. Plenty of info and lots of video to help you out:
There are alot of things to consider.
#1- Since muscle soreness is primarily developed during the negative, muscles that control your descent are going to get more DOMS most likely. IMO the posterior chain is more active on the negative than the quads.
#2- Quads usually dont get as sore as the posterior chain. Quads can get sore like any other muscle but, the posterior chain, all things being equal usually has the ability to get a much more intense DOMS effect.
#3- For your body, the most difficult part of most lunges is the negative, and is the main factor that seperates lunges from split squats. Since you are stepping, your body is heading downward faster, with more momentum and it asks alot more of you to decelerate it. Since this is the most difficult part of the motion that hamstrings and especially the glutes will take more of the stress naturally because they are stronger.
#4- IMO when going to limit strength or near limit strength on any leg exercise in which your body has the potential to use the posterior chain, it will use it to a greater degree than the quads. For example, Back Squats, Leg Press, lunges, split squats. Hack Squats and Front squats are different in that the movement itself is very hard if not impossible to do primarily using the posterior chain, you would probably dump a front squat if you started to use too much posterior chain.
So you have lunges that are heavy for the quads, keeping good form, erect torso, knee coming forward, bending at the waist when coming out of the hole is a dead give away for posterior chain taking over.
Then you have lunges that are heavy period, meaning it is hard for you to get down and back up, which uses more posterior chain.
All that being said, even with a modest amount of weight and focusing on the quads, you will probably hit more glutes and hamstrings with lunges than any other exercise in which you are trying to target the quads.