Experiment: Lunge Mile
Acknowledgments
The lunge mile is an above-average physical feat that stress-tests one's ability to move on the edge of the pain tunnel. There is a range of other physical challenges that may yield similar results, e.g., the 1000-step-up challenge.
The experiment first gives some general information before sharing how the author has taken on the challenge so far.
What is a lunge mile?
The exercise feat of completing a mile of walking lunges.
How is a lunge mile evaluated?
The only way to move forward is by lunging. One is permitted to take as much time between each lunge. The time is inclusive of all the resting required. It starts with the first lunge and ends with the last lunge that completes the mile.
What movement strategies exist?
There are three movement strategies:
- The continuous strategy: one moves continuously from alternating down positions of each lunge.
- The linger strategy: one takes a breather at the top position of each lunge.
- The break strategy: one takes a longer break after completing
Xlunges.
The order of these strategies aligns with the movement speed, and the goal is to spend the most time in the continuous strategy.
What is the world record for a lunge mile?
The fastest lunge mile is 22 min 52 s, achieved on 2023-03-191.
Preface
The author has participated in the Munich Rucking Crew (MRC) - Winter Challenge 20262, which consists of self-defined targeted reps over January and February, where they chose to do 8000 lunges and overhead presses. This gave them the initial spark of the potential of going further and outside of their own comfort zone. During the challenge, the author experimented with 100 continuous lunges and learnt of the burning sensation of grinding through the continuous reps without a break.
Challenge Spark
After the successful completion of the MRC - Winter Challenge, the Crew presented the lunge mile challenge in the summer. They also provided a system to train up towards the challenge by utilizing the BetterCounter3 app.
The system:
- 75 x 10-rep lunges per week
- 10k reps lunges until challenge date
800m trial
As the author nears the challenge date, they do an 800m trial to learn possible kinks in the lunge mile challenge.
In the attempt, they use the break strategy of taking a couple of minutes' break after every 100 two-count lunges. Additionally, during the movement portions, they use the linger strategy.
The biggest learning is that each step matters and focus is required because one small tweak can destroy progress further. The last 25 lunges were knee-stabbing painful because they misplaced the foot once.
A secondary learning is that they are not fit enough to take on the continuous strategy, and it tires out the legs quicker than required at this point in the journey of being able to do a lunge mile.
The soreness after the feat was a given, since the author did not train well enough for the trial. They felt it for many days, but it wasn't debilitating to the point that they couldn't walk or had to struggle between sitting down and standing up.
1 lunge mile attempt
A week later, just a day or two after the soreness has subsided, the author tackles the one lunge mile. Taking the learnings from the previous attempt, they stick with the break and linger strategy throughout the whole distance.
They achieve the distance in 2 h 00 min 42 s. One should acknowledge that the time includes the setting up of the various camera shots on the tripod.
The two aspects that surprised the author are that the start-up after taking a break is similar to the feeling of walking a long distance and starting up again; and the speed they rucked the recovery portion to get as much lactate acid out as possible was averaging at 6 kmph without much effort.
The author believes that with some training, doing a lunge mile in less than 90 min is quite feasible.
Experiment
Now with both the world record time and the experience of attempting the one lunge mile, the author has designed a training plan to keep the physical movement of a lunge in the inventory of default capabilities. Since they have struggled through the two bouts of soreness from the two attempts, they prefer not to go through it again and prefer to maintain the physical capabilities.
Training plan
- Every week, do 400m or 30 min of lunges using the linger strategy to work towards the continuous strategy.
- Once a month, do 800m using the linger strategy to work towards the continuous strategy.
- Once a quarter of a year, do 1600m using the linger strategy to work towards the continuous strategy.
Results from training
| date | 2ct lunges | distance in m | time | strategy | learnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-13 | 200 | 400 | 00:17:37 | linger | doing 400m training volume is too little and need to increase to 30min |
| 2026-07-20 | 313 | 661 | 00:30:35 | linger | the leap from 400m to 30min is quite large and might need to play with 1min increments |
| 2026-07-27 | 400 | 845 | 00:36:57 | linger | breaking 90min for one lunge mile is not that far-fetched as originally imagined |
In general, just changing from the break strategy to linger strategy has improved the times immensely. The hypothesis is that a similar jump will be visible when going from linger strategy to continuous strategy.
The current limiting factor is trying to figure out how to bounce back the quickest after the attempt without needing to first start recovery at home.