{"id":3828,"date":"2025-02-17T22:27:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T22:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/mastering-the-step-up-exercise.html"},"modified":"2025-02-17T22:27:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T22:27:53","slug":"mastering-the-step-up-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/health\/mastering-the-step-up-exercise.html","title":{"rendered":"Mastering the Step-Up Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With all of the attention paid to the squat, the step-up often gets overlooked. Indeed, many people simply consider the step-up an \u201calternative\u201d to that king of lower body strength exercises \u2014 something you do only when when you need to switch things up.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s unfortunate, considering the weighted step-up is such a powerful total-body muscle builder.<\/p>\n<p>You read that right \u2014 we\u2019re not just talking about your legs here. Sure, you\u2019ll nail your quads and glutes, and you might even feel a touch of soreness in your calves and hamstrings the next day.<\/p>\n<p>But the secret to the step-up\u2019s effectiveness comes from the fact that it\u2019s a unilateral exercise, meaning that it trains one leg at a time. Not only will that help iron out muscle and strength imbalances between your legs, but the instability it introduces will also boost muscle recruitment throughout your body as it works to find balance.<\/p>\n<p>The more muscle you work, the more you build. Follow these tips to maximize your results.<\/p>\n<h2>Dumbbell Step-Up: Step-by-Step Instructions<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Muscles targeted:<\/strong> Primarily your quadriceps and glutes, but also your hamstrings, calves, and core.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at arm\u2019s length by your sides, and place your right foot on a bench so that your hip, knee, and ankle are all bent 90 degrees.<\/li>\n<li>Keeping your chest up and shoulders back, push your body up with your right leg until it\u2019s straight (keep your left foot elevated).<\/li>\n<li>Pause, and then lower your body back to the starting position under control. Perform equal reps on both legs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How to Make the Step-Up Easier<\/h2>\n<p>Ditch the dumbbells and perform the move using only your bodyweight, or swap the bench for a box or an aerobic step.<\/p>\n<p>The lighter the load and the lower the step, the easier the exercise will be.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Make the Step-Up Harder<\/h2>\n<p>Swap two dumbbells for a single heavier one, and hold it in the hand opposite to the leg doing the work.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re stepping up with your left leg, hold the weight in your right hand, for example.<\/p>\n<p>Want even more of a challenge? Raise the knee of your \u201cnon working\u201d leg (e.g., your right leg if you\u2019re stepping up with your left one) above hip-level at the top of the move.<\/p>\n<h2>Bonus Tip<\/h2>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-146742\" src=\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/27114723\/step-up-600-demo.jpg\" alt=\"step up demonstration | step up\" width=\"374\" height=\"543\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>Make sure your working leg is indeed doing all of the work. If you\u2019re stepping up with your left leg, don\u2019t push off the ground with your right one.<\/p>\n<p>And when you lower your left foot back to the ground, do it under control.<\/p>\n<p>In short, fight gravity, don\u2019t give in to it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take what you\u2019ve learned here and apply it. For a variation on this move, check out The Master\u2019s Hammer and Chisel. Want more basic moves? Click here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With all of the attention paid to the squat, the step-up often gets overlooked. Indeed, many people simply consider the step-up an \u201calternative\u201d to that king of lower body strength exercises \u2014 something you do only when when you need to switch things up. That\u2019s unfortunate, considering the weighted step-up is such a powerful total-body [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39,91,151,163],"class_list":["post-3828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-basic-moves","tag-fitness","tag-resistance-training","tag-strength-training"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}