Dumbbell step-up

What it is

Stand facing a step or bench holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides. Place one whole foot on the step and stand up by pushing through that foot, without pushing off the floor with the back one. Stand fully upright, then lower under control.

Complete the set on one side, or alternate.

What it demands

Single-leg strength through a range set by the step height, at bodyweight plus load.

Pelvic control on the working side, from gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, and now with extra weight to hold level.

Balance, grip, and the discipline to lower rather than drop.

Two independent dials — height and weight — which makes it one of the more finely adjustable movements in the collection.

What usually goes wrong

Pushing off the trailing foot. Still the defining error, and easier to hide with weights in your hands because the whole thing feels harder anyway. Tap the trailing toes off the floor at the start of each rep to check.

Dropping back down. The descent is where the working leg is loaded while lengthening, and it is the half most often rushed.

The pelvis dropping on the unsupported side, which weight makes more likely.

Too high a step with load. Deep hip flexion at the start plus weight tends to produce a forward pitch. Lower the step before adding weight.

Where it sits

Alongside the reverse lunge as the loaded single-leg option, and it stays the most transferable — climbing stairs while carrying something is an ordinary demand, and this is that.

It also sits close to the farmer's carry: both hold weight at the sides while the legs work, and between them they cover most of what carrying heavy things actually asks of a body.