Step-up

What it is

Stand facing a step, box or bench. Place one whole foot on it, then stand up by pushing through that foot — not by pushing off the back foot on the floor. Stand fully upright on the step, then lower back down under control, landing softly.

Complete the repetitions on one side before swapping, or alternate.

Step height is the dial. A low step is easy; a step that brings your thigh to horizontal is hard.

What it demands

Single-leg strength through a range set by the step height.

Pelvic control, from gluteus medius and gluteus minimus on the working side, holding the pelvis level while all your weight is on one leg. This is the same job they do in every step you take.

Balance, and enough control to lower rather than fall.

The descent is at least as valuable as the ascent, and it is the half people skip.

What usually goes wrong

Pushing off the trailing foot. The back foot gives a shove off the floor and the working leg does much less. The test is to keep the trailing toes barely touching, or to tap them off the ground entirely at the start.

Dropping back down. Coming down under control is where the working leg lengthens under load, and rushing it removes half the exercise.

Step too high, too soon. A very high step brings the hip into deep flexion at the start and recruits a lot of forward lean.

The pelvis dropping on the unsupported side, which is easy to miss without watching.

Where it sits

The most transferable single-leg movement, because climbing a step is a thing bodies do constantly, and because the height dial is continuous from very easy to genuinely hard.

It is a reasonable place to begin single-leg work — often before the split squat, since a low step demands very little — and it sits alongside the reverse lunge as the other main option. Between them the difference is where the load sits: a step-up drives up, a lunge lowers down.