Step Ups

Step-Ups:

1. Place an appropriate height step in front of the client or patient, and ensure the step is secure.
   • Testing the set-up before adding load to this exercise is highly recommended.
2. Ask the client or patient to hold a weight in a Front Rack Position, or hold dumbbells by their sides.
3. Have the client or patient place the foot of the target leg on the step, ensuring the 2nd toe is pointing forward.
4. Ask the client or patient to step up by performing the drawing-in maneuver, squeezing their glutes, and attempting to thrust their hips forward to attain an upright standing posture.
5. With control (and/or at the desired tempo), keep the foot of the target leg on the step, and step with the contralateral leg back to the ground.
6. Have the client or patient perform a “form/posture check” and make any necessary adjustments.
7. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Regressions and Progressions

1. Progressions: Increasing load, unstable loads, or unstable surfaces.
2. To Balance: This exercise can be performed with the non-target foot placed on the step between repetitions, or the non-target can be elevated to 90 degrees of hip and knee flexion, with the intent to stabilize at the top of each repetition (in this variation the non-target-foot only touches the floor).
3. Exercise Progressions: Multi-planer step-ups (sagittal, frontal, and transverse), lunges, multi-planer lungers, single-leg touchdowns.