How to do it
- Stand facing a box set at roughly knee height with dumbbells at your sides.
- Place one full foot on the box and drive up through that heel without pushing off the back foot.
- Lower yourself down under control on the same leg.
Cues that matter
- If you have to jump up, the box is too high.
- The lowering phase is where the leg actually works.
Common mistakes
- Bouncing off the trailing leg.
- Dropping down instead of lowering slowly.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Quads
- All four heads
Also works
- Glutes
- Core
Sets and reps
What to do with it depends on what you are training for. These are the ranges MuscleMap uses when it puts Dumbbell Step-Up in a session, with 150 seconds between sets.
- Strength
- 4–6 reps
- Build muscle
- 6–10 reps
- Endurance
- 12–20 reps
Same muscle, different kit
Movements that train the same part of the quads with different equipment — for a day the dumbbell is taken, or a gym that does not have one.