Every Wednesday, STACK features an Exercise of the Week to help you improve your overall sports performance—including strength, speed, size and flexibility. This week we highlight Step-Ups With Hold, a multi-joint lower body exercise that develops strength in the quads and glutes.
Who’s Doing It

• Heather Mitts

Muscular Benefits

• Increases quad and glute strength
• Increases core muscle strength to stabilize the hips and spine
• Develops range of motion, movement coordination and ankle stability

Sports Performance Benefits

• Improves powerful leg drive for increased jumping ability, explosive speed and lower body power
• Develops functional single-leg strength—i.e., in a way similar to game-time use
• Improves single-leg balance, which is critical for changing direction

Dumbbell Step-Ups Description

• Holding dumbbells on shoulders, assume athletic stance in front of knee-high box
• Step onto box with right foot
• Explosively extend right hip and knee to raise body onto box
• Drive up with left knee so thigh is parallel to floor; hold for two seconds
• Return left foot to ground; repeat for specified reps

Sets/Reps: 4×8-10 each leg
Coaching Points

• Keep back straight, chest up and shoulders back
• Maintain good posture and keep core tight
• Drive off front foot