Comments on: Exercises You Should Be Doing: Crossover DB Step-Ups

By: Mark Young

Mark Young — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:55:54 +0000

Good call Tony! I stole this exercise from Mike a while back and I love it. I find it especially useful for clients whose sports require lateral movement.

By: Tony Gentilcore

Tony Gentilcore — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:43:31 +0000

@ Eric- Well said. Thanks for the tip!

@ Len- Just focus on keeping the shoulders back so that they don’t round.

By: Len Gilmore

Len Gilmore — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:55:56 +0000

Tony,

When you say “shoulder blades retracted,” should we actually be aiming for full retraction or simply keeping the scapulae in a somewhat “neutral” position, i.e. making sure are shoulders aren’t rounded forward but not aiming for full retraction, either?

I recognize this may be a subtle difference, but I wanted to double check anyway.

By: Eric Lagoy

Eric Lagoy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:46:17 +0000

Cool exercise Tony that’s definitely a new one for me I’ll have to try. Just wanted to add a little to the coaching cues. On the occasion when I do see people doing single leg work at the gym, I usually see their upper body’s swinging all over the place. I think for the person just starting out with single leg resistance training its almost inevitable (even if your strong with bilateral exercises). Keeping the chest tall and focusing your eye sight ahead was one of the best coaching cues I learned interning at CP for these type of exercises. I like to try and keep all motion from the hips down, the dumbbells are just there to provide additional external resistance. When I think about it this way I tend to move my upper body less and focus on activating my glutes/hams to finish the movement