Human Design health and fitness is a private boutique personal training studio based in north Sydney. We help busy men and women fall in love with fitness again.

This week we have a demonstration of a simpel exercise called the dumbbell step up which can be performed poorly if you do not pay attention to what you are doing.

Remember, every exercise you do should require focus to perform your best technique to get the best results and prevent injury.

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Check out the video here for a demonstration.

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The dumbbell step up is a great exercise for developing strength and endurance in the Lower body.

Basic tips:

- Heels stay flat on the bench
- Dumbbells do not swing back and forth
- Knees, hips and shoulders ascend at the same rate
- Your knees should track with your toes - no collapsing inward.
- No bouncing at the bottom of the movement. Keep it controlled and try to let the top leg do all the work.

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I see many people doing jump lunges and explosive exercises these days but most people cannot even perform the basic split squat with weights.
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Most of you will know this exercise as a lunge but technically it is a split squat as we are moving straight up and down.

The key tips to performing this exercise are:

• Move straight up and down and control the descent. It is up to you whether you want to touch the floor or not. Keep your posture tall.
• Feel the weight being distributed throughout your entire foot and not mainly on the front of the foot. This is important for women as they wear high heels and can become front foot dominant.
• Only add weight when you can perform the number of reps perfectly.
• Ensure that the knee does not collapse inwards during the exercise and the hips must also stay level. It can help to use a mirror to monitor technique initially.

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For more exercise tips and technique visit our youtube channel or check out www.humandesign.com.au for weekly fitness tips.