Step Up

An introduction into unsupported, single-leg work, the step up is also a life-long skill you want to be able to do well when your 90. Focus just as hard on the lowering as the raising and make sure you bring your hips all the way through at the top. Keep the angle of your torso identical to the angle of your shin. And if this is too easy, work on making the step higher (increasing the range-of-motion) before you work on adding weight.

Coach Stevo's Top Tips

• Engage your core.
• Squeeze your butt and hip flexor at the same time to brace the pelvis.
• Don't drop; pull yourself down.

Front Squat

The Front Squat is the introduction that I like to give most people to barbell squatting once the goblet squat has been mastered. It's important to remember that barbells are a little less forgiving and lot louder when you drop them. Start with the handsfree version shown below and do those for a few weeks. If you have the wrist flexibility, work up to the pictured form. If your arms start to droop, lower the weight. If your wrists hurt, lower the weight. If your form suffers at all, drop the weight. The video at the bottom is a very good tutorial about what "good" and "bad" front squatting looks like.

Coach Stevo's Top Tips

• The bar rests on your shoulders, not on your wrists.
• Your fingertips touch the bar, not your palms.
• Focus on keeping your torso as upright as possible.
• How far down? All the way down.

Hands Free

Good Form Breakdown

Split Squat

This is an exercise that requires a deceptive amount of precision. Your feet should always face the same way and your knee should land exactly below your shoulder with a straight line between the two. Weight is optional.

Coach Stevo's Top Tips

• This isn't a lunge. Stay in the same position.

Goblet Squat

The Every (Wo)Man's Squat. Pull yourself into the squat by inhaling the whole way down and sitting back so the weight is always on your heels. Pry your hips open with your elbow. Take a sharp inhale through your nose and feel the tension build in your core. Squeeze the bell as hard as you can, grunt loudly and pop your head a little to initiate the upward phase. Push your hips all the way through and continue to exhale slowly even when you reach the top.

Coach Stevo Top Tips

• Weight always on your heels.
• Chest always up.
• If it gets hard, squeeze the bell harder