This is another post in our series of Fitness Saturday exercises—workouts appropriate to women in the second half of life. Personal trainer Brooke Marrone, president and founder of Brooke Marrone Fitness, in New York City, is our fitness guru.
We continue to celebrate American Heart Month with our exercise of the week, the Step-Up! The Step-Up is a fantastic, functional exercise that is great for increasing strength and stability in your lower body and improving your heart health. It is a fact that a little bit of exercise is better than none, so get up and get moving and you’ll decrease your risk of heart disease with every step that you take.
The primary muscles worked in the Step-Up are the quadriceps and the gluteus maximus and hamstrings (the big muscles in the front and back of your body).
Modifications: To increase the difficulty of this exercise, use a higher step, box, or chair. You can also increase the resistance by performing the exercise holding a set of dumbbells in each hand.