Legs · Cable
Cable Glute Dominant Step-up
How to do the cable glute dominant step-up, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Cable
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Lunge
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Set a cable to a low position and attach an ankle strap or hold the handle, standing in front of a box with the cable behind you. Place your lead foot fully on the box and drive through that heel to stand up, leaning your torso slightly forward to bias the glute. Let the cable pull you back down under control and repeat, keeping the work in the glute of the lead leg.
- 1Your lead glute driving the step and squeezing at the top
- 2Your weight staying over the heel of the foot on the box
- 3The cable adding resistance as you lower back down
Common mistakes
- Pushing off the floor with your trailing leg to cheat up
- Letting your lead knee cave inward over the box
- Standing too upright and shifting the work to your quad
Muscles worked
The cable glute dominant step-up mainly works the glutes, with the quads, hamstrings, and calves assisting.
- GlutesPrimary
- QuadsSupport
- HamstringsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Lower BackMinor
- Upper AbsMinor
- Lower AbsMinor
- ObliquesMinor
- AdductorsMinor
Kovo programs the cable glute dominant step-up for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More glutes exercises
- How to do the agility ladder drill
- How to do the airdyne bike
- How to do the arc trainer
- How to do the assault bike
- How to do the medicine ball atlas stone lift
- How to do the b stance hip thrust
Last reviewed June 2026.