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Strong Endurance Step Up Thread

Bauer

Bauer

Level 8 Valued Member
Anyone else doing Step Ups?

I have started doing them before Christmas and so far, I am really pleased. I was afraid that I would find them boring, but for some reason I usually get into a flow about 10-15 minutes into the session. (The first few repeats feel very long and sometimes tiring, but the it gets better and better.)

Here are a few things that I like about them:
  • Easy to do indoors
  • Easy to load, actually also improving carrying ability
  • Very good for ankle, knee and hip stability (much better than running for me)
  • Very easy to recover from (better than running for me, even at a higher HR and longer duration)
  • Relatively easy to scale (step height, weight, steps per minute)
  • Breaks between repeats, allowing me to check a soup or sauce sizzling in the kitchen or helping my daughter with some minor challenges
Here are a few things that I have learned to make them work:
  • I like to do shorter session barefoot, and longer session with shoes
  • Oatmeal before seems to help with performance and recovery (also back up by science, actually)
  • Drinking some tea with honey and a pinch of salt seems to help with performance and avoiding cramps
  • So far I have done them looking out into the garden, having something soothing to look at. I have also tried watching virtual hikes (for example, Hoh Rainforest). With a large screen this might actually work pretty well for a calming effect.
  • I like to set a metronome on 76 BPM per minute (for 19 Step Ups per minute). Sometimes I listen to music and only use the visual of the metronome. Sometimes I just listen to the click of the metronome which can be quite hyponotizing.
Indoors it can get pretty sweaty which is the biggest downside for me. But then again it feels like good work and puts me into a good mood.

I cannot say much about possible carryovers so far, but I enjoy them more than I would have predicted. Thank you @Kenneth Bolyard for your plans!
 
I am not in a position to hit trails right now, and am having some foot issues, so I have been doing the Norwegian 4x4 protocol with step ups.

I am not too keen on doing them for an hour or more, but the 4x4 appears to be pretty productive while maintaining sanity.

As you point out, lots of ways to progress them.
 
Hello,

I use them (or at least stair climbing) to add variety to my others locomotion activities (trail, run, ruck). In addition to the physical attributes you mentioned, I have also noticed that doing them in front of wall with no distractions (music, etc...) helps to build some sort of mental resilience. When it gets hard, one has no real escape, excepted to push through or to find mental ressources. To a certain extent it teaches how to "switch the brain off". It helps when you are in Nature because either:
- landscape makes things more enjoyable so physical hardship gets more tolerable
- if weather is poor, then you at least have something which "varies" (contrary to a wall) so it remains better no matter what.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Cool to hear other's feedback on the step up plans. I haven't been doing them long enough to really assess how I feel about it but I started incorporating the HRST 2301 plan into my weekly routine at least once a week. I, like you, thought I would find them boring but actually do enjoy getting into the flow of it. I just crank some music and get in the zone. I began with unweighted step-ups and have been able to add a repeat each session while obeying the stop signs. I plan to work up to the 60 minute mark unweighted and then add a 20 lb ruck and start over. I use these as my cardio sessions on my off days from strength training with KB's.

I decided to add these in because hiking is a big passion of mine, but I don't have a lot of time right now to dedicate to hiking for the purpose of training. By doing the step ups on weeknights I hope to increase my ability to hike longer distances and steeper terrain on those days when I am actually able to get outside in the mountains. That way I can enjoy my time outside more. Time will tell if this works as intended but I am optimistic with my progress so far.
 
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They are a good tool in the toolbox. If I did them today I’d probably follow the StrongFirst article on them, or translate the book “Slow Jogging” to step ups.


My personal experience is that they featured once per week in an Afghanistan Pre-Deployment training plan designed to turn you into a combat mountain goat, patrolling up and down mountains all day. Step ups worked great for that.

(Thankfully I didn’t end up needing either the combat training or the mountain goat capability, but I did read a lot of books).
 
Nice to hear that others enjoy step-ups as well. I've started incorporating them this winter as an extra cardio session per week, instead of rucking when they weather didn't allow that (I slipped really badly once with a 25kg pack and I don't want to repeat that.
I'll usually aim for 45' to an hour with 10-25kg in my rucksack. Yesterday I tried the Chad 1000 step up workout with 20kg, actually wasn't too bad and I could stay nicely in Zone 2 and finished in 1h2'. I like the brain-off feeling such a workout gives, once you're in the zone it gets quite "enjoyable", and thinking in steps rather than minutes acts as sort of a gamification.
 
I can confirm all of the above. Step ups are amazing.

One more point why they are good for me:
I can garantie to keep the HR in the desired range for the programed time/volume.
Whenever I go for a run or ruck in my region, due to the hills my heart rate spikes up and falls down over and over and I have to adjust the running speed. Step ups allow me to do small adjustments (time, load, cadence) to help me with training in the correct zones. This is a huge plus from a programing standpoint.
 
I am also a great, but relatively new fan of step-ups. In my apartment I have a low step-up made from wood that my father made for me (20 cm). And a tall chair of wood 50 cm (my leg is horizontal when stepping up).

In the morning when I feel like waking up (training in the morning is recommended by Huberman), I do some short sideways step-up sprints. Always sets me in a good mood. I also imagine it is good for coordination.

I think step-ups are slightly more taxing for the knees than elliptical machine and stationary bike cycling, but I think it has more possibilities for variation. Stepping up with the right foot, then stepping up with left foot, always stepping up with right food for ten repetitions, then 10 reps with left foot, doing it sideways, the hight of the step, with or without load etc etc).

I think many of the Strong Endurance protocols can be translated for use on the step up.

I have gotten some good ideas about how to use step-ups from watching a of "girly" YouTube videos about step-ups. You have to be open for getting inspirations from all over the place :)
 
Anders said:
I have gotten some good ideas about how to use step-ups from watching a of "girly" YouTube videos about step-ups. You have to be open for getting inspirations from all over the place :)
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My fitness through the 1990s was step aerobics. It was everywhere. Can still find my favorites on YouTube when I get the urge to do one. They still work great. Just not a popular thing anymore.
 
I started plan 2053 today... 30min @15% bodyweight for the ruck (25lbs)

Overall not bad, my step cadence was challenged about halfway through
 

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Bauer said:
Anyone else doing Step Ups?

I have started doing them before Christmas and so far, I am really pleased. I was afraid that I would find them boring, but for some reason I usually get into a flow about 10-15 minutes into the session. (The first few repeats feel very long and sometimes tiring, but the it gets better and better.)

Here are a few things that I like about them:
  • Easy to do indoors
  • Easy to load, actually also improving carrying ability
  • Very good for ankle, knee and hip stability (much better than running for me)
  • Very easy to recover from (better than running for me, even at a higher HR and longer duration)
  • Relatively easy to scale (step height, weight, steps per minute)
  • Breaks between repeats, allowing me to check a soup or sauce sizzling in the kitchen or helping my daughter with some minor challenges
Here are a few things that I have learned to make them work:
  • I like to do shorter session barefoot, and longer session with shoes
  • Oatmeal before seems to help with performance and recovery (also back up by science, actually)
  • Drinking some tea with honey and a pinch of salt seems to help with performance and avoiding cramps
  • So far I have done them looking out into the garden, having something soothing to look at. I have also tried watching virtual hikes (for example, Hoh Rainforest). With a large screen this might actually work pretty well for a calming effect.
  • I like to set a metronome on 76 BPM per minute (for 19 Step Ups per minute). Sometimes I listen to music and only use the visual of the metronome. Sometimes I just listen to the click of the metronome which can be quite hyponotizing.
Indoors it can get pretty sweaty which is the biggest downside for me. But then again it feels like good work and puts me into a good mood.

I cannot say much about possible carryovers so far, but I enjoy them more than I would have predicted. Thank you @Kenneth Bolyard for your plans!
Click to expand...
I first ran across these when I used Mountain and Military Athlete programming back in 2013-2014. These could be a s***ton of drudgery however.
 
LoneRider said:
I

I first ran across these when I used Mountain and Military Athlete programming back in 2013-2014. These could be a s***ton of drudgery however.
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Same here. I think I found them on the Military Athlete site on the Afghanistan pre-deployment training plan. It was a lot of step-ups followed I believe by 400-meter sprints. It was hell!
 
Hung said:
I just wonder about the glutes hypertrophy effect from all of that step up.
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So far I feel like this has an effect on glute hypertrophy. Calves and glutes are most taxed, follow by hammies, interestingly. But I have been doing LCCJs for some time and thus my quads might be littel better developed, at the moment.
 
ShawnM said:
Same here. I think I found them on the Military Athlete site on the Afghanistan pre-deployment training plan. It was a lot of step-ups followed I believe by 400-meter sprints. It was hell!
Click to expand...
Drudgery for sure. One Zone 2 version I created was 25 step ups to a 14" bench then run 400m on the track. Rinse and repeat for forty minutes. The trick was keep heart rate BELOW Zone 2 threshold.
 
LoneRider said:
Drudgery for sure. One Zone 2 version I created was 25 step ups to a 14" bench then run 400m on the track. Rinse and repeat for forty minutes. The trick was keep heart rate BELOW Zone 2 threshold.
Click to expand...
I think I was doing 100 and then the 400m run. There was no way to keep it in Zone 2 unless I spent forever doing the step ups. I like their programs; they worked very well.
 
ShawnM said:
I think I was doing 100 and then the 400m run. There was no way to keep it in Zone 2 unless I spent forever doing the step ups. I like their programs; they worked very well.
Click to expand...
That's why I did the stepups slow and reduced to 25 versus 100.
 
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