Your working leg stays on the step, while your non-working leg just brushes the ground. Up and down and up and down you go for your prescribed number of reps (say 15) You aren't using that non-working leg to help you.
Then, you switch and put your previously non-working leg on the step and repeat for 15 reps.
1) by connecting your shoulder to your knee (via your arm), you create a stronger structure - much like a bridge or the Eiffel tower. The stronger the structure, the more it can withstand (or in this case, produce) force. Just be sure you're not using that hand to push off.
2) by touching the muscle(s) you intend to use, you provide an additional means of feedback to your CNS so your body knows what's going on. Meaning, if your muscles/connex tissue aren't providing enough 'internal' information that you can make sense of, the sensitivity of your hands/fingers can 'pick up the slack'. Does that make sense?
I don't have the book right in front of me, but I'm pretty sure AC includes partial co-contraction lunges, in which you work only through the range you feel specific muscles contracting.
-JS-
I do remember something like that in AC's Afterburn.....he had us touch that "teardrop muscle" on the inside of the leg (right above the knee) to feel the co-contraction while doing split squat or lunge? one or the other...but it really helped to give "feedback" to see if I was using the right muscle AND to stop when I was not feeling it contract....thanks for bringing that up, I had forgotten about that.
It was very cool too since I had not ever developed that muscle before (or noticed it?) so it definitely can work to lightly touch that muscle to help give focus to it....and yet not use it to cheat with.
I put the working leg on the step, just barely start to step -- just enough to put pressure on that working heal that's on the step, then pause for a tiny split second to let the back leg go slack, then resume the stepping. It's taking some major brain power to focus on all of that through each step. LOL The pause is VERY tiny, no more than one second, but it worked for me anyway.
I tried this last time and it worked for me. After I put pressure on the working leg I paused at the bottom to allow my working leg to really engage then I continued to step up. Thanks for the advice
Sorry to comment on such an old thread, but I use my my rear leg for assistance, and I don't really see what is so bad about it. I thought these weren't meant to be isolation movements but full body movements and to recruit as much muscle as possible to work together? Using my rear leg for help isn't any less strenuous because it enables me to use a heavier load thereby challenging my entire body more, so I like to do them that way. It also makes it a more explosive movement and better simulates how I would do it climbing boulders.
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Last edited by Stumble Bum : 02-26-2009 at 04:26 PM.
Reason: To say sorry for commenting on old thread. ;o)
To my mind, it is rather like kipping pullups vs. dead hang. Or a push press vs. a military press. They're different, neither is bad or wrong. But if a program called for a standing military press and you wanted to do a push press because it was more full body and allowed you to move more weight ... see where I'm going?
For your own purposes, I entirely get your point and you are right, using one with the assistance of the other does mimic bouldering. Who's to say if doing them strictly wouldn't also bring strength gains?
I think he's kinda got the form down. What du yu experts think?
I agree that he's using the non working leg a lot, and also, even though the narrative says to only "touch the toe" to the bench, he's actually stepping onto the bench with the free leg.
oh my goodness I am so glad this thread got brought up again from 2008! I am just starting and today was my second day of step ups and I am having a heck of a time doing these without cheating, I have tried focusing, watching myself, scrunching toes... I just always seem to use my non working leg. I had 2 questions, could my height be part of the issue? (I'm just barely 5'2") but I am using the smallest step.
Also, I know that we should be working our way up with db but what about step size? Should I be trying to work my way up to a taller step because honestly- I don't think I can without growing a few more inches. To get to the 3rd size I would have to lift my knee up to my chin almost!
I'm 5'3" and could do them off of the kitchen counter. It's not really a matter of height, actually. If you do them stepping off the step you can use a really high step and pick how low you go, which can be a benefit if you don't find something to be at a good height otherwise (as in too low) because technically there's never a "too high" you just wouldn't bring your non-working foot down to the floor.
I'd personally work toward an increased range of motion (taller step) until you're at least to the point where your working foot is just around/above the non-working knee. The strength in the glutes and ab/adductors will serve you well transferring to many exercises… squats for instance. After that point I spoze it's up to you whether you'd rather increase range of motion (height) more or increase weight.
Hmmm this thread got me thinking how I've not done step-ups in eons.
One of the tips I remember most vividly as I rarely if ever got any cues from trainers in my former gym (he moved to another work place.. like all the decent ones) was to keep the rear leg closer to the step (bench in this case) so as to reduce the possibility of cheating.
Of course, when you don't step all the way back down but keep the non-working leg off the ground at all times then it doesn't matter at all & like Aoife says you could be doing it off an incredibly high step (like a kitchen counter indeed).. I'm not sure if a lot of people would dare to do this.. that remark actually spurred me into trying them again.
I can honestly say that I have NEVER seen anyone do step-ups correctly at my gym. Every single person cheats. Just like the guy in the video....see how he actually bends his non-working leg to 'push off' and get leverage to get back up. That's what I see everyone doing. When someone tells me they are doing step-ups with a 75 lb barbell on their back, it goes in one ear and out the other.....because I know exactly what their 'step-ups' look like. A non-cheating step-up, as described in the link Lisa provided, is a very challenging movement.
Did a BW-only set on a box at approx. knee height today, granted it was after having done 8 sets of back squats.. but could only manage 6-8 wobbly reps on the right side and didn't make it any further than 2 on the left (too pooped to continue).
Next time I'll start with a set of step ups before continueing with (front) squats..
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