Anyone else here do them besides me? Not as an ME exercise or anything, but in the 8 to 12 rep range as an accessory movement.
Does anyone else do them and think that they are a worthwhile exercise?
yea dude they are pretty popular…although most people dont do enough unilateral work.
They make a good max effort exercise if the area is set up accordingly.
I personally love them as they are of great benefit for overall strength and development.
I encourage my athletes to do these to help develop their verticals, among other things.
I think you can go ME or DE with step ups…
I’ve used them for a ME accessory, going 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps with no knee drive at the top…if you have a sturdy box, you can go real heavy and it crushes your post chain…I also learned that hard way that using those shitty step aerobics boxes for these is a bad idea…
Using on a DE day, with a big knee drive at the top works really well too, it feels a little Jane Fonda-ish…I got quite a bit faster sprint-wise when I started working these into my training and it helped even out my core; had microdiscectomy last Thanksgiving that led to some imbalances…
Two Thumbs Up
[quote]sledge2 wrote:
I think you can go ME or DE with step ups…
I’ve used them for a ME accessory, going 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps with no knee drive at the top…if you have a sturdy box, you can go real heavy and it crushes your post chain…I also learned that hard way that using those shitty step aerobics boxes for these is a bad idea…
Using on a DE day, with a big knee drive at the top works really well too, it feels a little Jane Fonda-ish…I got quite a bit faster sprint-wise when I started working these into my training and it helped even out my core; had microdiscectomy last Thanksgiving that led to some imbalances…
Two Thumbs Up[/quote]
What do you mean by “knee drive”?
Why would you do these as an ME exercise?
Yup do em once a week usually DL day.
Alternate it either fairly heavy 6 reps and down or explosive, little or no weight and actually JUMP off the one foot.
Make sure to NOT use the down leg to push off Have it locked out so it cant help and just use the up leg.
Knee Drive??? I think he’s talking about raising the none working knee up HIGH in the movement hence the feel like Jane Fonda not sure. I skip that part.
LOL
[quote]bruinsdmb wrote:
yea dude they are pretty popular…although most people dont do enough unilateral work.[/quote]
I completely agree that this exercise is awesome to address unilateral strength imbalances. I also love Bulgarian Split Squats to accomplish the same purpose. I think BSS are better because you get such an active stretch of the hip flexor of the ‘non-working’ leg.
Nick
good accessory movement not as max though. great for posterior chain and adductors and leg drive and most of all stability and strength in stabilizing pelvis.
generally these(bulgarian squats, lunges onto box, step ups) are great after dynamic squattage on fridays. they help keep your hips, spine and pelvis in healthy alignment. personnly i could do 'em on m.e. day too though after squat and deads. so fridays fit well…
[quote]sledge2 wrote:
I think you can go ME or DE with step ups…
I’ve used them for a ME accessory, going 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps with no knee drive at the top…if you have a sturdy box, you can go real heavy and it crushes your post chain…I also learned that hard way that using those shitty step aerobics boxes for these is a bad idea…
[/quote]
Did you crush your wife’s aerobic box,lol?
I also do them using her box, but only for lowe weight with sets of 15 or so…around 135 for me. I guess i will have to go to Home Depot and make one myself.
I have always liked them. I did them instead of squats for a while trying to have less weight on my back (back problems) and I responded very well to them. I haven’t used them that much since then, once a week or something like that, but they are my favorite unilateral leg exercise followed closely by one-leg squats. I used a high-stepup to around a 18-19 inch platform (I’m 6’4") and i found it still activated the glutes and hammys well.
[quote]nikboa wrote:
I used a high-stepup to around a 18-19 inch platform (I’m 6’4") and i found it still activated the glutes and hammys well. [/quote]
I think having a high box is the key for getting the glutes/hams involved.
I loved these when I had access to a tall box (I would guess around 18-20")
I’ve heard bad things about using a high box for step-ups, that you can set yourself up for injury to your hip flexors using very heavy loads.
Personally, I don’t think I’m at the level where I’m using that much weight, so I’m not worrying about it. I figure once I can do step-ups with 315, then I’ll stop.
I saw a guy doing step ups using those aerobic build up steps that he had built up to almost waist height. Aside from the huge step that he had to make, which would have been fine had he been doing body weight steps, the stability of the apparatus concerned me.
After about the 3rd rep, about half way up the step, the built up steps tipped and buddy went butt over tea kettle, complete with bbell and weights.
Oddly enough, I didn’t see him doing this again. Hmmmm…
[quote]Nick Radonjic wrote:
bruinsdmb wrote:
yea dude they are pretty popular…although most people dont do enough unilateral work.
I completely agree that this exercise is awesome to address unilateral strength imbalances. I also love Bulgarian Split Squats to accomplish the same purpose. I think BSS are better because you get such an active stretch of the hip flexor of the ‘non-working’ leg.
Nick[/quote]
Yea, I prefer split squats and have combined them with a TKE band set-up that is real quick. The hip flexor stretch really keeps my back feeling good.
Great exercise to do in EDT format. Absolute quad killer!