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:
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 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
- 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.
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!