Step Training History

From a milk crate to a porch step, a bench to a box, and then finally... the step

When Gin suffered her own overuse injury from the rigors of high impact, she consulted an orthopedic doctor who referred her to a physical therapist, and it was recommended that she step up and down on a milk crate to strengthen the muscles of her knee. Gin did not actually stop to get a milk crate on her way home. She just went home and substituted the porch step for the milk crate.

Accustomed to a little more excitement than just silence and simple up and down movement, she quickly got bored. So she went inside, put her aerobic music on the stereo, opened the windows, and began her porch step therapy. As she moved to the music, she realized what a great cardio-vascular workout it was to repeatedly lift your body weight.

She was so enthused with the training effect that she had a bench built around the perimeter of the aerobic room at Gold's Gym in Marietta. In no time, the classes were packed. To accommodate the demand, the solution was to saw the bench into smaller sections that could be placed throughout the room, allowing for more people to participate.

Gin's concept was very well received, especially by those that felt aerobic classes had become overwhelmingly complicated. The new activity held great appeal, especially for men who considered "aerobics" as a women's only activity. It was uncomplicated, athletic, strong, and results oriented. The concept quickly spread locally and throughout the southeast, with clubs building boxes or "benches".

Gin had, over the last several years, approached many companies with the concept, but with evidence that the concept was catching on, the Reebok footwear company was showing interest.

In 1989, Gin was teaching at Sportslife (Marietta, GA) where they were using handmade wooden boxes. In light of the increasing popularity of the class concept the need to replace the wooden boxes was recognized. The Step Company was formed to fill the need and began to manufacture plastic adjustable platforms, originally in green, with purple and gray stackable blocks.

The Step Company, who still makes the "original" step, produced the very first club step platforms - first introduced with Reebok's British flag logo and the "Step Reebok" name. Reebok eventually went on to design and introduced their own platform, the black and gray version that is now known as the Step Reebok platform.

That same year, Reebok assembled a team of fitness professionals, including Gin, which would create programming and conduct instructor training for the new "Step Reebok" Program. This group was known as the "National Step Reebok Training Team". As noted in early publications, they also recruited Candice Copeland-Brooks and Lorna Francis to contribute to the Step Reebok program development.

Step Training was taking off, Gin and the Team were in high demand, and they spent most of their time traveling to introduce the world to this new "workout with muscle". In addition to constant touring, the team worked non-stop on research and new ideas for the program.

The step concept spread like wildfire - it was an unprecedented fitness phenomena - and in no time, instructors were teaching packed classes, workshops were being offered by a wide variety of instructors all over the country, and step videos began to hit the instructor video market.

Recognizing Gin's contribution to the fitness industry, IDEA presented her with the prestigious "Instructor of the Year" award in 1991 and in 2006, Gin was inducted to the National Fitness Hall of Fame.

In 1992, Reebok released "Step Reebok: The Video". Sometimes referred to as Gin's "talking head" video, this was the first big budget "MTV" style production that was released for the consumer market. It featured a live African band, and the cast performed on an industrial-looking grid, lit from below, with Gin's face cueing from overhead monitors.

Step Reebok: The Video has long been a top seller and is included with the purchase of a Step Reebok Platform. It is still considered THE "primer" for anyone learning step training basics.

(Note - While Gin did appear in earlier step videos that were produced to teach this new group fitness activity, none of her earlier titles prior to Step Reebok are available - unless you can find someone who has an old copy in their video library.)

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Next: Step History - The Research