Step History - Step w/ Handweights

The "Workout with Muscle"

In 1989, Step was billed as the "workout with muscle". Lifting the body weight not only improved cardio-respiratory "strength" but it also increased strength in the primary movers of the lower body, the quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings.

To put even more muscle into the workout and provide upper body strength training, hand weights were used in the initial stage of step training.

(Click here for a great picture and the very first article about Step Reebok in the Reebok Alliance News. Requires Adobe PDF to open.)

Reading this first article, you'll see that the research had not yet been performed. Keep in mind that, at the time, step was slow by today's standards, a relative snail's pace, with beats per minute (BPMs) ranging between 80 and 120.

This slow pace not only allowed thousands of people to gradually learn and adapt to the new vertical lifting activity, but it also allowed a greater degree of control when hand weights were used.

The research that was eventually conducted by Drs. Peter and Lorna Francis, and others, included a study on "The Effects of Hand Held Weights".

The study done at Auburn University found that there was no significant difference in the energy cost when stepping on an 8 inch platform with or without 1 pound dumbbells, according to oxygen uptake. But the subjects in the study perceived that the energy cost was greater and reported higher heart rate using the 1 pound weights. The conclusion was that the perceived exertion was most likey due to discomfort and fatigue of the shoulder muscles and the higher heart rate was reportedly due to the "Pressor Response".

The same group at Auburn also looked at the use of heavier weights - 2 pounds on an 8 inch platform. While the energy cost did increase by about 6.7%, the subjects using the weights complained of acute pain and soreness in the shoulder muscles - and the same group was unwilling to exercise with 3 pound weights.

At San Diego State, the group looked at the aspect of the Pressor Response by conducting a comparative study of oxygen uptake and heart rate over a range of intensities for both treadmill running and step training. They concluded that heart rate was an accurate indicator of energy cost for both activities, and when hand weights are not used, the Pressor Response does not seem to have a significant influence on heart rate.

In an earlier study at the University of Pittsburgh, the effects of stepping with 1 and 2 pound weights at the range ends of tempo - 80 bpms and 120 bpms. The platform height was 14 inches.

The results were: At 80 bpms, energy cost increased by 18.6% with 1lbs and 21.7% with 2lbs, pumping arms from mid thigh to shoulder height. At 120 bpms, there was an increase by 17% with 1lbs, and 21.2% with 2lbs. However they did not look at the energy cost of pumping arms without weights, and according to the Step Reebok manual, Introduction to Step Training (1994), it was "not possible to determine the effects of the hand weights alone from these data."

What is of interest at this point in time, is that the really slow speed of 80 bpms, produced 18.6% with 1lbs, but only 17% at 120 bpms. This seems to suggest that slower tempos actually require more energy, but again, it should be noted that the platfrom height was 14 inches.

Ultimately, it became the standard recommendation to NOT use hand weights while stepping - that the potential risk of injury to the joints of the shoulders and elbows far outweighed the relative benefit of using hand weights.

Because of this injury concern with repetitious upper body strength movements combined with the dynamic lower body movements of step training, Reebok created Step Reebok Circuit Workouts. The original circuit handout, published in 1991, included suggested formats and set-ups for alternating strength with the cardio step segments.

With Circuit Workouts, instructors learned to apply different models, depending on the model's fitness goals, in either a "unison" circuit, where participants worked at their own step, or at designated "stations" set up in various ways around the room.

For a while, station circuits were used, but eventually, unison circuits became the common format used in group exercise, especially in clubs that had larger classes, tighter schedules, and participants of various fitness levels. Stations required more pre-class set-up time and were a little more challenging to instruct and monitor. The unison circuit allowed participants to work on their own step platform, appropriate to their height, and choose weights appropriate to their own fitness level.

While a range of time ratios and formats were offered, varied on training goals, a 5 to 1 ratio of cardio and strength eventually became standard with unison circuits in the classroom setting.

New Step Reebok Patterns

In 1991, the handout for Circuit Workouts indicated the following patterns had been added:

Lunges (Alternating)
Lunges (Repeaters)
Across the Top

And these were the "Combos":

Traveling Knee Up/ Stationary Knee Up Combo
Turn Step/ Tap up-Tap Down Combo
Tap Up-Tap Down/Over the Top Combo
Turn Step/ Over the Top Combo
Straddle Up/ Straddle Down Combo
Lunges/ Straddle Combo
Tap Up-Tap Down/ Across the Top Combo

The video Step Reebok Circuit Challenge was released in 1994. In July of 1995, Gin's Circuit Challenge was listed at #3, as one of the top selling videos at Collage Video.

Although it is Gin's personal favorite in the Step Reebok series, Circuit Challenge, as well as Aerostep (1994), are both owned by a different company from the other Reebok titles.

Since this article was first released, Circuit Challenge has been converted and released on DVD, but there are no plans to convert Aerostep.

(Note - Because Gin would often recommend Circuit Challenge to people who were looking for cardio and strength workout, she eventually produced Simply Circuit in 2003, because of the unavailability of the title. While it is not the exact same workout, it is similar in concept and format.)

In general, Circuit training offered a workout that improved cardio-respiratory fitness to a certain degree, and strength up to a point. And even though it was considered to be good for developing a base level of fitness or maintaining, people enjoyed the variety and the upper body strength training that it brought into step classes.

Circuits began to decrease in popularity as formats began to focus on specific aspects of fitness. Strength training or "body sculpting" classes were being added to schedules, and step became more clearly focused on cardio-respiratory fitness.

With cardio step, one focus was "steady state" training, along with choreography combinations, and the other focus was adding intensity with "power", which eventually led to interval training.

Next: Step History 5 - Adding Power

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