Step Down Progressions For Hikers

The step down is one of the best strength exercises for hikers. It is great for:

• Developing single-leg quadricep and glute strength
• Building hip, knee and ankle stability
• Improving balance
• Aiding on steep descents
  
  

But, no matter how good a single exercise is, to get the best results over the long term, we want to ensure we are varying the exercise and exposing the body to slightly different challenges.​

So in this video, I share with you four great progressions from the step down, which a hiker can work through during their training.

Exercises mentioned in the full video:
​
​Step Down: 
​​​​

Poliquin Step Down:
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Assisted Eccentric Pistol Squat: 
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Eccentric Pistol Squat: 
​

Video Transcript:

[0:00] Hello, hello hikers! So in today's video we're talking through a few fantastic

[0:05] progressions but probably my favourite strength exercise for hikers, the step down.

[0:11] Now if you haven't come across the step down before, this is what it looks like. Very, very simple, basically standing on one leg and slowly lowering one heel down to the floor. Now this is a really, really simple exercise but it's incredibly specific and very, very useful for so many hikers out there. Now specifically what it does is it improves single leg quadriceps and glute strength. Incredibly relevant for every hiker out there. It is really really useful at building stability through the hips, the knees and the ankles. Really great for improving balance and also specifically for hikers who struggle

[0:45] going downhill or a little bit unsteady, a little bit uncertain. Very very specific for this. But when it comes down to any type of strength training exercise no matter how good it is we need to keep one thing in mind progression because if we want to continually get stronger and continually to improve to actually help us on our adventures we want to be giving the body more and more challenge over time to give it a reason to keep on getting stronger now with the step down a couple of simple options here is we can often use a higher step so if we're using this exercise instead of using a small step we can get higher and higher and higher and higher and that works out pretty well another option is essentially doing this exercise but basically loading up with a bit of weight and holding a couple of dumbbells or wearing a backpack on your back and that works very well as well but over time you know we probably can.

[1:36] Get a little bit more benefit from having slightly more variation even though if we are progressing something we want to introduce slight different movements over time to keep us moving forward so today i want to share with you a few different options that you can build off the typical step down which will be very very similar movements give you very similar benefits but basically it's just step by step by step which you can introduce and keep your body moving forward so beyond the traditional step down. The next step that I'll often get people to do is move into what's called a polyquin step down. Now the polyquin step down is very very similar but the only difference here is what we're doing is we're getting a little weights plate, a piece of wood or whatever and we're raising up the heel.

[2:21] Now the difference between this and the traditional step down is essentially

[2:25] just changes the angle of the movement ever so slightly. It changes it so went forward a little bit it takes a little bit of ankle mobility out of the equation and it's just enough of a change to trick the body into thinking it's a brand new exercise and keep you moving forward and keep on challenging working off slightly different now again here if you want to increase it at a time you can add a bit of weight or use a higher step but this can be a really nice introduction now the next step i'll often get hikers doing is moving into an assistive eccentric pistol squat, which is a little bit of a mouthful. But a pistol squat is an awesome exercise for high heels. However, you know, it can be pretty difficult. Now, this eccentric pistol squat basically involves being on a chair or a box and essentially just concentrating on slowly lowering yourself down, aiming for four or five or six seconds, slowly, slowly, slowly lowering down. Now, again, this is really, really useful for all of the exact same benefits as a traditional step-down. Now, in this particular variation, we're doing an assisted variation, where you're holding a couple of broomsticks or maybe a couple of trekking poles or even on a chair just to take a bit of weight off.

[3:38] Now, the next step is basically doing this without any of that assistance and just motivating an inch to an exercise and a full body weight movement where

[3:46] you've got no assistance and you're purely just controlling through your legs. Now, as you get stronger with this, you can make this lower and lower and lower and use a significantly lower box than showed in this video and that can be really useful. And then finally, once you're pretty confident with that and you're feeling good, then you can build up to a full-blown box pistol squat, where basically we're going up and down, up and down, up and down in this movement. Again, we probably still want to focus on the lowering portion, maybe even a little bit slower than what I'm doing in this video, but we're also adding that challenge of pushing up. And then beyond that, you can build in full pistol squat variations and this

[4:24] and that, but that may be a little bit beyond a lot of heighters. But if you are a who's looking to build strength the step down is a really really good starting point but make sure over time you are progressing things exploring slightly different movements and keeping the body moving forward now a few final tips on this if you do go through things pretty much for all of these.

[4:45] Exercises you want to make things higher week by week by week if you stick with the same exercise we still want to get more challenge so any of these options you can add a little bit extra range of motion. In the step downs, use a higher step. In the pistol squats, use a lower box. Or you can add some weight. You can hold a dumbbell, you can wear a backpack, or whatever it may be. And as we said before, most of these exercises are probably best done in a nice slow lower, because we really want to concentrate from that control for lowering, which will very much help you on the sense. So if you're a hiker who's been looking for a slightly different way to approach your strength training, or slightly different way to approach your step downs, Hopefully that gives you a few ideas to play around with and really do hope it pays off for you on your hiking adventures.

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