Why I Love Step Downs For Hikers

​I personally believe that step downs are one of the best strength exercises for hikers. And I use them, in one shape or form, for almost all my clients. 

And in today's episode, I explore a few deeper reasons why I am such a fan (beyond them just being 'useful' or 'specific' for hikers).

If you are not familiar with a step down, or are interested in exploring some different progressions of this movement pattern, check out this article: The Step Down 

==

Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. And in today's episode, we are talking all about why I love step downs for hikers and why I personally believe that step downs are the single best strength exercise for hikers,

[0:17] backpackers, and mountaineers. Now, if you don't know what a step down is, it's kind of in the name. We're all familiar with a step up exercise where we have a box or a step or something and we literally step up and then drop down and then step up and drop down. A step down exercise is essentially that in reverse. So what we're doing is we're starting on top of a box or a step. We're slowly lowering our leg down to the floor and then we're pushing back up to the top. It works exactly the same muscles as a step up, but the dynamic of the exercise is quite a bit different. And this is an exercise that I use with pretty much all my clients and probably 99% of my clients in one way, shape, form or another, and I love them. And over the years, I've talked about them a lot. I've done articles, talked about podcasts, they're in a bunch of my programs. You've probably heard me go on about them before.

[1:11] And the reason why I want to talk about this today is recently I saw another coach in the hiking space, I guess trying to trash them a little bit. And maybe they're just trying to be contrarian or whatever it may be, but they were sort of saying, you know what, step down's not so good, shouldn't be doing them, should be doing other stuff, and yada, yada, yada, which I thought was interesting to see. And I think they were just doing this to kind of go against the grain,

[1:34] because most hiking coaches will program these in one way or another, which is fair enough. But I thought this was a good opportunity to kind of dive into this subject a little bit and really explain my reasoning around why I love step-downs and how I also use them in training. So I'm going to run through a bunch of different reasons why I really do like the step-down exercise and then also just talk you through a few different ways around how I incorporate them into my different hikers training.

[2:03] In different situations and different contexts. So reason number one, why I love step downs for hikers is I really do find that step downs is a really nice middle ground between split squats and step ups. Now split squats, if you're not familiar with the term, you probably know what a lunge is, a forward lunge, a backwards lunge where you step, lower, come up and down. A split squat is essentially a lunge, but just static. You just have one foot forward, one foot back, and instead of stepping forward or back, you're just going up and down. Great exercise. A step up as we said before, you're just stepping up on a box. Now, a lot of hikers are really, really familiar with both split squats or lunges and step ups. Realistically, when it comes down to training for hiking, training any type of single leg strength exercise can be really, really valuable for hikers for numerous reasons. Now, traditionally, most people, when they start thinking about single leg, they will either do split squats, which aren't, exactly a single leg exercise, but they're close enough, or step-ups. Now, split squats are fantastic. They're really, really good. They're really, really awesome. I use them a lot. However, for a lot of people, especially if you're in the early stages of your training and maybe you don't have a huge base of strength or whatever it may be, they can be a little bit too much. They can lead to some discomfort. They can just be really difficult, not super comfortable.

[3:28] On the flip side, step-ups, absolutely a great exercise. And again, I use them with so many hikers out there but they can sometimes just be a little bit too simple for some people. Some people have maybe been doing them for too long or they don't have the weights to load them up appropriately or whatever it may be. And essentially when we're looking at strength training and finding a nice starting point for a lot of people where maybe split squats are a little bit too much and maybe step ups are just a little bit too little, step downs, really, really, really nice entry point.

[3:56] We can still work the same muscles, but they can be a nice entry point. So that's number one. I find them a really, really nice middle ground. Number two, when we're talking specifically about hiking, step downs can be a really good exposure therapy for hikers. In the sense of one of the biggest and most common complaints for hikers all around the world is a lot of hikers struggle with knee pain on steep descents and steep steps going down. Now, there are many, many different ways you can go about improving this and making this a little bit more comfortable. And one concept, which is super powerful for this is what we call exposure therapy, where essentially if we can look at a particular thing that causes your body pain, and in our hiking context, we're going to talk about the downhill or the steep steps. If we can expose the body to that specific trigger and expose it in a way.

[4:51] Which is gradual, which is manageable, and bit by bit by bit help the body just feel a little bit more safe and a little bit more comfortable with this type of thing, it can be really, really, really effective. So if we're talking about hikers who struggle with knee pain on descents, you may not want to go down onto a hike and do a huge amount of descents and a huge amount of steep downhill hiking because that can be a little bit tricky in the middle of the hike. But then you may actually practice that locally. You may find a local set of stairs or whatever it may be and go up and down to get that exposure. And on top of that, step downs can be a really, really, really nice place to start this, where you can do this from pretty much day one, where you gradually and gently expose the knees to this type of stress of lowering, to help expose the knees to that trigger and help it feel a bit more comfortable. Really, really, really, really awesome.

[5:42] And reason number three why I love step downs is step downs as a strength exercise doesn't really need perfect form. Now, what I mean by this is there's a lot of exercises out there when we're looking at strength training is form and how we complete the exercise and the posture and the positions we hold while we're doing an exercise is pretty important. And there's a lot of exercises out there which if you don't have really good form, you are either going to be at a higher risk of aches and pains creeping up, or you're going to have a chance of it just not working the muscles that we want. Pretty common.

[6:19] Step-downs. In my situation, you don't really need perfect form, in all honesty, because even if you don't have perfect form with a step-down, you're probably not going to really be at a risk of aches and pains or hurting yourself, so that's all fine. Even if you're not doing perfect form, if you're kind of doing them a little

[6:37] bit rubbish. It's still going to be targeting the muscles we want, absolutely fine. And then also number three is even if we don't have perfect form, if we're wobbling all over the place when we're doing this exercise, it can actually be pretty beneficial for our hiking. Because when we're hiking, it's very rare that we're doing these nice, neat, manicured movements. We're often in these really weird and strange positions when we're stepping down orchid rocks or whatever it may be. So during our step downs, if every once in a while we get into these weird positions in our training and we're not doing things perfectly, this can actually be quite useful. Because again, if you're exposed to this random stuff on the trail and you're in these weird positions and you've done this in your training here and there, that can be a positive. So that can be quite good. So if you end up doing these step downs perfectly and they are the best looking step down in the world, that's great. If you end up doing the ugliest looking step down in the world, that's great too. It's all good. Number four, step downs will give you what you need. Now, what I mean by this is if you are someone who really, really, really struggles with balance and stability...

[7:45] And it's really, really, really, really difficult and you do a step down, you will notice that like, oh my gosh, it's quite difficult to hold your balance. You will realize you're wobbling all over the shop. So this can be a really, really useful balance and stability exercise initially. And then as that improves, as that gets better, then you can push your strength forward more and more and more. And if you need balance and stability as a first point, it can be really useful. On the flip side, if you have really good balance and stability and you're like,

[8:12] hey, cool, oh, I'm all good there. I don't really need that much more. This can be a really good strength stimulus because you can focus on the strength portion of it. You can focus on moving the reps. You can focus on loading up a little bit of weight. So it can be very, very versatile and you don't really need to know your own personal weaknesses because they'll just show up on this exercise.

[8:31] Number five, step downs can give a really solid strength stimulus with minimal equipment for most people. Now, what I mean by this is many hikers and probably the majority hikers out there will get some really, really good benefits from developing strength through their quadriceps, through the front of the thighs. The quadriceps are so important in so many situations while hiking and building up strength, very, very valuable.

[8:56] Many hikers who I work with.

[9:00] They are admittedly starting from the lower level of strength. They're not a power lifter. They don't spend all their time in the gym. They don't particularly love strength training. So they are starting from a bit of a lower level of strength. And on top of that, a lot of hikers don't particularly love the gym environment. And they may be training at home with not a huge amount of equipment. Now, if you were in a gym, it's quite easy to load an exercise up, just load up weight on whatever may be, and that's all well and good. But when you're at home and you're on equipment, you know, sometimes it can be effective to really, really get enough stress on the muscles to really push you forward. Now, the step down reason why this is good in this situation, because it is an absolute pure single leg exercise. You're only using one leg at a time. There's no extra stability. There is a surprising amount of challenge. Someone who's doing this for the first time will be like, oh, you know, that works the quads quite a bit.

[9:51] And then if you only have an extra kilo or two or three or four or something to use, or just a backpack to wear, you can load this up in a way that's going to be challenging for a long time. You don't need a huge amount of weight. Now, for someone who has a history of really, really heavy powerlifting or really, really heavy strength training, whatever it may be, yeah, maybe you may not get a huge strength stimulus from this particular movement because you're used to exerting a lot of force. But even in that situation, you may not need more single leg strength because you're doing all of that barbell stuff or that heavy weights. You're probably still going to get some benefits It's from just working through a different exercise, a different range of motion, different stability, or whatever it may be.

[10:32] So it can be really, really good on that front.

[10:35] So next up, step downs, very, very easy to progress. A lot of people, when they're doing exercises, they just find themselves fine for a few weeks. They can do an exercise, do an exercise, do an exercise, then all of a sudden they just hit a roadblock. And they're like, you know what? I don't really know how to make this harder. I don't know how to make this more difficult. And they just end up doing the same thing over and over and over. Step downs, super easy to progress. Even if you don't have a huge amount of equipment, you can add a slightly higher step. Very, very simple. You can slow down the movement, very, very simple. You can add just a small amount of weight, just hold some water bottles or put some weight in a backpack or whatever it may be. And it's very, very, very easy to progress compared to say a squat where sometimes it can be a bit difficult if you don't have a huge amount of weight. So very, very versatile there.

[11:23] Next reason, step downs. For those training at home with no equipment, this can be really, really, really nice mentally just to watch your progress. Because this is one thing where you may do week one and you're like, oh, wobbling over the place. It's really, really difficult, whatever it may be. You do it for eight weeks and you're like, you know what? I can see dramatic progress. I can actually see how much of a step I've increased. I can see how much more stable I am. And just if you are training at home and you don't have a huge amount of other exercises to kind of reference in regards to your progress, this can be really good.

[11:54] Next one, and we've got two more before I move on, is step downs can be a really good introduction to slower movements with strength training. Now on this podcast, I talk about eccentric training a lot. And eccentric training means emphasizing the lowering portion of a movement, which is incredibly beneficial for a hiker in a number of ways. Experienced trainers, people who have been doing this for years and years and they're quite well-versed in a lot of different training methodologies, they will naturally do this. People will naturally have slower eccentric movements. So when they're doing a squat, they may naturally go down for four seconds each repetition or something like that. But for the most part, outside of those more experienced people who've really thought about this before, most people are not really used to this. Most people are used to just going up and down, up and down, up and down quite quick. Now, the beautiful thing of a step down, because its emphasis is on the lowering portion because that's where you're putting all your thought and your attention. And that's where the difficulty is. This can be a really, really good thing just to introduce this slow tempo movement to you. Mentally, it can be great. Mentally, it can be, physically, it can be really good. And I really like this. Like, yes, you could absolutely argue that you just focus on this on a squat and you could just focus on going, lowering on the way down. And yeah, absolutely. You can do this eccentric stuff on a squat, but either way, I really like this because you can just introduce it to someone, don't have to think too much, can be really good.

[13:19] And then finally, step-downs can be a really good starting point towards harder single-leg exercises. Now, I love step-downs, but by no means do I have my hikers doing them forever. They work their way into most people's programs in one way or another somewhere, but it's not like we're doing them all the time. As with everything, progression is key. So we may do step-downs for a phase or two of training, but then over time we'll progress them towards other things. We may use that as a starting point to progress to different pistol squat variations, which is another great single leg exercise, but it's quite difficult. Or as we said before, split squat variations or whatever it may be. But I really like step downs as a starting point as we're moving in. So as you can see, there's a lot of good things about this exercise. Now I will admit you could probably take any other exercise out there and argue a bunch of reasons why you love a particular thing.

[14:10] But I think as hikers, a lot of those are really, really relevant. And I think as hikers who, I guess, a lot of people who follow me and listen to me and I train, who are hikers who may not have a massive background in strength training and may not particularly love training in the gym or have access to huge heavy weights, this is even more relevant. So that can be quite good.

[14:29] Now, those are the reasons why I like step downs. Next up, I just want to touch on how I use step downs in my programming. Because as much as I use them in most programs in one way or another, everyone is going to be slightly different depending on the situation. For the most part, I like to use step downs early on in most of my strength training programs. So when someone starts working with me, for the most part, they will usually get some type of step down in the first phase or two or whatever it may be. Not everyone. Some people, we do different things. Some people will do easier, more difficult, whatever it is. But for the most part, early on. Now, if someone starts working with me and they start from a lower level of strength, we've gone through the assessments that I get everyone to do initially. And we've sort of identified, look, maybe your strength isn't super high or super high, then usually we'll do a step down and start with a really low step. And we'll say, you know what, we just want you to do something that's just like an inch high. And we want you to work off that, get used to it and slowly we're going to build up.

[15:32] If someone struggles with the movement and maybe we've identified, look, you really struggle with balance and that was flagged up in the assessment, or maybe struggle with knee discomfort and that's a bit of a trigger and we're really aiming for that exposure therapy or whatever it may be, we may do this, but start with extra support. So we'll do a step down, but we may hold one or two trekking poles to add extra support and help introduce that. And that's another way of doing it. Or on the flip side, if someone comes to us and they're actually really strong and they're like, you know what? I can bang out hundreds of lunges or I've got really, really strong quads or whatever it may be. We may start them with a step down, but use a really high step. Well, not a really high step, but something that's like halfway up their shin or three quarters up their shin. And that in itself, even the strongest person out there, that's going to be a challenge. And then over time for all of these different situations, we'll aim to progress by either adding some range of motion. So we'll sort of say, you know what, we'll do this for a few weeks. And then the next few weeks, we're going to add an inch or two to whatever step you've been using. Or we'll say, you know what, we're going to add a bit of weight and we're going to add some dumbbells or a load of backpack or whatever it may be.

[16:40] That's typically kind of how it sort of looks. Now, in a training week, in 99% of situations, step-downs aren't the only quadricep exercise we're doing in the week. They're great, they're awesome, they're useful, but it's not the only thing we're doing in the week. Usually, if we have someone doing two strength sessions in a week, which is pretty much 90% of my hikers, we'll usually pair that on another day. We'll do a step-down one day. On another day, we'll do some type of squat or some type of leg press if they have access to a gym and they like that environment. Or alternatively, if they're doing three days a week, we may do one day a step down, one day a squat, one day a step up. And that way we get a nice different variation on the quads. We attack it from a few different ways and it can work really, really well. And then I will almost always progress, as I said before, my step downs after a phase or two. We're not going to do them to death. We're not going to stick with them forever. But usually after-

[17:42] One phase of them or two phases or three phases, and most people a phase would be like three to four weeks, we'd sort of move them into something else. They would move into like a split squat variation or a pistol squat variation or something different. So again, we're not just hammering the same thing, but we're getting different, different, different, harder, harder, harder over time. And that's about it. It's not super complicated around how I use them, but I find they're a really, really nice inclusion and they can be super versatile, super effective.

[18:10] So with that being said, I'm probably going to wrap things up here. I did feel like just talking about this a little bit because as much as I've talked about step downs a lot and as much as I spruiked them a lot and I've sung their praises in so many situations, I've never really talked this in depth about it and the amount of reasons why I like it. And, you know, with some people potentially talking about them in a negative light in the hiking space, I thought this was a nice opportunity. So I hope this was interesting. I hope this was useful. I hope a few people kind of got a bit out of this. And hopefully a few people out there, if you haven't done it before, you can add a few step downs into your training. Now, last thing I will sort of say, as I always do in this podcast, if you were a hiker and you were like, you know what? I like the way you think, Rowan.

[18:55] I like having justifications around these exercises. I like the thought process around this. A lot of what you sort of talked about kind of rung true for me in my situation and how I like to think as a hiker or whatever it may be. And if you were interested in getting a bit of extra a personalized help with your training. If you want to learn a little bit about our online personal training for hiking, you can go to summitstrength.com.au slash online. Now on that page, there's a big video, which talks quite a bit about our training and our programs. And if it does sound like something you want to explore a little bit more, learn a little bit more about, there's a link on that page. You can book a free call with that team and we can have a bit of a chat and see if and how we may be able to help you out. So if you want to learn a bit more, go to summitstrength.com.au slash online, and we can take it from there. So with that being said, thank you for listening. Hope you've enjoyed it. Hope you got a bit out of it, and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

Want to get
fit, strong and resilient
for your hiking adventures?

Check out
​The Online Summit Program