Martin Bennett wrote:
> can you explain the stepping high exercises for me please? I used to be known for my ability to do it. Since entering my sixties (12 years ago) I've become gradually worse at it. I first noticed it when I had trouble stretching down to pull me wellies on for caving trips.
Yes, stepping my foot up high is _really_ helpful for doing some crux moves both outdoors and indoors -- because not only does getting the foot up that last centimetre up onto a hold take weight off my fingers, it also provides friction for pushing the big mass of my torso _inward_ close to the wall.
There's two key aspects of stepping high: Flexibility and specific Strength - (and so I train both).
Most people think it's all about Flexibility. But if you stand on the ground at base of climbing wall and do the upward motion with assistance of your hand (or assistance of a partner), it's easy to see that your knee and foot already have the Flexibility to step much higher.
Strength:
My method is to put 4 kg of ankle/leg weights around over each ankle. Then I have A4-page-size books (of course could use boards instead) which I stack onto a flat chair. One foot flat on the floor, step the other one up so the ball of my foot makes it up onto the top of the stack of books.
I normally do 8 reps in each set. Start with the number of books stacked fairly low, then add another one for the next set, after I succeed with the previous set. After the bindings and pages of the books gets damaged, I reinforce with duct tape.
Of course I did not _start_ this program with 4 kg on each leg. First with 0 kg, then work up incrementally on both ankle-weight and stack height.
Ken
