A Step Ahead : Popular Aerobics Classes Offer High-Impact Advantages With Low-Impact Safety

Over the past year and a half, “step aerobics” classes have been catching on in virtually every health club or exercise studio that has been avant-garde enough to try them out.

While there are lots of good reasons for “step mania,” perhaps the most compelling is the one cited by Connie Williams, “that the biggest single reason for the success of step classes is that people really like how the workout shapes and tones their buns.”

Step aerobics is a simple matter of stepping onto and off of a 3 1/2-foot long, 14-inch-wide “bench” that can be varied in height according to each stepper’s fitness level.

Done properly, step classes (also called “bench aerobics”) combine the intense cardiovascular workout of “high-impact” aerobics with the superior safety of “low-impact” aerobics. You get the aerobic benefit of “climbing” without the injury risk that goes along with the repeated “launches” and “landings” that characterize high-impact aerobics.

Unlike traditional aerobics, people of all ages, sizes and fitness levels can attend the same class. Beginners and others who prefer a low intensity workout use a very low “one block bench.” When their strength, coordination and cardiovascular fitness permit, they can add additional blocks (and therefore height) to the bench in front of them.

Because step height--not extremely fast music or increasingly complex choreography--is what makes the class harder, a properly done step class is always slow enough and simple enough for everyone to follow. An added attraction is that you get to listen to popular music instead of bizarre “high-energy” chipmunk discord that plagues some high-impact classes.

Exercisers of all kinds are naturally attracted to the workout, according to instructors who have introduced step classes to local health clubs.

Kim Sousa, who started the step program at Racquetball World in Santa Ana in February, says: “I was unpacking the first batch of steps and about 10 people forced me to do a spontaneous class for them.”

Sousa says Racquetball World’s step program has grown from eight classes in February to 24 currently, with members clamoring for more.

Susan Dixon, an instructor at Sports Club/Irvine, says customer demand at her club has forced aerobics director Michelle Kronemann to add step classes at the expense of traditional high- or low-impact classes.

“We had a 9 a.m. advanced aerobics class that usually had three to five people in it,” says Dixon. “We changed it to a step class, and now we consistently draw 25. We started with 12 step classes in July, and we’re now at 18 and rising.”

Consider the testimony of four very different participants in one of Dixon’s recent step classes:

Karen Forrest, 40, of South Laguna suffered shin splints, stress fractures and Achilles tendinitis during 15 years of high-impact aerobics. After doing step classes for the past year--starting at Rancho San Clemente Tennis Club--Forrest says, “This is as good a cardiovascular workout as you get in high-impact classes, and I haven’t been injured once since I started.”

John Redwine, 57, of Irvine had never done an aerobics class in his life before SCI started offering them in July. Now he does five classes a week. “Regular aerobics are too dancey and fluffy for my taste,” says Redwine. “But I think this is a great mental and physical workout. You gotta pay attention, and you can’t get lazy.”

After completing her very first step class--which was also her first aerobics class--Noha Eljor, 25, of Irvine said: “That was really hard, but I’m definitely coming back. Some friends of mine (who had given up on low-impact classes) lost a lot of weight at these step classes.”

And Bill Halapin, 42, of Irvine, a four-day-a-week high-impact junkie who has been stepping since June, says: “I do this on off days instead of a Stairmaster because it’s a lot more fun. The choreography is pretty simple, so it’s easy to follow, too.”

With such a broad base of support, odds are good that bench aerobics are here to stay.

Oddly enough, the workout was developed as a double stop-gap of sorts. Williams of Bench Aerobix says she began the classes about three years ago to give people at her club an alternative to standing in line at the stair-machine. “Soon after we introduced it, there weren’t any more lines at the Stairmasters,” says Williams.

Co-developer Gin Miller, who now markets Step Reebok through the Reebok shoe company, initially used a stepping bench to get her past a leg injury she suffered while training for a high-impact aerobics contest.

Because people were so attracted to the natural stepping motion used in the workout, Williams and Miller focused their energies on developing a program for mass consumption. One thing led to another, and pretty soon Reebok was involved. Williams and Miller parted company, and now both market slightly different versions of the workout they developed together.

Nowadays, step classes are featured attractions at the conventions of the International Dance/Exercise Assn. (IDEA), a 20,000 member organization devoted to the education of fitness professionals. Racquetball World’s Sousa, for one, decided to do step classes primarily because of a demonstration at an IDEA convention in 1989.

Besides SCI and the entire Racquetball World/Sequoia Athletic Club chain, other Orange County fitness facilities have instituted step aerobic programs. Laguna Canyon Athletic Club and Aerobic Body Works in Laguna Hills do classes on homemade benches, primarily because the state-of-the-art Step Reebok modular plastic benches cost $50 to $75.

“Once the bigger chains start offering step classes, they’re really going to take off,” says Dixon.

There is, however, at least one potential problem with the rapid spread of step classes. “Step aerobics were not designed for fast music or complex choreography,” says Williams. “If you try to do them that way, the potential for injury is greater than high-impact.”

That’s because extremely fast music and complex choreography lead to uncontrolled movement, which leads to injury. People in high-impact classes can protect themselves from injury by cheating--not doing a full range of motion, or using momentum rather than muscle to complete a move. But in step classes, it’s impossible to cheat. You either make the step or you don’t, and if you lose control trying, you are more likely to hurt yourself.

Both Williams of Bench Aerobix and Miller of Step Reebok say step classes should be done at a music speed of 118 to 122 beats per minute, contrasted with the 140 to 160 beats per minute that IDEA recommends for traditional classes. While some respected instructors feel that beat counts of up to 130 are acceptable for step classes, anyone familiar with the workout agrees that anything faster is both dangerous and ineffective.

There is also some controversy about the effectiveness of using handheld weights to augment upper body work in step classes. To ensure the safety of all participants, instructors must enforce a limit of 1 or 2 pounds per hand. They must also avoid excessive overhead arm work.

The bottom line: Be on guard against advanced or highly creative step classes, especially ones that crank the music beyond redline.

Williams offers this advice to step exercisers who want to protect themselves as step classes spread: “If you find yourself on your toes all the time, or if you have to hop up and down from a perpetual semi-crouched position, the music is too fast, and you’re better off finding another class.”