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A step workout is a cardio exercise that utilizes a raised platform to step on and off while exercising. Sometimes, the platform can be raised higher as your fitness improves to provide a harder workout. It can also be low (for example, for beginners or people with more limited mobility).
Originally called step aerobics, step workouts were created by Gin Miller, an aerobics instructor who started using her porch steps as a form of rehab after a knee injury. Once she realized that “stepping” provided a good aerobic workout for her heart, she began introducing the concept of step aerobics everywhere that she taught fitness classes.
Although interest in step aerobics decreased somewhat since Miller first introduced it, it has started making a comeback recently—especially because of its many associated health benefits, including improvements in heart health, mood, balance, strength, and functional abilities. It’s also accessible to people of all ages and fitness levels.
Strengthens and Builds Bone
Step workouts are low-impact, weight-bearing activities that can be ideal for your bone health, particularly for more mature adults and those about to enter menopause. Research shows that regular step training can improve bone metabolism—or the growth of new bone—in postmenopausal people.2
One study found that six months of step workouts increased bone density in premenopausal people more than resistance training did.3 This means that adding a step workout to your regular workout routine could support your bone health.
Supports Cognitive Health
Step workouts require concentration, especially if you’re working out to a video at home or in a class at the local community center. If you don’t focus, you may not know what’s coming next or you may trip or stumble through the moves. This type of focus can support cognitive health.
Researchers have found that performing specific, choreographed moves—like those in treadmill walking and ballroom dancing—can improve your executive functioning and processing speed. Step workouts involve choreographed moves done to music.4 In addition, countless studies show that exercise, in general, can improve working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and more.5
Improves Functional Ability
Many people lose muscle mass and strength as they age. By the age of 50, muscle strength decreases at a rate of approximately 12-15% per decade. This loss in muscle and strength can affect functional ability and make it more difficult to perform everyday activities like climbing stairs, rising from a chair, and doing household tasks. Research has found that step workouts can help combat this decline.6
One small study of older women found that a regular step workout performed at home while wearing a weighted vest improved lower body muscle power and functional ability by approximately 10%. Researchers theorize that step training could help older adults, particularly women, maintain their independence by almost 10 years.
Boosts Heart Health
Almost half of all adults in the United States have at least one risk factor for heart disease such as smoking, hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, or a sedentary lifestyle. However, research consistently shows that regular aerobic exercise, like step workouts, can reduce the risk of heart disease and boost heart health.
Plus, some exercise experts indicate that a one-hour step workout uses the same energy expenditure as running seven miles—without all of the impact.1 Consequently, people use step workouts to continue building their cardiovascular health when recovering from an injury or as a cross-training tool on their recovery days.
Increases Longevity
Taking steps is one of the key components of a step workout, which can do much more than tally up additional movement on your fitness tracker. It may actually help you live longer.
Researchers have found that people who took 8,000 steps a day had a 50% lower risk of dying from any cause, and those who took 12,000 steps a day had a 65% lower risk of dying than those who only took 4,000 steps a day. They also found that higher step counts correlated with lower rates of death from cancer and heart disease.8
Lowers Blood Pressure
The risk of having high blood pressure increases with age. However, researchers have found that consistently completing step workouts may help reduce blood pressure without medication. In a randomized control trial of older adults with stage 1 hypertension—a blood pressure reading between 130/80 and 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg)—the participants completed moderate-intensity step workouts three times per week over an eight-week period.
At the end of the study period, the researchers found that step workouts helped significantly reduce blood pressure. Participants’ systolic blood pressure declined by more than 10 mmHg. Consequently, the researchers theorize that step workouts are an effective non-pharmacological intervention for blood pressure control.