GROUND REACTION FORCES OF STEP EXERCISE DEPENDING ON STEP FREQUENCY AND BENCH HEIGHT

Rita Santos-Rocha¹, António Veloso², Hamilton Santos², Susana Franco¹ & Pedro Pezarat-Correia².

¹Sport Science Higher School of Rio Maior, Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Portugal. ²Faculty of Human Kinetics, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Step exercise is one of the most famous Fitness activities. Different music speeds and bench heights can be used in Step classes. During the step cycle the higher mechanical load is experienced at the first foot stepping down. The purpose of this study was to determine the ground reaction forces (GRF) of step down phase, depending on step frequency and bench height. Two groups of subjects participated in this study: a) 20 female subjects, mean age of 25 years, skilled in Step exercise; and b) 15 female subjects, post menopause, mean age of 62 years. Kistler force plate signals were collected. Increasing step frequency and bench height leads to the increase in mechanical load, which appears trigger adaptations of the movement technique.