31 Comments
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Lou Tamposi's avatar

One of my favorite workouts — which my buddy calls “a sicko workout” — is 30 minutes of weighted step ups, no headphones, no music, no TV in the background. Just you, the weight, and a box!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Hahaha love it. Stay sicko bro 👊🏻

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Same balance principles apply with walking lunges of base, center of gravity, and posture. I anchor myself to that intention when fatigued and doing something like weighted lunges

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Erik Hogan's avatar

Do you see any difference worth mentioning between step ups and walking lunges? I don’t have a good step to use, but I’ve fallen in love with walking lunges while training for the Bartram Trail!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Just the obvious in elevation. The walking lunges, especially with weight, are more dynamic and require enhanced balance, coordination, and stability, especially when fatigued. One of those, both are outstanding and pair well together situations. For your goals in relation to what you do, I’d lean toward walking lunges with weight over step-ups, especially if terrain you’re covering isn’t overly mountainous.

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Erik Hogan's avatar

Sounds good! I definitely notice the balance problem when fatigued. I think these will become a staple for me and I’ll spice it up if I can find a better option for a step.

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Lou Tamposi's avatar

You might like to mix some of these in… killer!

https://mtntactical.com/exercises/mnt110-leg-blaster/

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Erik Hogan's avatar

🤣 Those look brutal! Something about the in-place lunges bothers my knees, but hey- NO EXCUSES!!!

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Timothy Sheehan's avatar

You guys are killin’ me!!! First Kyle touts his barefoot weighted hill climbs, then Sam chimes in to second that insanity, and Lou has to up the ante with the silent treatment, while I’m trying to learn how to walk again, all while salivating over these once regular workouts. I guess the old man is gonna have to heal faster and get back on it! Bravo gents, for the great workouts and keeping us all inspired. Ha. Tim.

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Lou Tamposi's avatar

Ha — still crushing it, Tim!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

😂😂😂 appreciate you Tim. Best of luck in the healing process. Stay resilient brother 👊🏻

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Sam Alaimo's avatar

I like this. I can only train in silence, and with no glowing screens in site. It is sort of a ritual.

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Same. No music/tech of any kind for any workout.

Have a teammate who will fire up the speakers in our gym for my functional fitness class but she plays emo shit which is worse than silence so I allow it…

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Erik Hogan's avatar

You two are psychopaths. Workouts are my podcast listening time!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

😂 I save the pods for driving or the really light workouts which I don’t do as often (and probably should do more of if I want to get into more endurance-related adaptations which I do)

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Lou Tamposi's avatar

Ha!!

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Adam PT's avatar

Just give me half a chance to watch your videos before you come out with something else would you. 💪

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Maybe you should be on one of those videos so you don’t have to watch it…

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

😂👊🏻

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Brian Kendall, MD's avatar

This is great. I'm a bit late to the game, but I'm in!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Hell yeah Brian. Glad to have you hop in brother 👊🏻

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TJ Schnoor's avatar

After my half iron imma pass on this one but best of luck Kyle to you and everyone else’s legs!!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

❤️👊🏻

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Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

I’ll in!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Let’s go!

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Erin Miller's avatar

Super excited about this one! Setting a daily reminder on my phone right now.

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

❤️👊🏻

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Baird Brightman's avatar

“Generating momentum from the back leg when stepping up”

This! I constantly have to check myself from ‘cheating’ by using momentum to reduce focal muscle work. Slowing down is key. I’ve even stopped “pushing off” from the wall during my lap swims so every stroke is a real one.

Great writing/advice as always, Kyle!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Thank you brother!

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Amanita's avatar

20" seems really high for a short person like me (5'-4"). Is it realistic or what height would you recommend for someone my size?

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

I’d go down to 12/16” to start. If you become comfortable there, you could increase height assuming form is maintained.

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