Cant remember the guidelines exactly or where I originally read this. I think it was a Mark Twight article, or excerpt from one of his books. But I think I remember reading that 17 inches was a good average of "ideal" box height for training high reps of step ups.
The reasoning is, you don't want to be reaching up with your leg so high that your lower back is rounding with a heavy load on it. If you bend your leg to where your knee is at a right angle, thats about as high as you want to go for high reps. Just a handful of steps on a 24 inch box doesn't feel bad, 500 would probably cause some joint pain or low back issues.
The other thing you can do is, calculate your steps per 1000 feet and test that once in a while. For example on a 18 inch box, 1.5 feet per step, you divide 1000 by 1.5, and get 667 steps. Time how long it takes to do that many step ups, and track your progress.
Found a similar idea here:
www.outsideonline.com
The reasoning is, you don't want to be reaching up with your leg so high that your lower back is rounding with a heavy load on it. If you bend your leg to where your knee is at a right angle, thats about as high as you want to go for high reps. Just a handful of steps on a 24 inch box doesn't feel bad, 500 would probably cause some joint pain or low back issues.
The other thing you can do is, calculate your steps per 1000 feet and test that once in a while. For example on a 18 inch box, 1.5 feet per step, you divide 1000 by 1.5, and get 667 steps. Time how long it takes to do that many step ups, and track your progress.
Found a similar idea here:
We Pretty Much Guarantee You Can't Pass This Fitness Test
Put a number on your mountain skills
www.outsideonline.com
