Remember playing hopscotch as a kid? My friends and I had such a good time that we didn’t even realize we were exercising. Well, Japanese researchers recently developed a new form of the classic game, called square-stepping, which uses a grid of approximately 10-inch squares (four squares across and 10 squares long) marked on the floor. The goal is to step in and out of the squares in prescribed patterns of varying complexity. Though this research involved seniors specifically, it seems to me that younger folks also could reap the physical benefits—and the fun.
Researchers tested the activity with study participants ages 65 to 74. For 12 weeks, the seniors did either twice-weekly 70-minute sessions of square-stepping… twice-weekly 70-minute sessions of strength-and-balance training… or weekly supervised walking sessions, with instructions to increase the number of steps taken daily. Results: Square-steppers showed significantly more improvement than walkers in leg power, balance, agility and reaction time, and equal improvement in lower-body fitness as the strength-and-balance training group. Also, during the eight to 14 months of follow-up, square-steppers experienced significantly fewer falls than both the walkers and the strength-and-balance group.
According to exercise physiologist Irv Rubenstein, PhD, square-stepping is similar to “ladder drill” exercises used by athletes to improve agility, coordination, balance, speed and endurance. Bonuses: Square-stepping can easily be done at home, indoors or outdoors… is fun to do alone or with friends… and costs nothing.
Setting up a square-stepping grid at home is easiest if you already have a tiled floor made with approximately 10-to-12-inch square tiles, Dr. Rubenstein said… or you can create your own grid of 40 squares with masking tape or painter’s tape… or you can chalk or paint a grid on your driveway.
As with any new exercise regimen, get your doctor’s OK first. Then try the simple stepping patterns below two or three times per week, Dr. Rubenstein suggested, starting with 10 minutes per session and working your way up to 20 minutes as you become more fit. Video demo: Visit www.Square-Step.org/en/162.html.
To start each exercise, stand at one of the short ends of the grid so the 10-row length of the grid stretches out in front of you. When you complete a pattern and reach the end of the grid, turn around and come back, repeating the pattern. Helpful: For each row of four squares, think of the far-left square as A… the center-left square as B… the center-right square as C… and the far-right square as D.
Diagonal stepping: Skill level: Very easy. With your right foot, step forward into the first row of squares, placing right foot in the square to the right of the centerline (square C of row one)… then with your left foot, step forward into the second row of squares, placing left foot in the square to the left of the centerline (square B of row two, on a diagonal above the first square you stepped into). Continue stepping forward in this simple diagonal pattern (square C with the right foot, B with the left foot) until you reach the end of the grid.
In-and-out: Skill level: Fairly easy. With your right foot, step into square C of row one… with your left foot, step into square B of row one (so feet are next to each other). Next, move your right foot sideways to the right to step into square D of row one… move your left foot sideways to the left to step into square A of row one. Then step forward with the right foot into square C of row two… and repeat the pattern (square C with the right foot, B with the left foot, D with the right, A with the left) in all 10 rows to the end of the grid.
Switch-back: Skill level: Intermediate. With your right foot, step into square C of row one… with your left foot, step into square B of row two. Next, with your right foot, step forward into square C of row two… with your left foot, step backward into square B of row one. Then step forward with the right foot into square C of row three, then with the left foot into square B of row four, with the right into square C of row four, then with the left into square B of row three. Repeat the pattern to the end of the grid.
Step-it-up: Skill level: Advanced intermediate. With your right foot, step into square C of row one… with your left foot, step into square B of row one. Next, move your right foot sideways to the right to step into square D of row one… move your left foot forward to step into square B of row two. Then move your right foot diagonally forward to step into square C of row two… move your left foot sideways to the left to step into square A of row two. Repeat the pattern (square C with the right foot, B with the left, D with the right… then in the next row, B with the left, C with the right, A with the left) to the end of the grid.
As your skills improve: Move your feet more quickly… lift your knees higher… invent your own increasingly complex stepping patterns.
