Stair-climbing machines, or stair steppers, have largely supplanted traipsing up and down actual staircases as means of getting in a solid aerobic workout. These machines offer numerous advantages, including not having to make trips to the bottom and being able to tailor the intensity of individual workouts depending on the day's goals.
Weight Loss
People who use stair-stepping machines primarily as a means of shedding unwanted pounds need to maximize their total time in motion. This means a heart-rate range of about 65 percent to 85 percent of maximum; if you don't know your true maximum heart rate you can estimate it by subtracting your age from 220. Be sure to do the first and last five minutes at low intensity to take your body from baseline to back smoothly, and shoot for a total time of 30 to 45 minutes per workout, three or four times per week. You can accrue cardiovascular benefits in the course of burning about 600 calories per hour.
Leg Power
Some stair-stepper users place a higher premium on developing leg strength than on cardiovascular conditioning or weight loss. Workouts geared toward this goal involve taking steps two at a time, or "lunging," as this creates a mechanical disadvantage and forces your leg muscles to do more work. Do one to five sets of up to 30 repetitions with each leg, either alternating legs or working them separately in sequence, and take a one-minute rest in between. As your strength improves, in order to make the workout harder, you can increase the number of repetitions, use a weighted vest, or increase the speed of the machine.
Interval Sessions
One alternative to steady-state workouts, in which the speed of the machine and heart rate are held constant or nearly so, is doing interval workouts. This places different demands on the body than a steady-state session. For example, do a standard five-minute easy warm-up, 30 to 40 minutes of intervals broken up into two to three minutes of hard climbing alternating with one-minute low-speed climbing, and a five- to 10-minute easy cooldown.
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