Using a stair stepper at the gym provides a cardiovascular workout that burns fat and calories, strengthens the heart and improves endurance. Exercising on a stair treadmill for an hour can burn a significant number of calories and can lead to weight loss all over your body, including your belly, buttocks, face and extremities. While a stair stepper works lower body muscles, spot weight reduction on your hips is not possible.
Spot Weight Reduction Study
A study by the University of Massachusetts analyzed weight-loss patterns in 13 male volunteers in the mid-1980s, reports the American Council on Exercise. During a 27-day program, the volunteers performed 5,000 situps. A biopsy of fat from the subjects' abdomens, buttocks and upper back were taken before and after the program and showed fat reduction occurred at a similar rate at all sites, not just the belly. According to ACE, sufficient caloric expenditure will lead to fat reduction all over, not just one target area.
Areas of Concern
The last areas to become lean from dieting or a weight-loss regimen tend to be the areas where individuals gain fat first, says ACE. For many women the hips along with the buttocks and thighs tend to be the most difficult areas to trim fat; for men, the most stubborn area is the abs.
Calories
To lose 1 lb. you need to burn or reduce your calorie intake by 3,500 calories below your normal, needed intake. Using a stair stepper for one hour burns roughly 650 to 980 calories, depending on your weight, according to MayoClinic.com. So using a stair stepper every day could help you drop at least 1 lb. a week and more if you reduce your calorie intake with a low-calorie, low-fat diet.
Increasing Weight Loss
While you can't count on spot reduction to take weight off your hips, you can optimize your calorie-burning technique to guarantee more overall weight loss success. In a 2007 study published in the "Journal of Applied Physiology," researchers found that interval training could burn significantly more fat compared with regular aerobic activity. Interval training is characterized by inserting several bursts of intense activity into a longer moderately intense aerobic routine. In the study, 10 women, including those that were sedentary and very active, rode stationary bikes every other day for two weeks. They did 10 sets of four-minute bursts of biking at 90 percent effort interspersed with two minutes of rest. After interval training, the volunteers experienced an increased amount of reduced fat.
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