Stair climbers are available in a number of designs. Some use an endless staircase that revolves as you keep pace while others use lever arms that simulate steps. All types of stair climbing machine offer a similarly effective low impact workout, which can be aerobic or anaerobic depending on the intensity at which you exercise.
The Circulatory System
As you work out on a stair climber machine, your muscles demand an increased supply of oxygen. Oxygen is carried in your blood by red blood cells or RBCs for short. Your heart rate increases so that more oxygenated RBCs are pumped to your working muscles. In addition, your blood vessels expand, which is a process called vasodilation. This allows a greater of volume of blood to be driven from your heart to your working muscles.
While your heart rate increases during exercise, in the long term your resting heart rate will decrease as your heart becomes bigger, stronger and able to pump more blood per beat. The average resting heart rate is around 70 to 75 beats per minute but a very fit individual may have a resting heart rate of 50 beats per minute or less.
The Respiratory System
Your breathing rate is directly related to carbon dioxide levels in your blood. Carbon dioxide is the by-product of aerobic respiration. The greater the amount of carbon dioxide that is detected in your blood, the faster you will breathe. Your brain uses chemoreceptors in your blood vessels to monitor carbon dioxide levels. At rest, the average breathing rate is 12 per minute. During exercise, this can increase by five fold or more.
As you get fitter, your lungs become more efficient, which results in a lowered resting breathing rate. This is due to an increase in capillary density in the lungs and also stronger respiratory muscles.
The Muscular System
Stair climbing machines mainly target your lower body muscles; specifically your calves, thighs and butt. Every step you take requires that you support and lift your body weight over and over again. This results in increased muscular endurance or ME for short. Improved ME is due to increased capillary density, which allows more oxygen to be delivered to your working muscles and more fatiguing carbon dioxide to be removed. There is also a corresponding increase in the size of type one slow twitch muscle fibers. In addition, energy-producing cells called mitochondria increase in both size and number. All of these effects combine to increase the endurance or work capacity of your lower body muscles.
The Skeletal System
Your skeleton provides the internal bony framework to which muscles and internal organs are anchored. In addition to providing support and levers, your skeletal system is also affected by stair climber workouts. In the short term, a lubricating agent called synovial fluid is produced, which helps keep your joints operating smoothly. In the long term, weight-bearing exercise such as stair climbing increases bone mineral deposits resulting in stronger, denser bones. Increased bone density is linked to a reduction in osteoporosis, a medical condition characterized by lowered bone mass and an increased risk of suffering fractures.
References
- "Anatomy of Exercise: A Trainer's Inside Guide to Your Workout"; Pat Manocchia; 2009
- "Principles of Anatomy & Physiology, Ninth Edition"; Sandra R. Grabowski & Gerald J. Tortora; 2000
- "ACSM's Resources for the Personal Trainer"; American College of Sports Medicine; 2009
