Is The Stair Stepper A Great Workout?

The stair stepper is a professional fitness equipment that mimics the process and motion of walking up the stairs. It is an excellent way to get regular exercise and one of the most portable and convenient exercise machines you can find in Kenner.

The stair stepper is an incredibly simple machine to use that can help you perform a variety of exercises that benefit you through several different movements, helping you lose weight, burn calories, improve endurance and fitness, tone muscles, and improve cardiovascular health.

You are probably wondering whether or not it is a good workout. The reality is that it is. It offers moderate- to high-intensity aerobic activity with the additional benefit of resistance training.

Below are the top 5 reasons why a stair stepper workout is good for your body.

Top 5 Reasons Why the Stair Stepper is an Excellent Workout

1. It Helps You Build Lower-Body Muscle

Every step that you take on a stair stepper engages the glutes, calves, hamstrings, and quads, which makes it an excellent way to target and tone the lower body. The important thing is to ensure that you keep the core engaged and the back upright, so that the lower body takes the force. Simply put, if you want the best results you should avoid hunching over.

The way your foot actually lands on the step also determines whether you are engaging more muscles in your thighs or butt. To target your hamstrings and glutes, you should place more weight on the heels. To target the quads, land and push off with the ball of the foot. To put emphasis on the back of the legs, you should skip steps.

One thing that you need to keep in mind while using the stair stepper is that while it targets the butt and legs, it does not replace leg day. While the machine helps you improve muscular endurance and burn calories, it is still a bodyweight workout. This means that it doesn’t build muscles in a way similar to how resistance training workouts such as lunges, deadlifts, or weighted squats do.

2. It Can Help You Lose Weight

The stair stepper is an excellent choice if you would like to burn calories since it utilizes the core, glutes, hamstrings, and quads, which are the most metabolically active and largest muscles in the body. Working out larger muscles not only strengthens them but also helps strengthen and quicken your metabolism.

The heart-rate boosting cardiovascular workouts blends well with the lower-body strength training, which means that you end up burning more calories both during and after working out than you would by doing moderate, steady-state cardiovascular workouts.

If you are looking to lose weight, a HIIT-style stair stepper workout is an excellent idea. Interval training increases intensity that increases oxygen to the working muscles and boosts the number of calories burned by the body post-workout. You should try making your own interval workouts instead of using the “weight loss” or “fat burning” programs on your machine for the best results.

3. It is an Excellent Option When Recovering from an Injury

Weak glutes are the catalyst to a variety of body problems, including dead butt syndrome and piriformis syndrome. The stair stepper is a low-impact exercise machine, which makes it an excellent option for people suffering from back problems and weak glutes that makes them unable to use treadmills.

Research published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development revealed that the stair stepper is an incredibly useful tool for relieving low-back pain partly because it does a great job of engaging the glutes thus taking pressure of the back.

The only injury prevention exception when it comes to the stair stepper is that it can be particularly tough on the knees, which makes it far from the ideal option for the people suffering from pre-existing knee joint problems.

4. It is Great for Improving Posture

If you already tend to lean forward when walking up a flight of stairs, you will probably be suffering from the same poor form and posture on the stair stepper and hunching over the handrails is highly unlikely to do the body any favors.

Hunching over the handrails is likely to limit the amount of bodyweight required for lifting or moving, which makes it easier and translates to fewer calories burned. This will prevent you from engaging the core and may lead to worsening posture outside the gym.

While it is not a must for you to avoid using the handrails completely since they are designed to ensure your safety, experts recommend that you never push or press down on handrails with your full bodyweight.

If you typically walk up the stairs with proper posture, you should not fear hopping on the climber with confidence. It is likely that you have the core strength required to effectively use the equipment and stay upright with a light grip on the handles.

You will increase your core strength with each step, which will not only ensure that your posture stays intact but also helps alleviate or prevent chronic back pain. With a strong core, performing daily tasks using functional movement will be easier.

5. It is Superior to the Elliptical & Treadmill

When it comes to cardiovascular workouts, you should be fine choosing the machine that you love the most, but there’s something that can be said about variety. Elliptical burnout is something real, which is why you should consider switching it up.

The stair stepper improves functional movement since most people climb stairs every single day and the body doesn’t move like they do on the elliptical. Moving steps are also an excellent idea if you are getting tired of using the treadmill.

Check out the Stairmaster Treadclimber 5 that can help you start your stair stepper journey!

The Bottom Line

Is the stair stepper a good workout? Yes, it is. Now that you have 5 excellent reasons why it is a great workout, you should consider getting one for yourself. Fitness Expo is your leading provider of professional fitness equipment and wholesale fitness equipment including the stair stepper in Kenner.