The StairMaster, a staple in fitness centers since the 1980s, offers a unique and effective workout experience. This stationary machine simulates stair climbing, providing a blend of cardiovascular exercise and lower body muscle toning. With advancements like heart rate monitors and calorie-burning calculators, the StairMaster has evolved into a versatile tool for weight loss, muscle strengthening, and overall fitness.
Understanding the StairMaster
In simple terms, a StairMaster is a stationary fitness machine that rotates steps, similar to a treadmill, allowing the user to climb upward at the speed and duration he or she sets. Overlooking a stair-climbing machine (such as a StairMaster®) at the gym is difficult. These large pieces of equipment resemble a small escalator with moving steps you’ll climb during a workout. As the steps on the machine move down, you climb up at your chosen rate of speed. Think of it as walking “up” a “down” escalator.
Key Benefits of Using a StairMaster
Using a StairMaster provides benefits from head to toe. If you’re normally a runner or walker, stair climbing can be a good change of pace in your exercise regimen.
1. Calorie Burning and Weight Management
The StairMaster is an efficient and effective tool in losing weight or managing your current weight. A half-hour workout on the StairMaster can burn anywhere from 180 to 260 calories - or more - depending on your body weight and intensity of the workout. A faster “climb” will burn more calories than a slower session. A 180-pound person tends to burn more calories than a 125-pound person doing the same workout. Most StairMaster machines come with calorie-burning calculators, which estimate the number of calories burned with each workout based on your current weight.
Climbing the StairMaster involves pushing your body against gravity with each step, which uses up a lot of energy and forces the heart to work harder to increase oxygen flow to the leg muscles. All of this equates to a high calorie burn, making the StairMaster a great choice if you are looking to increase your total daily energy expenditure to help with weight loss.
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2. Cardiovascular Health
Stair climbing strengthens the heart and lungs - the keys to aerobic fitness. Stronger lungs allow you to breathe in more oxygen, and a healthier heart can pump oxygen-rich blood more efficiently to all your muscles and organs. A good cardio workout puts your heart and lungs to the test. Stair climbing delivers on both, as you’ll no doubt notice when your heart rate rises and you begin breathing heavier with every upward step.
Improving your aerobic fitness can strengthen your heart and protect it by lowering your risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, two key drivers of heart disease. When stair climbing, your heart and lungs have to work hard to supply your body with the oxygen it needs in order to maintain your workout. The harder you push into this training, the more improvement you will see in your VO2 max.
3. Muscle Strengthening and Toning
In addition to cardio benefits, StairMasters can strengthen and tone your body, which is also good for your bones. Climbing stairs activates major muscle groups like the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Powering through flights of stairs will work your glutes (aka, your butt muscles), thigh muscles (quadriceps and hamstrings) and calves.
Each step requires you to lift your body against gravity, which strengthens the muscles of your hips, thighs, and calves. Over time, these muscles not only get stronger but also more defined. Stair climbing is regarded as a cardio workout, but you’ll be dabbling in strength training, too - particularly in your lower body.
The StairMaster provides more resistance to the glutes, hamstrings, and quads while the treadmill engages the upper body more. Using the StairMaster puts the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves under a lot of resistance that can help to build lower body strength and power. While it's unlikely to build as much strength as dedicated strength training, it's a good way to get an added boost of strength while training the cardio system.
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- Quadriceps: The quadriceps femoris is a group of four muscles in the front of the thigh. These muscles are essential for walking, running, and just standing up from a sitting position. The quads extend or straighten the knee, so each time you push off from one step to the next you’re strengthening these large, important muscles.
- Hamstrings: The hamstrings are the three muscles in the back of the thigh that work in conjunction with the quads. They help bend the knee, so they’re also critical to walking, running, and sitting down. Each time you bend your knee to take another step up, the hamstrings are doing much of the work.
- Calves: Like the other muscles in your legs, your calves allow you to run, walk, and jump, while also being essential to maintaining your balance while standing. Your calves contract every time you lift your heel to take a step. When climbing, whether it’s on a StairMaster, your front steps, or up a hill, your calves have to work hard to keep lifting your heels step after step.
- Glutes: The gluteus maximus muscles are located in the buttocks, and are some of the strongest muscles in the body. Their main function is to move the hips and thighs, so climbing stairs is a task that relies heavily on strong glutes.
4. Core Muscle Engagement
Because using a StairMaster requires you to keep your balance the entire time you’re climbing and pumping your legs, it also gives your core muscles a workout. Keeping yourself steady and stable while tackling a moving stair climber works your core muscles, which are key to maintaining good balance throughout life. You’ll really engage your core muscles and build balance if you climb the steps without holding onto the side railings common on most machines. Stronger core muscles help improve posture, prevent lower back pain, and reduce the risk of injury.
Keeping your balance on the Stairmaster, especially at higher speeds or longer sessions, engages your abdominal muscles, obliques, and spinal stabilizers. It also sharpens your coordination. Engage your abs by bracing your core before each step.
5. Bone Health
Weight-bearing exercises, such as climbing stairs, can help reduce your risk for osteoporosis, and treat it if you already have it. Bones are living tissue, and climbing stairs helps increase bone mass. The stair climber exercise machine benefits your bone strength as well as your muscle strength by forcing your body to resist gravity and rise vertically. This is especially important as you get older, because natural bone loss tends to increase as you age.
Weight-bearing exercise is key to maintaining and increasing bone density, and the Stairmaster delivers that in a joint-safe way. This is particularly beneficial for older adults and postmenopausal women, who face an increased risk of osteoporosis.
6. Low-Impact Exercise
Compared to running or plyometric workouts involving high-impact landings, the Stairmaster offers a smoother motion that minimizes stress on your knees, hips, and ankles. Stair climbing puts less stress on your ankles, knees and hips compared to other high-intensity cardio exercises (especially running). Strengthening muscles around those lower-body joints also can boost their health and function. Joint impact can increase if you pick up the climbing pace, though. Stair climbers also may not be ideal if you’re currently experiencing joint pain.
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Climbing up the stairs is considered to be a low-impact exercise. As a result, you can reap all the benefits of the stair climber without having to suffer through knee issues, shin splints, or other joint problems that occur from exercise. Low-impact exercise is ideal for anyone, especially those who struggle with high-intensity or fast-paced training.
7. Mental Health Benefits
Aside from the cardio and strength benefits, using the StairMaster is good for a few other things, including mental health. As you climb stairs your body releases endorphins, which are “feel-good” brain chemicals that boost your mood and reduce your stress levels. Exercise has many mental benefits, and the stair stepper delivers a powerful endorphin rush after your workout.
8. Versatility and Accessibility
Like treadmills, a StairMaster has a variety of settings to mix up your workouts. You can program the number of minutes you want to exercise. Some StairMaster products even come with built-in computer screens that display famous landmarks to make it seem like you’re climbing up structures like the Eiffel Tower. The stair stepper also benefits from accessibility and approachability. If you’re a first timer to the gym, it can be very overwhelming to decide where to begin, and learning how all the different machines work can be off-putting. Once you’re on, you can change the speed of the machine to adjust each of your workouts to your current fitness level.
9. Knee Pain Relief
Strengthening the knee reduces stress on the joint, which can help reduce pain if you have osteoarthritis. Using a StairMaster is considered low-impact exercise compared with the pounding, high-impact consequences of running on a hard surface.
10. Continuous Upward Motion
Unlike climbing an actual staircase, which requires a return walk down the stairs, a StairMaster keeps you moving up all the time. This is helpful because walking down stairs is much tougher on your knees. The tissue and fluid you use as “brakes” take a greater toll on the joints with every downward step. Another advantage of the stairmaster over real stairs is targeted training. Real stairs also have fixed heights, making it difficult to vary step size without discomfort.
Optimizing Your StairMaster Workout for Weight Loss
Weight loss is a journey you’re in control of, and the StairMaster is a powerful tool that can help you along the way. It’s not just about the minutes you spend on the machine but about finding the right balance between intensity, duration, and consistency.
Duration and Intensity
For beginners, starting with shorter sessions is recommended to build endurance and avoid burnout. Aim for 20 to 30 minutes per session, one to three times a week. More advanced gymgoers should aim for 45 to 60 minutes on the StairMaster to significantly boost calorie burn. Incorporating intervals of higher intensity can also maximize results. For example, alternate between two minutes of a steady pace, where you can maintain a conversation, and one minute of a faster, more challenging pace, where you’re breathing hard and finding it difficult to talk.
A shorter, high-intensity session can be just as practical, if not more so, than a longer, moderate-paced workout. Listen to your body and adjust your workouts accordingly. Consistent use of the Stairmaster can dramatically improve stamina, burn calories, and tone your lower body.
Proper Form and Technique
First, focus on maintaining proper form. Stand up straight, engage your core, and avoid leaning on the handrails. It’s important to avoid common mistakes such as leaning forward, holding onto the handrails too tightly, or stepping too quickly.
Interval Training
Incorporating interval training into your StairMaster routine can significantly enhance your weight-loss efforts as well. Try alternating between high-intensity bursts and recovery periods. For instance, you can push yourself hard for one minute and then slow down for two minutes. To intensify your cardio, incorporate HIIT.
Mix It Up
Mix up your workouts to prevent plateaus, which are periods of time where your weight loss stalls despite your continued efforts. When you’re looking for the right piece of gym equipment, the stair climber benefits from versatility. For example, once you’re comfortable with a regular step, try alternating steps or walking backward to target different muscles like the hamstrings and calves. For muscle building, add squats, two-step motions, or weights.
Sample StairMaster Workouts
- 25-7-2 Workout: Climb for 25 minutes with the StairMaster at Level 7 and do it 2 times per week.
- Alternate Exercises:
- Climb one stair at a time to work out your quads.
- Climb two stairs at a time to target your hamstrings and glutes. So, to get a full workout, mix the two together.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and start the machine at a slow speed. Squat down, then spring up onto the next stair, ensuring your knees bend as you land.
- Step up with your right foot and place it on the next step where your left foot would usually land. Then step up with your left and place it where the right would land. You’ll notice that each foot literally crosses over the other.
- While stepping at a normal pace, bend slightly forward at the waist while kicking your leg out behind you. Ensure you contract your glutes as you kick to get the full benefit, then balance yourself as you return to the step.
- As you step, make an exaggerated step to the far edge of the step (if your left leg is climbing, go to the far left of the next step). As the name suggests, you should imitate the way a sumo walks.
- Turn your body sideways so you are no longer facing the machine. Step up with your foot, then cross over and up with your other foot. Do a pre-set number of steps on that side, then turn to the opposite side of the machine and climb again to work out your other side.
StairMaster vs. Treadmill: Which is Better for Weight Loss?
Both the treadmill and StairMaster can be a great way to burn calories, ideal for anyone who is looking to manage or lose weight. If weight loss is one of your top motivations for working out, the StairMaster is likely a better choice as it naturally burns more calories than walking and running. It is possible to burn more calories on the treadmill, especially if you compared the StairMaster vs incline treadmill running, but it will be more difficult to match or beat the calories burnt due to the intensity of a StairMaster workout. Choosing a workout you will stay consistent with is the best way to boost your calorie burn, so if you hate stair climbing but enjoy the treadmill then that will be a better option.
Integrating the StairMaster into Your Fitness Routine
The StairMaster is best used when incorporated into larger workouts. Both of these physical activities are fantastic options for a cardiovascular workout, but whether one is better depends on a few different factors. Stair climbing is low-impact, so less pressure is placed on the legs, ankles, and knees, while also offering more aerobic and muscle-building benefits than running does. Consistent use can improve your mental health, mental toughness, and provide you with a mood-boosting rush of endorphins.
If you’re after better heart health, it’s recommended that you complete 150 minutes of intense exercise per week or 75 minutes of moderate exercise per week. This translates into about five 30-minute sessions on the stair climber. Within a week or two, you’ll feel your legs getting stronger and see them becoming more toned. You can also tailor this workout to what suits you most.
Important Considerations
- Consult a Professional: If you’ve never used a StairMaster, take the time to work with a trainer at your local fitness center, or someone who can help you use the equipment safely.
- Listen to Your Body: If you haven’t exercised regularly, try it out for 5 or 10 minutes the first few days and see how you feel. Then add to your time and increase the speed as your workouts get easier.
- Diet is Key: Watching your calorie intake and eating a well-balanced diet packed with fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, while limiting your consumption of added sugars and saturated fats, are also keys to losing weight and keeping it off. However, you won’t see as many benefits of the stair climber machine in this area if you don’t combine your workouts with a proper diet, which is crucial to maintaining any gained bone strength. Specifically, calcium is needed for the bones to grow stronger.
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