Stairmaster Help
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chelllsea124
Posts: 336 Member
I need help with the Stairmaster. I can stay on an elliptical, treadmil, or stationary bike for a decent amount of time, but when i get on the stairmaster i don't last more than 10 minutes. What is a good starting program for this? How can i increase my health and physical fitness to stay on this? Does anyone have a good "starting out" plan that they could suggest? Thanks in advance.
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Replies
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It's like a near death experience isn't it? Seriously though the only way to increase your stamina on it is to keep doing it. Eventually it will feel easier and you'll be able to add time and speed as tolerated. Don't be like the people I see in my gym who are basically doing an upper body workout on it by holding themselves up with their arms so no effort is required of their legs.5
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I second what Melaniecn77 said, try not to hold on. I used to find it a nightmare but worked up to 4000 stairs in an hour, now working on speed. Juat keep at it, i found intervals work best (i did 500 stairs as fast as i could, then slowed down to around level 4/5 for 500 stairs)2
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Thank y'all so much! This helps! I'm gonna keep pushing!1
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The stair master is a *kitten*...but a GREAT workout. When I started I could only do 5 mins...kinda embarrassing but I decided to take a 2 min break & go another 5 mins & I kept on like that for a few weeks until I could do 30 mins without breaks. Now I can do 30-40 mins without any breaks & I have steadily increased the speed as well. I typically warm up for 3 mins on L3-4, then set it at L7 with intervals of L10-12 for short bursts (1-2 mins).
Just keep going, set it for 10 mins, take a breather then set it again for 10 mins pretty soon you'll be kicking all kinds of a.s.s on the stairs.1 -
That is exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you so much! When I first tried the stairmaster, I was seriously so naive I thought it would be easy. I could barely finish 5 minutes. Today I did 10 minutes with two small breaks in between! Hoping to get where you are!0
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The Stairmaster is one of best pieces of "cardio" equipment at the gym because you really can't cheat using it, not even if you're holding yourself up w/your arms.
It's the only cardio equipment that I use at the gym. I've got my own spin bike and rower at home.
You have to walk those steps regardless and there is no "assistance" like there is w/the elliptical and there is more quad/glute involvement than w/the treadmill.
Only way to get better doing it is to do it regularly and put up the pace and duration little by little.
I can do 30 mins straight at a moderate pace but I prefer to break it up into 2 15 min sessions w/a 10 -15 min rest period instead in order to work a little harder during the shorter sessions.1 -
I've just started going on the Stair Master at the Gym. A few weeks ago I could only manage 4 minutes but last week I managed 11 minutes wahooo and thats just with toggling the levels up and down, however, I like @midnightsurfer idea of 500 stairs fast then 500 stairs slower pace so I'm going to try this today.
I have a fitbit so like to monitor my target zones, of all the classes of bodycoach workouts I've done only running/sprinting and the stair master really gives me a good workout where I go between peak HR and cardio HR throughout the workout.
Kel1 -
I struggle going over 10minutes too. I need to concentrate really hard on not falling on my face, or falling off the bottom. I also need to keep changing what I'm doing - a couple of minutes normal steps, a minute fast, a minute double stepping on each leg, a minute side stepping, a minute backwards, a couple of minutes alternating between "squat" walking and normal, rinse and repeat.... It makes time go faster, and makes my legs burn!2
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Ok, so update. Last night I did 33 floors and 526 steps in 10 mins, which is awesome for me. I could barely complete 5 minutes when I first started. I took 2 small breaks during the 10 minutes and my heart rate got all the way up to 186... which was a little much for me, I think. So, I definitely pushed hard. Overall, I felt good after the fact. I'm going to keep pushing to see how much better I get over time. I really like how the stairmaster makes me push myself.
I have seen where people hold on and hunch over for dear life. I rested my wrists on the handles, without holding on. This forced me not to pull on my upper body weight.1 -
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^^^ Great question! Following this thread. I've tried it twice for about 10-minutes each time and I fell off the second attempt (it ate the front of my shoe.... -_-) and I haven't been back on since. I know it's a great work out but I hate it and a fear of escalators doesn't really help LOL0
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I've had that happen too, where the front of my shoe is eaten. I've realized that i have to look down at my feet the entire time I'm on the machine, which is kind of annoying, but whatever.
Getting down off that thing after 10 minutes of pure misery is difficult. i feel like i'm going to fall off!!!! LOL!0 -
Just please don't hold on....1
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I usually do 50 minutes on the stairmill 1-2x per week. It rarely feels easy.3
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LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »I usually do 50 minutes on the stairmill 1-2x per week. It rarely feels easy.
This is what I'm hopinh to get to! That's amazing!0 -
haha that's fine, I just wouldn't put any real pressure on your hands to take anything away from your legs. To be honest, its as much balancing as it is helping you along. I believe you will get the most out of it from walking normally. In the end, doing 30 minutes holding on for dear life, is going to give you more of a metabolic boost than 5 minutes without hands, but there is no comparison holding on vs. not holding on with equal time.
I would suggest even doing 1 mintue segments and slowly working up, using no hands at all, at a slow speed to build up. Take any rests you need.0 -
I love this machine and honestly credit it with helping to give me an *kitten*!
Just keep turning up girl- build up slowly at your own pace and the endurance will come.2 -
haha that's fine, I just wouldn't put any real pressure on your hands to take anything away from your legs. To be honest, its as much balancing as it is helping you along. I believe you will get the most out of it from walking normally. In the end, doing 30 minutes holding on for dear life, is going to give you more of a metabolic boost than 5 minutes without hands, but there is no comparison holding on vs. not holding on with equal time.
I would suggest even doing 1 mintue segments and slowly working up, using no hands at all, at a slow speed to build up. Take any rests you need.
This helps so much. Thank you! It always sucks when you have no level of physical fitness and you want to start. I don't know if I'm pushing myself too hard or not enough, ya know?0 -
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