Anyone use a stepper to exercise?

mrsbuzz

I am thinking of buying a 6-8 inch stepper to use at home while watching tv....does anyone use on and do you get a good workout? If so what brand should I buy?

auval622

I have the reebok! I love doing the stepper, it burn a good amount of calories and it makes you sweat!!

TheNewDanielle

what do you do? just step up on it?

snookeroo

I have a Life Fitness Life Step. I found I much prefer walking. I think it's a pretty good workout but it wears me out fast. I'd rather spend an hour walking. I wish the stepper was a treadmill. But yea, it's a good workout.

audjrey

I not only use a standard health club step but a high step as well and find both offer different and yet similar results. The high step is best for incorporating intense leg work, such as leg presses and can also be used for high intensity plyo type moves as well as regular basic step moves, as it can be lowered to 6-8 inches as well.

The standard health club step is not only beneficial in burning lots of calories but can also be used as a bench during strength resistance exercises such as chest presses and flyes. If you lie prone (on your stomach) you can do some serious lower back, hamstring and glute work as well. When I taught a shred-type class at my local YMCA, I often used the step to add intensity to strength resistance exercises but also to add a cardio element to create a circuit type training. So many incredibly awesome uses for a step!

If you are looking for step DVD's to get you started you might consider the following step leaders:

Karen Voight (cardio & resistance training)
Cathy Freidrich (cardio & resistance training)
Kathy Smith (more cardio than resistance training - you can find her on amazon.com)

There are also several fairly decent step youtube videos out there as well.


Where to buy a standard health club and/or high step?

If you don't mind buying used and if you're fortunate enough to have a Salvation Army, Goodwill or Value Village nearby, you might get lucky and buy one for under $10.00.

Otherwise, you can go directly online to www.thestep.com.

Too, Cathy Freidrich sells steps on her site.

Hope this helps! :-)

dengarrett

I started recently to use one. I was always afraid to because of a bad knee. But I was surprised at how easy it was on my knee. And I loved it!