Stair master on leg day or non?

EnMisSuenos
EnMisSuenos Posts: 1 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello I am going to start the gym my goals are to lose weight and get toned, I plan on mostly doing strength at gym and cardio at home since I own an elliptical but would like to know if as warm up I can use the stair master at gym everyday on and off leg day? I was planning on also doing jumping jacks arm crosses and burpees that type of thing as warm up. Any guidance is really appreciated thanks!!!

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    "can use the stair master at gym everyday on and off leg day?"

    Of course - as long as you keep the duration and intensity at a warm up level.
    You can use the same equipment in very different ways from an easy warm up to an exhausting work out - you should know the level that won't cause you any training interference by fatiguing your muscles and compromising the effectiveness of your "leg day".

    An alternative to cardio to warm up before lifting is to simply start your lifts at a very light weight, your warm up is then movement specific rather than a general whole body warm up.
    Personal preference to a large degree - my preference is to separate cardio and weights into different sessions but that suits me and my goals rather than you and what works best for you.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    Second the above. If you want to use it as a warm up, you can but as above you could do lighter weights and warm up sets.

    Personal preference, I don’t warm up at all. I’ve never been injured and never felt a need. I have limited time and don’t want to waste valuable lifting time with warm ups.

    More personal preference, I do cardio and weights same day often, but cardio second. On upper day, I use my rower as part of my cardio. On lower day, I use my summit climber (similar to a step mill) as cardio.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited November 2020
    I do cardio six days a week and lift 3. My only rule about cardio and weights is that I only do harder weights on days where I push the cardio hard as well.

    If you're not pushing cardio extremely hard, there's never a concern. The only concerns you get into with cardio and weights is protecting your easy days, so you can recover. On days I don't lift, my cardio is super light to recover from the hard days.

    What has been found by research (related to leg day that you asked about) is that complimentary workouts, via cardio, make leg day more effective. For instance, if you row and do leg day on the same day (assuming you're not working straight through for 2 hours and taking a break and getting ample calories in), it's more efficient and gets you better gains.

    I'm not doing heavier lifting right now (recovering from a pretty severe disc injury) but I used to separate lifting and harder cardio (like an intense session on a stair master) by a couple of hours. But as a warmup, not an issue.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    For your goal it doesn't matter assuming you are getting the appropriate stimulus to achieve MPS.
  • IronIsMyTherapy
    IronIsMyTherapy Posts: 482 Member
    I feel like you're overthinking this. On leg day, just keep pre-lift cardio brief so you save energy.

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