A lot of friends that I know (non-runners) do the stairmaster in the gym as their form of cardio. Roughly 30-45 minutes. I am wondering how effective the stairmaster is in terms of burning calories compared to running. I've always thought its a waste of time, but I've never tried it.
I would imagine running at equal intensity is much better for you healthwise.
By and large all methods of cardio for weight loss are equal.
Working an hour at heartrate 120-130 makes you sweat profusely and burns about 600 Cal/hr.
Running and xc skiing, jumprope, climbing among the best due using whole body and intensity.
Women like stairs, as they have been educated that they tighten butt, firm legs and reduce celulite. Probably not true, but all exercise better than couch sitting.
shoestring wrote:
A lot of friends that I know (non-runners) do the stairmaster in the gym as their form of cardio. Roughly 30-45 minutes. I am wondering how effective the stairmaster is in terms of burning calories compared to running. I've always thought its a waste of time, but I've never tried it.
I would imagine running at equal intensity is much better for you healthwise.
For the untrained individual, or casualist, its probably as effective as treadmill for cardio. I see a lot of people running at like 5-7 mph on the treadmill. Stair master will beat up the muscles though because you are constantly going against gravity - so someone trained will get a less effective workout because they will do less than they would running. It might be more effective for the muscles used in going up than running though. A better alternative for the runner would be hill training outside - of course you can't really replicate a continuous uphill effort like the stairmaster presents unless you have a mountain.