Jan. 16, 2012

Ask Trainers: What do you think about the stair steppers, treadmill and any other machines at a gym?

What do you think about the stair steppers, treadmill and any other machines at a gym? How do you push yourself on them?

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Posted in Fitness by talltrainer | 3 Comments

3 Comments "Ask Trainers: What do you think about the stair steppers, treadmill and any other machines at a gym?"

Bo says:

January 17, 2012 at 11:59 pm
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Trainer Bo Knows:

These devices can be a great supplement to boot camp. They are typically low impact and actually produce less stress on the knee than actual stairs. This is especially true of machines where your foot stays in constant contact with the step. Machines that can adapt to your natural stride are great! In order to increase your intensity to get a training effect, it is helpful to keep a training log and track each workout. Try to aim for 30-60 minutes per session; for the first session, pick an intensity level you can maintain for the entire session. On your next visit, aim to do just one extra minute at the next level up. Each subsequent workout add another minute at the higher level. For example, let’s say that on day one you do 30 minutes at level five. On day two, do 29 minutes at level five and 1 minute at level 6. Day 3: 28 minutes level 5/2 minutes level 6. Day 4: 27 minutes level 5/3 minutes level 6 and so on. Eventually you’ll be able to do a whole 30 minutes at level 6! HIIT interval training is also a great way to go.
talltrainer says:

January 23, 2012 at 8:25 pm
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From the Desk of the Tall Trainer:

I’m not as big of a fan of these devices as Bo. But they do have their place and they can be effective.

I get a little burned out thinking about people at the health clubs working out on these machines. Not because the machines are bad just improperly used and with warped expectations.

The Machines Lie –

Those calorie numbers are complete fiction. You did NOT burn that many calories. There are so many points of error and rounding up that sometimes these numbers are DOUBLE what your ACTUAL calorie burn is.

People are not Focused –

Reading a book, watching tv, talking to a friend. You aren’t going to get that great of a workout when your attention is divided. Do these things only if you like spending 2-4x longer on your cardio than you have to.

How do you push yourself on them?

1.) don’t lay all over them – I’ve seen people basically laying on the console of the stair stepper or even treadmill. If you are supporting your body with your arms you are losing TONS of calorie burn. There is at least one (HORRIBLE OFFENDER) at every gym. The treadmill high incline-hold on-lean backer. They are leaning back while at an incline. Your arms should be on the machine for balance ONLY. You are only burning 1/10th the calories the machine says while you are doing this.

2.) Use resistance and or speed – Elliptical people really upset me. Often times they hop on and blaze away for an hour with hardly any resistance on. The elliptical only gets hard with resistance. We had a great example of this the other day in boot camp. Instead of punching fast we slowed down our punches and started punching harder. People were getting tired so much quicker even though we slowed down and did 1/2 the number. The resistance and effort were the key. not just speed. I dare you to take the elliptical to the teens on the resistance and put in a hard fast 30 minutes. I bet you can burn more than a low resistance hour.

Stair Stepper – use speed on the stepper but don’t hold yourself up on the bars. speed your legs up and try to keep pace.

Treadmill – always have a couple degrees on the treadmill to avoid awkward landings and to better simulate running outside. If you want to make it harder and burn more calorie you can run faster OR my favorite take the incline up. You may not even have to run, a hard walk at a high incline can take your breath away. Don’t believe me? Try power walking UP bristol mountain.

So there you have it. I’m a bit of a stinker when it comes to cardio machines. Not because they aren’t helpful but because the way they are used people aren’t seeing any results. Hopefully that won’t happen to any of you not that I’ve had my rant.

P.S. Sarah and I have a treadmill in the basement – so clearly there are some benefits I believe in.
Chris says:

January 24, 2012 at 3:59 pm
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They definitely have their place. They are a good starting place for populations who have a very hard time exercising and they can be used to supplement a great program… say bootcamp?

In addition to what Bo and Jeremy said, these machines are not very “functional.” “Functional,” a current buzz word, means that they don’t apply to real life situations as well as other modes of exercise. Most of these machines only work the sagittal plane (front to back), they often do not work the frontal (side to side) or transverse (rotational) planes.

When we move we often move in all three planes, sometimes at the same time. When we are walking and there is an obstacle in our way we don’t stop, turn, walk, turn back onto our path and keep walking, we side step around the obstacle while still moving forward and maybe even twisting to look back at the obstacle. Another simple example is running. When running on a treadmill, all we do is keep up with the machine. When we run on the ground, our quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves have to propel us. This is why athletes rarely train using standard cardio machines.

Again, when used properly, they do have their place and they can be a great addition to a solid program to accelerate fat loss.