I love the stairclimber. It always kicks my butt. But, whenever I see John on the stairclimber I realize that he REALLY gets a great workout, so I asked him which setting he does. He sets it to the Interval setting and then manually adjusts it throughout the workout to increase the speed on each “up” interval. I tried it this morning. Holy. Moly.
I set my Resting rate to 75 and started my Work rate to 95. I kept the Resting rate at 75 the whole time, and then every time it would go to a Work rate, I’d bump it up 5 speeds. So, by the end, my working rate was 130. On this machine, the resting rate was 2 minutes long and the working rate was 2 minutes long.
It ended up looking like this:
0-2 minutes: 75 speed, warm-up
3-4 minutes: 95 speed
5-6 minutes: 75 speed
7-8 minutes: 100 speed
9-10 minutes: 75 speed
11-12 minutes: 105 speed
13-14 minutes: 75 speed
15-16 minutes: 110 speed
17-18 minutes: 75 speed
19-20 minutes: 115 speed
21-22 minutes: 75 speed
23-24 minutes: 120 speed
24-25 minutes: 75 speed
26-27 minutes: 125 speed/130 speed (I kicked it up an extra 5 on the second minute of the interval)
28-29 minutes: 75 speed, cool down.
I was drenched with sweat by the end – including my forearms! – and felt great! Give it a try!
Happy sweating! 🙂
Do you use the programmed settings on machines or use manual and control it during your workout? I usually doing a programmed setting but this was a nice combo. Not too much work to manage the intensity, but harder than the program.
8 Comments
Sam
atI usually use manual and play around with the settings as I go, but sometimes I’ll switch it up and just let the machine do all the work for me. I haven’t been on the stairclimber in ages. I definitely need to throw it back into my rotation again. This workout looks killer!
Michelle @ A Healthy Mrs
atI’ve never actually used the stair climber before — the small gym we usually go to doesn’t have one 🙁
Perhaps we’ll have to go to another location this week so I can try it out!
Have a great weekend!
Sara @ LovingOnTheRun
atI usually plan out my own workouts ahead of time, but I have played around with the pre-set ones off and on. Looks like a great workout!
Lauren @ sassy molassy
atI don’t go to a gym anymore, but when I did, man, the stair master was killer. Def the hardest cardio machine in my opinion! I like to do strength circuits now at home with cardio bursts made up of burpees, squat jumps, etc when I want to do non running cardio stuff.
Christine Whittington
atWow. I had never used the stair climber until tonight, after reading your blog entry. I bike and am a walker–5-10 miles at a time, several times a week, and have completed two half-marathons. I can’t run due to a total hip replacement almost 10 years ago–not allowed. Before that, I was a runner for 30 years. The stair climber almost killed me! I set it at 50 for resting and 75 for workout, and stayed on less than 5 minutes! I am so glad to discover a workout that will give me the cardio that running used to.
Thanks, Teri–this is going to be a regular workout for me!
Teri [a foodie stays fit]
atnice job! So glad you liked it!!
Livi
atI love the stair climber! I need to use it more often!
Chicago Jogger
atThis looks like an awesome workout! I usually only do the stair climber for 10 minutes at the end of a treadmill workout, so this is very impressive:)