Cardio · Machine

Stair climber

A short staircase that keeps turning under you. You climb, the steps fall away, and you are always one step from the bottom. It is harder than it looks, which is why the plan never places it and why most people end up hanging on the rails. Climbed slowly, upright and hands light, it is a lot of honest work in a few minutes.

Measured

Minutes

Loading

None

Ways to use it

Steady, intervals

Counts toward

No muscle's weekly sets

How to do it

1. Get on while it is stopped

   Hold the rails, step onto the bottom step with both feet, and start the machine at its slowest speed.

2. Stand upright

   Chest up, hips under your shoulders, eyes forward. You should look like someone walking up stairs, not someone pushing a car.

3. Put your whole foot on each step

   Plant the whole foot, heel included, and push down through it to stand up onto the step. Do not let your heels hang off the back.

4. Hands light on the rails

   A light touch for balance is fine. Your legs carry your weight, not your arms. If you cannot let go of a firm grip, the speed is too high.

5. Find a slow, steady rhythm

   Pick a speed you can climb while talking in full sentences, and stay there. For an easy session you should be able to talk but not sing¹.

6. Slow down before you step off

   Bring the speed down for the last minute, stop the machine fully, and step down holding the rails.

The two ways

Steady

Slow, even climbing at a pace you could talk through. This is the way to start. Reckoner never places the stair climber and the air bike in your plan, so using one is always your own choice.

Intervals

Faster spells with slow spells between. Short hard climbs work: in one study, previously sedentary young women with overweight who climbed six flights of real stairs as fast as they could, three times with two easy minutes between, five days a week for four weeks, raised their aerobic fitness³. That was a staircase, not a machine, and every climb was flat out, so treat it as hard work.

How to start easy

Three to five minutes at the slowest speed is a real session on this machine. Add a minute at a time over a few sessions before you add speed. "Start low and go slow" is how the US physical activity guidelines put it¹.

What goes wrong

• Hanging on the rails

  Leaning your weight onto the rails or the console turns a climb into a slow walk with your arms doing the lifting. Take the speed down until a light touch is enough.

• Going too fast

  People pick a speed they saw somebody else use and then cling on to survive it. A slow speed climbed upright is more work than a fast one climbed hanging off the rails.

• Climbing on your toes

  Only the front of the foot on the step tires the calves early and makes every step short. Put the whole foot down.

• Bending forward at the hips

  Folding over the console shortens the climb and drops the head. Stand tall, and if you cannot, the speed is too high.

Questions people ask

Other machines

Sources

1. Piercy, Troiano, Ballard and colleagues, JAMA, 2018. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans the talk test and "start low and go slow"
2. von Schaumburg, Laurson, Thomas and colleagues, Journal of Human Kinetics, 2022. Submaximal testing to estimate aerobic capacity using a Matrix C5x stepmill sixteen participants; the stepmill's own estimated METs were lower than measured METs at every stage, and its estimated maximal oxygen uptake (28.1) was well below the measured value (39.2 mL/kg/min); the machine did not provide accurate estimations
3. Yun, Wen, Han and colleagues, Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome, 2023. Effect of short bouts of vigorous stair climbing on cardiorespiratory fitness in women with overweight and obesity: a pilot feasibility study 26 previously sedentary young women; three 20 second bouts of climbing six flights (77 steps) as fast as possible, two minutes of recovery between, five sessions a week for four weeks; peak oxygen uptake rose from 31.6 to 34.9 mL/kg/min against controls