If you’ve ever had to trudge up a long flight of stairs, you know how good an exercise it is. Even after just a dozen of stairs, you’ll start to feel your thighs and butt burning from the effort. The StairMaster is a brand of stair climbing machine that replicates this movement in order to help individuals strengthen the major muscles of their lower body and lose belly fat.
The StairMaster and similar stair climbing machines can provide a very challenging workout for almost every fitness levels. The climbing motion quickly taxes the quadriceps (front of the thigh), hamstrings (back of the thigh) and glute muscles (butt) and helps burn lots of calories and belly fat.
One benefit of the StairMaster is that it is relatively easy on the joints. Even though users do put some stress on their knees and hips as they climb, this is nowhere near the pounding that can occur when running on a treadmill.
A drawback of the StairMaster is that it can be overly-exhausting to individuals who are severely overweight or who have a very low fitness threshold. The act of climbing requires a decent amount of strength in the large muscles of the legs and butt.
For those who have trouble with the StairMaster, it might be a better idea to start out walking at an easy pace on the treadmill. Over time, increase the incline of the treadmill to recreate the climbing motion of the StairMaster. After a while of using the treadmill, most individuals should be able to graduate to the StairMaster.
The StairMaster machine can be programmed for any fitness level. The speed of the steps can be increased or decreased to provide a challenge for beginners and advanced exercisers alike. Beginners will want to start at a slow pace, and may only be able to step for ten minutes at a time. If this is where you are, that’s fine! Gradually, you’ll be able to increase your time on the StairMaster and increase your stepping speed.
There may also be programs that vary the tempo of the stepping, which can help prevent boredom.
StairMasters and other brands of stepping machines can be found at most gyms. They can also be purchased for home use. It’s a good idea to include a StairMaster as part of an all-around fitness routine that includes other aerobic and strength training activities. Since the StairMaster concentrates only on toning and defining the muscles of the lower body, it’s important to perform exercises that challenge the upper body as well.
Overall, the StairMaster is a great tool to improve fitness and get rid of stubborn belly fat.
