Stairs are an ideal place for exercise. You can work different muscles and burn more calories than you would with other exercises. If you’re looking for an efficient way to burn fat, improve your cardiovascular health, and build muscle without spending hours in the gym, here are five stair exercises you should try.
- Stair Climb
The stair climb is one of the best exercises for weight loss because it works so many body parts at once. It’s also a great way to improve your cardiovascular endurance, which is important for staying healthy throughout life. To do a stair climb:
Start at the bottom of the staircase and walk up five steps (or more if you’re feeling adventurous!). Then turn around and walk back down again. Repeat 10 times per set, working up to three sets per session (30 times total).
- Step Up on a Chair
Step ups on a chair are another great way to get your heart pumping while toning your muscles at the same time! To do them, stand facing away from a chair with one foot placed firmly on top of it so that both feet are flat on the floor beneath it (not on top of each other). From there, bend your knee and raise yourself up onto
Staircase Exercise For Weight Loss
Stair Climber For Weight Loss: Can It Help Burn Belly Fat?
Weight loss is a crucial undertaking that involves a lot more than just a proper diet. It also requires a ton of perseverance and plenty of physical activity. On that note, who said you don’t need to hit the gym every other day to lose belly fat?
One way to lose fat is an intense workout session on the stair climber. The stair climber is more than enough to burn more calories and give you a flat tummy.
Fat-burning pills for women are another great option.
In this article, we’re going to explore what you stand to gain from stair climbing and how you can utilize it as a significant part of your workout regimen. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
Does Stair Climber Burn Belly Fat?
Stair climbers are a great alternative to staircases. They’re basically stationary fitness machines with a constant step rotation. They help you lose weight by allowing you to climb up based on your preferred duration and speed. They’re a worthy addition to other cardio exercises such as jump rope, running, burpees, and so on.
Stair climbers come in handy especially if you live in a place where staircases are hard to come by. Stair climbers target body parts where visceral fat is most likely to accumulate (i.e., your abdominals, hips, thighs, and glutes). Here are a couple of ways the stair climber helps you to lose belly fat fast:
- Burns calories
- Builds core muscle strength
- Makes your workout session more enjoyable
- Offers several workout variations
- Offers aerobic conditioning
Burns Calories
The stair climber is an effective and efficient tool for either adding more muscle around your abdomen or losing extra fat in that area.
In fact, a 30-minute workout on a stair climber can quickly burn anywhere between 180 and 260 calories[1]. Of course, it could even be more, depending on the intensity of your workout and your body weight.
To put this into perspective, a person who weighs 180 pounds may burn more calories than a 130-pound individual in a similar workout.
A faster ‘climb’ also has a higher potential to burn extra calories compared to a slower one.
Most stair climbers come complete with a calorie-burning calculator that gives a rough approximation of the calories you’ve lost. The approximate figure will depend on your current weight.
Builds Core Muscle Strength
When you work out on a stair stepper, you engage your core and strengthen your abdominals. This tool is most effective for high-intensity interval training. The hip action also acts as a calorie burner by engaging certain abdominal muscles such as the abs and intercostal and external obliques.
It’s estimated[2] that taking an average of 10 steps on the climber is equivalent to taking approximately 38 steps on the ground. It’s, therefore, safe to say that the stair climber is almost four times more time-saving than a treadmill.
The level of muscle strength you stand to build on a stair climber may depend strongly on your weight. If you weigh more, you’ll burn more. With every step you take on the climber, your body will be forced to move against a stronger resistance.
Streamlines Your Workout Session
Stair climbers come pretty easy to use and serve their purpose effectively. There’s generally no learning curve with this machine. Literally, anyone can use it to lose weight, but it’s most beneficial to injured individuals under rehabilitation.
If you run often, the stair climber pits you against gravity and strengthens your abdominal muscles at a stationary position. Climbing stairs also stimulates vital muscles like the abs, gluteus medius, and other essential areas.
Working out on a stair climber is far better[3] than going upstairs. With the stair climber, you’re on a constant upward climb. Your joints and connective tissue will barely feel the wear and tear that comes with the earth’s gravitational pull as you go down the stairs. Stairs work as a great alternative in the absence of a stair climber.
Offers A Number Of Workout Variations
Stair climbing offers unlimited variations to keep your belly workouts stimulating and engaging with every session. You’ll also notice that you can work various muscle groups (calves and hamstrings) with backward walks on the climber.
Stair climbers are splendid machines to integrate into a circuit exercise[4] and shed that body fat faster. When you combine it with other resistance and cardio equipment, the climber gives you an intense workout session that engages your entire body.
The next time you’re in the gym, try these workout variations to burn more calories for a slimmer belly:
- Warm-up on the treadmill (5 minutes)
- Stair climber exercise (1 minute)
- Body squats (1 minute)
- Stationary cycle (1 minute)
- Bench press (1 minute)
- Jump rope (1 minute)
- Rowing machine (1 minute)
- Stair climber exercise (1 minute)
Each rep on this list should be done consistently, leaving very little room for rest. At the end of your session, take a 1-minute breather. Once you complete at least ten rounds of this routine, strive to do it at least five times a week for the next three months. As time goes by, you can improve your climber workouts by including these four exercises:
- Side Step: While on the machine, turn your body to the left side. Take a step with your right foot, and then cross up and over with your left foot. Perform a predetermined number of steps on your left side, then make a switch to the right side. Ensure you do these pretty slowly as it requires a ton of coordination.
- Sumo Step: In between steps, try taking an exaggerated step to your left as you imitate the typical walking style of a sumo wrestler. Ensure you keep your shoulders back and maintain a neutral spine.
- Squat Step: Take a parallel squat position on your stair climber. Keep stepping from this position until you realize a burning sensation on your quads. This position will also boost your cardiovascular workout and increase your V02 max.
- Alternate leg raises: As you take medium-paced steps, bend toward your waist and make backward kicks with your right leg. Ensure that you’re entirely contracting your glutes with each back kick. As you take the next step, try to balance yourself, then do the same with your left leg.
Offers Aerobic Conditioning
Anaerobic conditioning uses oxygen to fuel your fat loss workouts. This kind of workout leaves you breathless and strengthens your lungs and heart.
The stair climber is one of the best tools to burn more calories and improve your aerobic conditioning [5]. One round of fast-paced steps can significantly increase your heart rate and give you a much-needed adrenaline rush.
You can experiment on the machine and choose how many climbs you can accomplish in each session. Between your rest periods, do some light exercises to get you warmed up for the next round.
When your conditioning gets better over time, you’ll notice that your sets of climbs increase, your rest intervals become lower, you can boost your number of climbs, and even use a weighted vest during your workout.
Improved conditioning also translates to a flatter tummy as well as a better fitness level. The more rounds you add on the climber, the more belly fat and calories you burn in the process. Within a week or two, you’ll notice your stomach getting more toned and your body feeling a little lighter.
The Stair Climber And Fat Loss
Overweight individuals can use the stair climber to reduce their blood pressure, glucose levels, cholesterol levels, and the burden on their joints. You can also include simple and effective belly exercises that involve strength training and aerobic exercise for general fitness and fat loss.
Stair climbers accomplish both those goals and more. While some may prefer walking upstairs in their own home, it’s generally a matter of what works best for you.
On the other hand, you can keep things even more interesting physically and mentally by adding in upper-body weight exercises, stretching exercises, and a blend of other sports exercises.
But, it takes more than just spending more time and effort on the climber to notice positive abdominal results.
It also helps to keep track of your calorie intake and incorporate clean eating into your lifestyle. Cut down on saturated fats/sugars and incorporate more lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Final Thoughts
Have you used a stair climber before? If not, take time to work with your trainer at your local gym or fitness center. Learning to use it might be somewhat easy, but finding the proper exercise routine for a trimmer beer belly might be surprisingly challenging.
The only way you can learn a proper exercise routine is to hire a personal trainer. Your personal trainer[6] should have an American Council on Exercise certification. The ACE certification is a well-recognized certification that assures your trainer is qualified to do what they do.
Overall, the best thing about using a climber is that you won’t need constant supervision or training. After a month or two, you’ll be good enough to use one safely and at the right intensity that works for you.
We recommend that you stay consistent in your efforts even after you lose fat. Focus on your nutrition and lower body fitness levels as well.
9 Ways to Burn More Calories on the Stair Climber
Here’s how to get even more out of this challenging machine.
The stair climber has passed the test of time for a reason: it works!
The machine (this one has amazing reviews) engages various muscle groups in effective ways, including your glutes, quads, calves, and hamstrings.
If you’re looking to shed pounds, the stair climber is a great starting point, since it requires you to fire up so many different muscles. Check out the Aaptiv app for stair climber workouts here.
“Not only are you strengthening these muscles, but you’re also speeding up your metabolism,” says Caleb Backe, certified personal trainer and health and wellness expert for Maple Holistics.
What’s more—for those suffering from a back injury—the stairmaster can help speed your recovery.
Here are some expert-approved stair climber tips to help you torch the most calories.
Avoid holding the hand rails
Handrails are not meant to be used for your entire workout. They’re really only there to aid in stability.
In fact, holding onto them can totally throw off your posture and balance, causing you to slump over and lose the core engagement that makes the stair climber a great workout in the first place, explains Chris Ryan, CSCS, founder of Chris Ryan Fitness.
“Safety is always key with any workout. Get comfortable at a pace you can handle without holding the hand rails, first,” he adds.
“Up the intensity slowly to get your heart rate at 80 percent of your maximum or above to get the max out of your workout. Engage your core by pulling your shoulder blades down.”
Check on your heart rate
If you can carry on a full conversation and are hardly out of breath, you’re probably not pushing yourself to your max; a great way to determine this is to keep an eye on your heart rate (this is our favorite tracker).
“You will release a greater amount of overall calories operating at 80 percent or above of your max heart rate through excess post oxygen consumption (EPOC effect) than you will operating in a low heart rate state for your work intervals,” explains Ryan. “Not to mention it will take less time to get a great workout!”
Take full steps
If you crank the speed dial up too high, you might have trouble catching each and every step. Not only could this lead to an injury, but it also shortens your range of motion.
This ultimately leads to less overall muscle recruitment and less calories burned, according to Ryan.
“The most effective way to step is as fast as possible, but with full steps engaging all the muscles in your legs and core,” he says. “The more muscle recruitment, the more calories burned.”
Use a weighted vest
Enlisting the help of a weighted vest (like this top seller) is an easy way to up the ante on your stair climber workout. Even just ten to 20 pounds makes a difference.
It’s a great way to add extra intensity to your overall workout and helps you get in shape fast; however, Ryan warns to take precaution.
“Adding too much weight may cause excess knee pain or overload your core too much to walk upright,” he says. Consider starting slow—with just five pounds of added weight, then upgrading to higher amounts of weight, as you feel comfortable.
Perform intervals
Most relatively new stair climber models have an interval setting that allows you to alternate between speeds and levels of intensity.
“Changing the speed sporadically is a much more efficient way of working on your stamina. [A] sprint kills your energy too fast without giving you sufficient time to recover,” explains Backe.
“The low interval should always be longer than the high interval. [This] ensures that you can finish the workout.”
For example, if you’re doing a 25 minute workout, aim for two minutes of low intensity and one minute of high intensity until you reach 20 minutes. At 20 minutes you can slowly work your way down to a few miles per hour, or less, explains Backe.
Aaptiv has workouts that you can perform HIIT intervals with the stair climber, treadmill, and more. View them in app today.
Skip a step
Once you have mastered the lighter grip, Melis Edwards, fitness trainer, coach, and founder of HIT Method, suggests climbing every other step.
Doing so will force you to fully engage your quadriceps, hips, hamstrings, glutes, and core further.
“This method mimics elevation climbing outside,” she explains. “Try this skip-a-step method for bouts of 30 seconds to one minute, each with equal recovery time. Slowly work your way up to performing it for two to five minutes at a time.”
Change position
The most popular position for the stair climber is to have your feet facing straight forward.
But, there are plenty of other positions that can give you an even more intense workout.
Edwards suggests shifting the angle of your feet 30 to 40 degrees in either direction and using a crossover stepping method. “I do this when I run on land, as well; the point is to work the lateral and medial aspects of my leg strength.”
Suit up
The more layers you wear, the more heated your body will be during the workout, and the more you will sweat; this is a great way to add more calories to your burn list.
Ben Boudro, C.S.C.S., owner of Xceleration Fitness in Auburn Hills, Michigan, suggests throwing on some sweatpants and a hoodie.
“I like the feeling of wearing a hood, jamming out with the headphones (like these top sellers) and watching the sweat pour throughout the body,” he says.
Just remember to stay hydrated and be careful not to overdo it. “Hydration will only help the sweating process. [It will] allow you to rid the body of toxins and help you shed off more fat!”
Add leg kicks
Throwing in this easy move will activate more glute muscles than simply performing the standard stepping motion, according to Boudro.
“Turn the setting down to a little bit slower so that you can get used to this motion,” he says.
“As you step forward with one leg, kick your opposite leg back behind you. [Keep] your leg completely straight and squeeze your butt cheek at the very top.” Repeat on the other side.
“This will seriously tax your lower body and help you hack the number of calories you burn during your time with the machine,” he adds.
