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Other/Mixed Stair Stepper Machines - Good/Bad/Better/Worse than Treadmills?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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Steve Freides

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Senior Certified Instructor Emeritus
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Please comment on stair stepper machines as contrasted with treadmills and other stay-in-one-place-and-cardio devices.

Thank you.

-S-
 
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I am not the biggest fan of stair stepping machines. The step falls away from you when you stand on it. Not really mimicking climbing stairs. Okay from a cardio perspective not from a climbing perspective. (I would do box steps instead)
Treadmills... they do work. Joan Benoit Samuelson did a lot of her training on one when she won the inaugural women's Olympic marathon. (I would still run outside given a choice... regardless of the weather)
Rowing Machines.... if you need to be indoors... excellent!
Bike trainers... so-so... depends a lot on quality and features.
Bike rollers... excellent but an interesting learning curve
Exercise Bikes... usually sub-par unless a big bucks unit like a Peleton
Airdyne: Seems popular in some circles. Never used one personally.
VersaClimber. Similar to my issues with stair climbers, but at least your arms get some work in
 
@Steve Freides I don’t know much about stair stepping machines, but I am a huge fan of Concept2 gear and can’t speak highly enough about the build quality - they last forever. I have the rower (love, love, love it), the BikeErg (great equipment though I don’t use it much - my wife does) and the SkiErg (which is brutally hard and I only use on occasion).

The thing I really appreciate about the rowing machine is it’s pretty adaptable depending on your goals (I do an A+A style session with it to mix things up) and it’s really a skill practice, similar to what we do here. It also feels very primal when compared to cycling or skiing.
 
@offwidth and @Mike Torres, thank you both for your replies and observations/opinions. I'll explain a bit more why I'm asking.

Much to my chagrin, we have a treadmill in our basement gym, which is more like a small commercial gym in many ways than a home gym - room for 4-5 people to train together, and 2-3 people quite easily. Half a dozen bars, a heavy lift bar, a thick bar, multiple chinup bars, squat stands, a power rack, dip attachment and, yes, because both my sons asked for it, a treadmill. Personally, I've never used the treadmill and it's very likely that I never will, and the same is true for my wife, who prefers deadlifting, kettlebell swings and snatches, and taking dance classes.

But, that said, someone on a local list has offered a free stair stepper, Lifeline brand, and I recall when I worked at a trainer at the local YMCA that people seems to like these, so I thought, what the heck, if it's free, maybe it's worth carving out a corner of the basement for.

That's my story.

Mike, I have found that my back doesn't care for rowing, and the machines take up a fair amount of space.

For me, I pick up heavy things and put them down again, walk 2-4 miles almost every day, and that's basically my program. I cycle swings and snatches in and out of it but, honestly, a deadlift and a press, with either a walk to warmup or a walk afterwards keeps me in very good health by all measures.

-S-
 
Stairs are worse than treadmills for me because the fatigue doesn't seem to start until the following day. It's really easy for me to train too hard on a stepper compared to getting tired on a treadmill and stopping at a more appropriate time. Maybe that's why people like them though.
 
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