When you enter gym, you notice that there are two machine side by side, promising the same thing: a result. They both will elevates your heart rate. They both will burns some calories.
The StairMaster and the elliptical machine sits next to each other, waiting for you to pick one. For a split second, it seems like a toss-up. Get it done, move and get out of here.
Question your life choices in three minutes. It feels like a toss up at first glance but they are not the same. One is a vertical battle against gravity, while the other is a smooth gliding motion through air resistance.
And what does “harder” mean to you? Are you looking for something that’ll have you breathing like a steam engine? Or are you looking for something higher intensity with less impact on your joints?
That will change entire dynamic of your workout. For example, if you’re looking for an elliptical with continuous movement, then you’re looking for one that’s designed to do just that: mimic running movement while sparing your hips and knee joints from jarring impact. The elliptical pulls you along as soon as you step onto the pedals.
Comparing Elliptical And StairMaster For Harder Workouts
Elliptical Machine Benefits
Its movements is gentle on your body, and, perhaps, gentle on your mind. Scroll through your phone. Zone out.
Finish a 20-minute session with the sense that you didn’t break much of a sweat at all. It is not a flaw. It is a feature.
This is steady-state cardio. Go harder when you want something more hard, and you’ll have to work harder to get it. The elliptical is something most folks treat as a passive ride; they grab onto the handle bars and let their momentum do all of the work.
This caps the effort. Engaging your upper body will make it more difficult. Use the moving arms to push and pull.
Max out the resistance while your legs is feeling weighted down. Shorten your stride to raise the cadence. It can become a killer workout but it takes discipline not to just coast along.
StairMachine Intensity and Mechanics
The machine is designed for laziness; you have to fight it. But not so much the StairMaster. The StairMaster make you get off your ass and climb.
There’s no gliding; there’s no coasting. You have to work every step; engaging your quads and glutes actively. You can’t hang on for dear life and make it out alive.
You must push through your heels. And it will isolate your lower body in a way that an elliptical never can. Your heart rate will skyrocket fast and your legs burns.
In the best way possible, it is unforgiving. But that’s what makes climbing hard: It’s just you versus gravity, one foot in front of the other. You don’t have the momentum of an elliptical to mask it.
If you aren’t pushing forward, then you’re not going anywhere. And that leads to a greater feeling of exertion over the same period of time. For example, five minutes on a StairMaster feels longer than five minutes on an elliptical.
That is how vertical displacement works. It’s a combination of strength and endurance because you’re literally picking up your own bodyweight again and again.
Joint Health and Impact
And then there’s joint health.
Elliptical: Kid gloves. StairMaster: Not as gentle. Flexion angle: The knees gets more loaded up.
The impact is low. So if your knees suck, go elliptical. But if you’ve got good joints, use the StairMaster to make them stronger.
It will strengthens the stabilizing muscles around your knees, and it’ll prepare you for the real world. Because we spend our lives climbing stairs. Why not train with something that simulates that motion?
Calorie Burn and Recovery
Most of us will burn a few more calories on the StairMaster. Why? It recruit more muscle mass in a shorter time.
The backside goes to town. With each stair stride, your glutes is firing; your core is working to maintain balance. Using the arms on an elliptical makes this exercise a bit friendlier for the upper body, yet the lower body work isn’t as intense.
So the StairMaster gets you more bang for your buck, calorie-wise, if you can sustain the pace. And if that’s your goal. And then there’s issue of recovery time.
A good StairMaster workout leaves you sore for days after. Your legs will be weak, walking downstairs will hurt, etc. With the elliptical, you recover more quickly. You can do another workout the following day, making it ideal for regular workouts. If you train every day, you’ll be able to keep using the elliptical.
Training Variety and Goals
When you’re on top-of-your-game days, use the StairMaster. Push yourself to the limit. But you don’t have to choose one permanently.
Switch things up. Get on the StairMaster and do some HIIT (high-intensity interval) training. Do thirty-second sprints, followed by 30 seconds of rest.
Then do it again. For longer duration at a lower intensity, get on the elliptical and log some time building an aerobic base. Keep switching things up so that you avoid getting bored, and more importantly, avoid overuse injury.
Keep your body guessing and keep your brain interested in what’s happening. We’re trying to make progress here. The more difficult sessions you do, the better your results will be, but each of us interprets ‘hard’ differently.
Some people’s hard is when their legs hurt. Others, hard is doing something consistently for a period of time. Listen to your body.
Get to know what works best for you. Pick machine that meets your goal at this moment. The next time you enter gym, change your perspective on those two machines.
View them not just as machines but as tools that does a job. Want some suffering in your workout? Do it productively on the StairMaster.
Do you need something to build endurance without the wreck? Hop on the elliptical. There’s a hard session waiting for you.
You just have to pick the road.
