Feel fortunate the gym I go to has a stairmaster. You can bust butt on it if you are in the mood or do an easy cruise. Either way I get a good hill stimulation leg workout.
Box step-ups will do the same and perhaps are even harder, in that the box doesn't move. Box jumps are in another realm of fitness. One young Buck at the gym used to hit 5 feet and made it look easy. Then he went to college and got fat on beer!!!!
Best of both worlds, do both (box jumps and stair machine). I feel lucky now, my gym has 15-20 stair machines, and a similar number of squat rack and boxes. That's one benefit of living in the big city. One of the few I can think of.
My trainer says super sets of squats and box jumps are where it's at. I don't know if he's right, but I do know that those will will kick 100% of your ass.
