Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Stair stepper at gym

Last year I went straight to 12+K on my first day and did better at altitude than I did when 5 years younger.

Intervals of rowing machine, battle rope, hill sprints, tire flips, etc.

It was awesome. I was actually breathing even when gaining 3k on day one. The problem was after gaining 3k on day 2, a hard day 3, and so forth I wore down.

So this year I'll try to stack long days with a pack on top of interval days. See how that works. Hopefully I'll cope with altitude, plus do it day after day.

used Jacobs ladder last year to get ready for a goat hunt, for me did more to build climbing muscles than all the other training i did.

In a moment of foolishness I spent 18 minutes on one last night. Now when I climb the stairs to the bedroom my legs feel like jello.

SBTCO - good reference.

I switched to a low carb, high fat diet 18 months ago or so. My workouts cardio improved, I lost 10 lbs w/o trying, and my blood chemistry improved. I did find that if I don't ingest 100 grams of carbs per day, my workouts suffered. I try to keep them around 125-130 grams per day. When I get over 150 I start putting fat back on.

At 54, I'm trying to determine my next steps for endurance. I run 10ks but won't be confused with the fastest people in a race. At the end of the day, I'm still trying to figure out the best recipe to optimize strength and endurance.

At 71 I am more into maintenance and injury avoidance than anything else. 4 days/week of alternating elliptical/ treadmill w/ dumbells and kettlebells w/ a goal of maintaining a heartrate of 130-140 bpm for 1 hour w/ an additional 20 minutes of warmup/cooldown.

Most weeks I hike 1, 5 miler and 1, 10 miler w/ 1500 or 2500 feet of altitude gain. Of the ~ 25 lbs in my pack 16 lbs is extra water which I dump prior to the descent to save my knees on the downhill. Only extended time on my feet, moving w/ a pack allows me to hunt the mountains.

These days I need to take 1 rest day for every 3 days of hunting or I crater.

I would love to have a jacobs ladder, has anyone used a home Versa Climber?


mike r

The Stairmaster is a necessary evil I suppose. Need to have a good playlist on the tune machine.

I try to go hands free to work on balance and stabilization muscles in the knee. Also move to angled position both left and right to simulate sidehilling.

Don't forget to go backwards to strengthen hamstrings and petelar tendons

Does hiking lots of steep mountains, up, down, sidehilling, etc. substitute for a stair stepper?

What do you all think of a machine (stair stepper) vs. plain old stair running?

I suppose I see it like free weight’s vs. machine.

Thoughts?

I've done both and think they are similar. I tend to do gym workouts like stair climbers, treadmills, etc when the weather is crappy, and/or stupid hot. I greatly prefer working outside when temps are between 40 and 80 and no rain.

To me the advantage of outside workouts lies in the variety of the terrain. Ran 5 miles tonight on the local trail. Had 2 sections of pretty good hills. Jogging uphill sucks....... But I think it better simulates elk country - elk country ain't flat. Conversely I think it's easy to get locked into an indoor training program and not push your self. Basically a comfort level sinks in. I see this with eliptical users alot in my gym - same workout, same intensity, often the exact same machine. I advise folks to do 20-20-20 when indoors. 20 mins on elliptical at 8-10 resistance keeping heartrate at 140 or so. Quickly finish go to bike keep 100 rpm at resistance 7-10 for 20 mins and same heart rate. Then immediately got to stair stepper for 20 mins at 50-75 steps/min, keeping heartrate rate below 150. I find this combo works well for me when I'm indoors. Late in the week I do 15-15-15 with same setup, intensity, and heart rate. Towards the end of the week I'm getting tired, mainly because I do 2 days of heavy lifting do 5x5s.

I'd add that my outdoor workouts are usually jogging, hiking with my hunting pack (30-50 lbs on board) for 2-4 miles, and long hikes (12-20 miles with 15-18 lb day pack). I greatly prefer the outdoor stuff.....

I also.move into more cardio as elk season get closer. I'm in add muscle/strength phase now, hence the 5x5 with basic barbell movements. I find hooking up to a 60-80 lb pack full of elk requires muscular stamina which I see as a combination of strength and cardio.

I’m just curious... I do 20 minutes of actual stair running at a stout rate, 1 day on, 2 off, 365.

Of course I’m always hiking and backpacking, have my whole life (2 mos shy of 57).

It's better.....my problem is the availability of a lot of stairs to climb

Exactly....

I personally think climbing big hills with weight is worth the time and stamina...

I like a treadmill with a steep incline for that. Looking forward to the day when I can do that again, should be in the next couple months.

I've never thought about going backwards on the treadmill. I will try it today, there may be a humbling moment in my future.


mike r

To me, it feels very similar to the muscles you use "putting the brakes on" when going downhill with a load.

This is how I feel about it too.

A couple years ago when I got PRP injections in my knees the reverse treadmill and stair master was what the PT pushed.

lvmiker

When walking backward on the treadmill use about 8º of incline to better match your gate.
I set the speed on 2.3/2.4

Thanks guys, well that was interesting. I first did the elliptical backwards and that was strange but not difficult and I could definitely feel it working different areas. Then came the treadmill, luckily I started w/ it at the lowest speed cause it felt very strange at first and I only did about 5 minutes, balance was a little shaky. There is no doubt that this is a productive effort and I just need to get better at it, it's nice to try something different.


mike r

Brad,

Not much will beat running stairs, or even climbing them slow, if one has something like a stadium. You are lifting and moving your entire body weight. Downside will be watch the knees.

Most-99%+-who use the stepper are hanging onto the handles which takes away some of your weight and also gives stabilization one doesn't have when running steps.

Then their is the stairmaster, which again most will use holding on, but if you crank it up to 12+ you are doing some serious climbing and cardio if you can go for a long time.

3: Stepper, 2: Stairmaster and 1: Running stairs in order of difficulty. The Stairmaster can be a never ending climb. Running stairs takes a special location and is harder on the knees.