Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Stair stepper at gym

Hate it, satanic pile of stupid machine.

That is all.

Spawn of satan......

Wanna up the fun throw on some bunker gear and a pack....I hate the damned thing too

If those are your true feelings, then it's working, making you better, stronger, faster, better looking, etc.

And yes they are evil, but work.

I do the Stairmaster at my gym on days where I don’t do spin class. Usually 45 minutes. It is indeed a devil of a machine. I happen to have two friends who are orthopedic/sports medicine surgeons and hunt elk like I do. Both have said to me that the Stairmaster is the single best machine in the gym to prepare for elk. They both also said to not make your workout a “race” on the machine, but, rather keep your pace at a slower, more purposeful walk for best benefits, adding that the elliptical trainers are garbage...no resistance.

Just another opinion.

Starting later this month, I'll be the guy at the gym on the stairmaster with a pack on....

I'm no expert but everything I've read says that if you want to maximize your cardiovascular benefits, slow and steady is not the way to go. High intensity intervals gets the max improvement/ benefit.

.........with a higher risk of injury depending on the activity (running > cycling > swimming).
High intensity intervals IS an efficient use of workout time.
As far as indoor gadgets/machines go, I would put the Stairmaster near the top in simulating a hike in the elk woods and it works well for intervals.

This is true......but damn hard

The stair stepper is a lot easier if you hold onto the grab bars with your hands, and then lean over and put your weight on your hands taking the weight off of your legs. Watch a Netflix program with the stairs on level two and you can say you worked out for 30 minutes and not even break a sweat!

Depends on the elliptical. Most have programmable resistance and elevation. I much prefer the elliptical. Up the resistance, up the incline, reverse direction every 2.5 minutes, run the resistance/incline 1 on/1 off intervals, put a pack on, involves upper body or can free swing arms, etc.

I think the elliptical is also easier on the joints and will burn more calories if that's what you're after.

^^^THIS!^^^^

Can you simulate walking downhill on the elliptical?

A gain nothing

Walk on the treadmill at about 8º incline

Use the stairmaster

This will help strengthen jumpers knee and also works a different muscle group

Don't know. I'd guess the reverse direction might have "some" crossover. I usually spent the same amount of time in reverse, usually 2.5 forward/2.5 reverse. Resistance is the same with the elliptical either direction.

HIIT training has its place in the training regimen but if you are training for predominantly endurance activities, like hunting all day, climbing mountains etc. you need to have about 75-80% of your training done at a low intensity, steady state HR to get maximum effect. This has been proven out by years of physiological studies dealing with world class endurance athletes ranging from runners to nordic skiers and cyclists, to name a few. You do HIIT/strength training to compliment the endurance training.

Take the worlds best crossfit athletes and put them up against the best nordic skiers and have them hump a pack (equal percentage of body wt.) up 4000 ft. of altitude gain on a a big steep mountain and see who gets to the top first. Some of the cross fitters might be in the lead for the first 1k ft. or so but will have maxed out their endurance quotient early in the climb because their short training periods train the body for short event periods.

HIIT, Crossfit etc. is great for burning fat, getting strong and may show big initial improvements in cardio development (max vo2) for many who led sedentary lives before they started their training. If you have a limited schedule for training time they work great for conditioning for maximizing the training effect for the time you have, but if you are training for endurance events and want to maximize for best results you need to do more endurance training at low HR levels than HIIT.

Here is a good resource for info on endurance type training that best replicates back country hunting:

https://www.uphillathlete.com/category/training-theory/

If you think the stair stepper is the devil, try a Jacobs ladder machine; It is the devil incarnate. I like the elliptical because it is easier on the joints. I can adjust the 'break' for really good resistance working various muscles in the legs. After many years in the Army humping a rucksack (aka the big green tick) and jumping outta airplanes, I gotta take care of my knees etc.

HIIT is a great tool to improve cardio and speed, but you also need to train your mind and work the muscles at the distances you intend to move. In my experience, I trained using HIIT when I wanted to increase my speed for a particular event, such as the 2mi APFT run or a 5k/ 10k race. When training for endurance type events such as the 12mi Expert Infantry Badge ruck march and longer marches, I would train for a longer distance at a steadier pace. No matter what training you do, "train like you fight." If you're going to hump a ruck while hunting, incorporate humping a ruck while training at the hunting distances you anticipate moving to prepare your shoulders, back, feet and knees (your stride/ gait will change with a ruck), and lastly your mind.

Train like you fight is right. Humping a pack up a hill (and down) is better than any machine, but if you're stuck with a machine, its best to at least try to simulate real life. And for all the "low intensity steady heart rate" advocates, that's not how humping a heavy pack feels to me.

At my YMCA about 6-8 of us do a particular workout, some mix of HIIT and cardio, each week and write our time on the board. Last night my main competition blew my time out of the water and Ihave to go in and try and catch up tonight. He beat my stepper portion by 2 minutes so I’m dreading it.

MM