Cheap stair stepper

[guitarpreston]

I have been considering picking up a cheap stepper off amazon or marketplace, the ones that can fold up small. I do not have the space or budget for a big nice one so thats out, and do not want to get a gym membership just for that. Just thinking about something to add to my training to get more consistent z2 work. Also looked at a maxi climber as well.
Side note, I live in Texas where there is not much in terms of topography so going for a hike with 250 ft of elevation isn't going to hit the same.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aks]

Cheapest way. Get a box. Box jumps, step ups, elevated split legged lunge. Etc.

 

[Taylormade820]

I use one at my gym 4-5x a week and have looked at buying one myself for the house. All of the research I did was buy higher quality or don’t buy one. They will have issues, have repair costs, break down etc. I have just decided to stay with my $15/month gym membership for those reasons. I will also take a weighted vest to a parking garage every now and then when the weather permits.

 

[LostArra]

Texas has plenty of high school football stadiums. Hit those stadium steps to the top. Your property tax dollars are paying for them.

 

[LCguy]

Just get a $10/month Planet Fitness or Crunch membership. Two most widespread and cheapest commercial gym

 

[pacoalcracker]

Just get a good jump-rope and keep upping the footwork and rope speed.... soon you won't need a stepper.

 

[Marbles]

I have a Xiser, my wife likes it, I find the very fixed foot travel path unnatural and don't use it. I would rather (and have) done an hour of box step ups with a ruck on.

 

[guitarpreston]

Well thanks to marketplace I got a full blown stair master for $75, works but has some surface rust...Time to do some climbing!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Just get a good jump-rope and keep upping the footwork and rope speed.... soon you won't need a stepper.

For a longtime I loved using my weighted Crossrope jump rope, I could get some awesome workouts in with that using the 5,6 and 8 oz handles.

I should start using that thing again, for awhile I’d do 15-20 mins a day broken up in sets of 500 jumps just throughout the day when I could sneak it in. Usually just a 3 minute jump set and like 20 pushups done 5 times. It seemed to help a lot with calf strength and cardio.

It dosent really hit the uphill hiking muscles the way a stepper or box step ups do so though. In the uphill athlete book, the author talked about using a 12” box, a weighted pack and timing yourself for a thousand vertical feet. So load the pack, do step ups until you’ve done a thousand of them and clock your time.