King of the Mountain Stairmaster Challenge

[TheCougar]

Tags are filled, holiday weight gain has already happened, now its time to hit the gym again.

Tried out the stairmonster today after my workout and it felt pretty good. Slow and steady.

Welcome back! I’m still trying to get rid of plantar fasciitis from last summer, so I’m on the exercise bike for a while. I hate it. Word of advice - if you start developing a little heel or instep pain, don’t ignore it. I’ve been unable to get rid of the pain for 8 months. I hunted through it, but can’t seem to get it back to normal.

 

[TradAg02]

Welcome back! I’m still trying to get rid of plantar fasciitis from last summer, so I’m on the exercise bike for a while. I hate it. Word of advice - if you start developing a little heel or instep pain, don’t ignore it. I’ve been unable to get rid of the pain for 8 months. I hunted through it, but can’t seem to get it back to normal.

When I start having issues I leave a lacrosse ball by my bed. Every morning and evening I roll it around under my arch. Hurts like crazy, but has worked for me.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[WestexSBK]

Like many, I got my ass whooped last year on my first elk hunt. I’m from west Texas. Very little change in elevation. I’ve started hiking a little when we are at the ranch but when I’m at home I’ll be restricted to a Stair Master, bleachers, and some parking garages. How frequently, and intensely should I perform inclined cardio. Let’s say I’m a novice with zero weighted pack experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[TheCougar]

Like many, I got my ass whooped last year on my first elk hunt. I’m from west Texas. Very little change in elevation. I’ve started hiking a little when we are at the ranch but when I’m at home I’ll be restricted to a Stair Master, bleachers, and some parking garages. How frequently, and intensely should I perform inclined cardio. Let’s say I’m a novice with zero weighted pack experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated

It depends on your level of fitness and ability. My two recommendations, learned the hard way: 1. ramp up your training more slowly than you think you need to. I’ve developed overtraining injuries by pushing too hard too fast. 2. If you develop any kind of chronic pain, rest and take care of it before it gets worse.

I’m in very good shape and have lots of time in the gym, and I still managed to give myself chronic overuse injuries.

 

[SharkDog]

Some impressive numbers. I used it for the first time yesterday. Damn its tough. I usually don't spend much time in gyms, but short days and a 9-5 has me pretty out of shape. Thanks for the idea and motivation!

 

[Wiljam09]

Flat lander here. My towns elevation is around 400ft above sea level. So not much experience with hills! Tried stairmaster for 2nd tome today did 5 mins on level 10 and only had 24 floors! Needless to say I was out of breath after.

 

[Wiljam09]

Today 15 mins, 60 floors.
Started out lvl 10 for 1st 5min then last 10 mins at lvl 6. Working to progress to 30mins straight and then will transition to high/low intensity intervals.

 

[LaHunter]

Like many, I got my ass whooped last year on my first elk hunt. I’m from west Texas. Very little change in elevation. I’ve started hiking a little when we are at the ranch but when I’m at home I’ll be restricted to a Stair Master, bleachers, and some parking garages. How frequently, and intensely should I perform inclined cardio. Let’s say I’m a novice with zero weighted pack experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Like Cougar stated, build up gradually. I usually do 2 days / week with my 40# pack on the stairmaster.
Another fun (miserable) training activity is a weighted tire drag. You can order a harness from amazon. Find a used tire from a local tire shop and rig up a way to attach a tether from the tire to your harness and drag it on flat ground. Clean, freshly laid black top gives the most resistance. Any surface with sand or small pebbles lets the tire slide too easily. I place a 35# wt on my tire and work up to 60 minutes during the summer leading up to my hunt. This is a really miserable activity, but it is really effective at simulating climbing an incline, while on flat ground. Check out Atomic Gym online, that is where I got the idea. The owner was on a podcast with the guys from exo mtn gear a year or so ago.

 

[Trevor73402]

20 mins. 72 floors. Not sure on the level. I think 6. I don’t ever pay attention to that. I don’t usually go up/down on speed. I stay at one pace for 20 min.

 

[Jacack]

I decided to take off some time after this past years seasons. I built a 40x60 shop behind the house and having the floor coated next week then making a area to work out.

Been looking at used stair machines but damn they are expensive.

Guess I will have to keep the gym membership until I can find a deal on one.

 

[Trevor73402]

I decided to take off some time after this past years seasons. I built a 40x60 shop behind the house and having the floor coated next week then making a area to work out.

Been looking at used stair machines but damn they are expensive.

Guess I will have to keep the gym membership until I can find a deal on one.

A good commercial grade stepmill will be high $$$, unless you just catch a good deal on Craigslist or fakebook. The cheap ones are junk. They make lots of noise and usually move/unstable while you are using it. There are places online that sell wholesale used gym equipment. Years ago, some friends and myself bought two semi-truck loads of equipment for a steal. It was older stuff, but it all worked perfectly.

 

[Wiljam09]

10 mins, trying to work up to more. 2.5min intervals of high/low to get heart rate up and down. After looking through other post it seems like there are some guy that can really kick but on the stairs.

 

[Wiljam09]

From guys who started out new on the stairs and built up how would you rate floors by level of advancement?
Easy level 20-50 floors?
Med 50-100?
Hard 100-200?
Expert 200+?

I know everyone is different but also looking for say a bench mark to try and train towards. Maybe this could be adding weight for others vs total number of stairs.

 

[Trevor73402]

10 mins, trying to work up to more. 2.5min intervals of high/low to get heart rate up and down. After looking through other post it seems like there are some guy that can really kick but on the stairs.

Don’t get discouraged. There is a reason the treadmills are always full and the stepmill is always available.....it ain’t easy. I’m in extremely good shape and have been for a long while, but I had never used the stepmill. When I first started using it, 5 min would kick my ass. Just shoot for an extra one min per day or every two days. Don’t worry about how fast you are going. Just focus on staying on it for 12-15-20 min at a time. Once you achieve that, then you can look at increasing speed. Even on level 5, a solid 20 min without resting your body weight on the rails, will leave you soaking wet with sweat most of the time.

 

[Ross]

Good stuff by Trevor above....no hands start slow and buildup to 20-30 minutes...once you can do 20 min start increasing intensity and mixing in intervals....as noted it is why the machines are always available do it right and it kicks ass...most don’t want to work that hard...good luck also10 min intervals will help maintain if don’t have much time just go as hard as you can

 

[TheCougar]

From guys who started out new on the stairs and built up how would you rate floors by level of advancement?
Easy level 20-50 floors?
Med 50-100?
Hard 100-200?
Expert 200+?

I know everyone is different but also looking for say a bench mark to try and train towards. Maybe this could be adding weight for others vs total number of stairs.

Don’t worry about grading yourself. Just stick with it and you’ll see improvements. Also, no cheating - no using your arms for support. It drives me nuts when I see people getting more of a tricep workout than a leg workout. Also, either get a HRM or use the heart rate function on the stairmaster to figure out your max sustainable heart rate. I guess I would call it aerobic threshold. I’m around 170-175 - any more than that, and I’m on borrowed time. I found that metric useful in the mountains, particularly the first few days when I was acclimating. I would just set the pace based on HR and hold it right there, regardless of the actual speed. If you are consistent on the stairmaster, you’ll find that you can increase speed over time and keep below your threshold. That’s really my goal- sustained performance. It’s a marathon, not a sprint!

 

[TheCougar]

30 minutes, 197 floors, 104 step per minute average, unweighted. Back in the saddle...

 

[*zap*]

AeT (aerobic threshold) is usually around 80% of your max heart rate. It is generally the pace which allows you to speak easily in fairly long sentences.
Ant (anaerobic threshold) is a heart rate that is above your AeT which you can sustain for 30-60 minutes depending on your fitness level.
Staying above your AnT (also called lactate threshold) for longer periods of time your body builds up more lactate than it can buffer/expel and you fatigue. So the goal is to raise your AeT and Ant which allows for more intensity and not exceeding your Ant @ that more intense level of activity.

There is a very good site for this info, also a good book on it called 'training for the new alpinism'. The link will take you to one article and there are other links within that to additional info:

Training for Mountaineering

Whether you are training for Mount Everest, Mount Rainier, Mont Blanc, or Colorado 14'ers, the theory and practice are the same. While we wrote the book

www.uphillathlete.com

The links below will explain finding anaerobic threshold and how to best set your training based on your AeT and AnT heart rates and the difference between them:

DIY Anaerobic Threshold Test

This at-home Anaerobic Threshold test will help you determine your Anaerobic Threshold (AnT) heart rate, which will be useful when it comes to controlling

www.uphillathlete.com

When and How to Add High-Intensity Training: The 10 Percent Test

High-intensity training is most effective when layered on top of a sufficient aerobic base. But what is "sufficient"? How do I know when to add intensity?

www.uphillathlete.com

The interesting thing about these endurance training principles is that if you have a good AeT heart rate which is close to your AnT you should train @ 60-70% of max heart rate frequently and for long durations most of the time (around 80% of training time) for the best results. Obviously all this info pertains to cardio activity and not strength training.

 

[jmcd22]

I'll join...I usually do stairs after every workout. No clue where I have been lately...just go until I'm tired. I'll keep track today and post back.

 

[KNASH]

I too am a flatlander prepping for a fall 10K hunt. Been on the weights and bike, you guys have me interested in StairMaster. Question - I have a knee with worn maniscus from too much running over the years, and it limits what I can do. Is StairMaster hard or easy on knees?