Whats this new fancy thing
Stair Machine
My work recently added this new fancy stair machine to our work gym. It has directly influenced and changed the way I proceed about my gym life and activities. Before I avoided the dreaded word Cardio, but now I am more focused on it than ever. With the stair machine I find I get an amazing workout before I even get to my weight training.
How Long
I focus on doing the maximum amount of time the machine lets me go for, it does 30 minutes before entering into the 5 minute cooldown phase. This has been an amazing choice as my warm up before I get into the core part of my workout, which is the weight training.
Intensity
The intensity I use (or speed) for the stair climbing is incremental. Every minute that goes by I increase the level by 1 until it gets too fast for me, this usually happens around the 11-12 minute mark. Then I start lowering the intensity down but on the way down I never go below 5 and from there I will go up and down in intensity until my 35 minutes is done.
Cardio it up
For those whom know my mantra of the gym its that Cardio Sucks and Kills my Gains. And anyone reading this can call me on it, but for me if I train straight cardio I find that my muscles get wrecked by it quickly. I would rather work with the weights than ever touch cardio. But this machine is changing my view on that. The benefits of the stair machine is great and whatever musclemass I would lose from cardio I know I'll gain back or prevent loss of during my next phase of my normal gym routine, which is my weight training.
Killing it
Lately since this machine entered my life I have been killing it, the cardio that is. Which I never do, I gave up running a while back because of the pain in my knee's it caused. I find the stair machine quite a different entity, my knee's don't hurt from doing it, so I am encouraged by that to keep at it. And as a result I'm burning a lot of calories and enjoying every minute I get on that machine.
What about the Weights
Well if you know me, or read my blog you know that I ain't giving up the weights, I love lifting, pulling, dragging, curling and pretty much anything else that has todo with weight training, they ain't leaving my life anytime soon. In fact I May just kick it up a notch now especially if this cardio helps me lose some fat, which I am still struggling with, but thats another story for another blog post.
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