Obviously it takes weight off your legs, so if your goal is specifically a leg workout then it's cheating. But so long as you aren't locking your arms, is using your arms in a stairmaster workout cheating if your goal is only to burn energy?
I've got options of either a stair master and a weight vest or literal stairs and a weight vest. And I know using your hands on the guard rail is legit for regular stairs because your ultimate goal is just to get to the top. You get to the top, you accomplished moving your weight + the vest to the top on your own muscle's accord.
However for a stair master it didn't seem so obvious, since technically your body is in the same spot. But it seemed so long your elbows were bent, forcing muscle contraction, then it wasn't technically cheating your over all muscle exertion. It was just taking it off the legs some.
Which in a way seems preferred for over all energy burn. Why use the stairs / stairmaster until leg fail when you could take it to leg + arm fail?
[ + ] xmasskull
[ - ] xmasskull 0 points 2 hoursMay 20, 2025 16:35:29 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] KosherHiveKicker
[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 0 points 5 hoursMay 20, 2025 12:54:12 ago (+0/-0)
If you are trying to gain muscle mass or tone-up, then you might want to look into safe / light weight leg exercises.
[ + ] CoronaHoax
[ - ] CoronaHoax [op] 0 points 4 hoursMay 20, 2025 14:27:14 ago (+0/-0)
However for a stair master it didn't seem so obvious, since technically your body is in the same spot. But it seemed so long your elbows were bent, forcing muscle contraction, then it wasn't technically cheating your over all muscle exertion. It was just taking it off the legs some.
Which in a way seems preferred for over all energy burn. Why use the stairs / stairmaster until leg fail when you could take it to leg + arm fail?