[MtL]

Hi,

One of the tools I have access to for endurance training is a Versaclimber, and I find it less monotonous than box steps. Long stairs or hills are harder to come by on a workday for me.
How well does the Versablimber translate to uphill fitness, compared to box steps or other “city training” methods?
And do you have any tips on how to use it effectively for endurance and strength endurance training? How should I adjust the resistance? Should I aim for a minimum step height, or vary it during my workouts?

For those that do not know what a Versaclimber is, it is a “climbing machine” like this:

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on August 13, 2017 at 3:06 pm #5841

MtL:

The Versaclimber works just like the star climber machines in that the ‘stairs’ fall away from under you rather than you having to lift your body’s mass upward against gravity. So they really do not perfectly mimic hiking up stairs or hills. They require less work. But they do serve a purpose for those trapped on flat ground. The reason to hike up hill is to build the specific strength endurance for climbing mountains and the Verss will do a better job than say biking while seated or swimming or even easy running on the flats. The Versa does allow you to adjust step hight on the go so you can mix it up. But in terms of specific training effect for mountaineering/alpine climbing, I’d rank the methods you mention here in this order:
Steep Hills
Stairs
Box Step
Versa Climber
Stair Master
Treadmill

Scott

[curriespencer]

curriespencer on July 20, 2018 at 9:33 am #10866

Hijacking this thread a bit, but where would you put the Matrix S-Drive?

https://shop.matrixfitness.com/s-drive-performance-trainer

Have you had any experience with this machine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on July 23, 2018 at 4:57 pm #10895

I have no experience with this machine although it looks like it meant mainly to build sprint power. Maybe it could replace the hill sprints we use??

Scott