Frantik – others can correct me if they feel I’m incorrect but due to the difference in incline (60%-ish vs. 18%) the time may be the same but the intensity will not. For example, you would have to go at a much faster pace to get your heart rate near the top of Zone 2 on a treadmill at 18% than on a stair machine. Now, if you get your heart rate the same and commit the same amount of time perhaps your cardio system would not know the difference but your legs would. The stair machine, due to the incline, would require much more effort.
For my personal training I recently did the following:
– 1 hour on stair machine
– 1/2 hour on treadmill at 15%
– 1 hour on stair machine
– 1/2 hour on treadmill at 15%
My total steps just on the stair machine were over 6,600. With an 8″ step that’s 4,356′ of vertical. Even if I can only count 1/2 of that due to the step falling away that is nearly 2,200′ of vert. My workout called for 2,500′ so if I add in the hour spent on the treadmill, I feel I got it. At the end I was worked but would have been much less so had I spent my entire time on the treadmill at 15%.
