untitled

Rest your hands — or better yet, your fingertips — lightly on the bar

in front of you or on the side rails. Don’t grip the rails any tighter than

you’d grip a paper cup. And never reverse your wrists so that your fin-

gertips are pointing toward the floor and your elbows are turned up to

the ceiling. You really should be able to use the stair-climber without

holding on to the railing at all, but using the railing for balance (within

reason) is okay. If you must hang on in order to keep up with the machine,

you’re going too fast. Believe us, nobody will think less of you if you

drop down a few notches. In fact, you’ll probably impress people with

your stellar posture and noncompetitive attitude.

Stand upright with a slight forward lean at the hips (see Figure 9-4).

Don’t overcorrect your form by standing upright like a Marine at inspec-

tion. A slight — and we mean slight — forward lean helps keep your

knees from locking and protects your lower back from overarching.

Photograph by Sunstreak Productions, Inc.

Take even, moderately deep steps. Don’t take short, quick hopping

steps, a technique known as shaking the machine.This technique is hard

on your calf muscles and cuts down on the number of calories you burn.

Keep your entire foot on the pedal.This helps your rear end and

thighs get a full workout and prevents you from overburdening your

calf muscles.

Rolling stair-climber ..........................................................................

This machine looks like a section of a department-store escalator (only

it’s hardly a free ride). A set of stairs rotates in a circle so that you climb

Figure 9-4:
Stair-
climber
posture:
good, bad,
and just as
bad.

Chapter 9: Using Cardio Machines 141