Choosing Cardio Equipment (continued)
Steppers and stairclimbers work a lot of muscle mass and provide weight bearing exercise. Stairclimbing is very demanding however and the popularity of these pieces has waned with the growth of ellipticals. This is because first, stepping is not a flowing exercise. Your feet reverse direction with every step. Where treadmills and ellipticals offer a rotary kind of motion, stepping is more up, down, up, down, which makes it feel like more work. You are also working in a vertical plane directly against gravity so the workload is pretty intense.
Like stair stepping, rowing also involves constantly changing direction. The big difference with rowing is it uses more upper body muscles. Since your upper body is not really built for endurance like lower body muscles, working at a high intensity will be less comfortable. Rowing is not considered a weight bearing exercise so your bones don't benefit as much. On the plus side, it is truly a full-body workout because the upper-body and lower-body muscles perform different stages of the movement. Your lower body can't overpower your upper body and do all of the work like with machines where upper and lower body action are linked.
Exercise bikes take up a small amount of space and are relatively inexpensive compared to other catagories. They are also much less intimidating for most people. Because you are sitting down there is no weight bearing benefit. Bikes come in upright, recumbent, and dual action so be sure to try the different varieties. Dual-Action bikes get your upper body involved so you're not dependent on just leg muscles to get your heart rate into zone. Recumbent bikes give you back support and have broader seats so they are easier on the shoulders, back and bottom. If you are looking at recumbents with arm action make sure to try those with separate action for the upper and lower body components as opposed to those with linked-action between upper and lower. Being separate allows for speed variation between the upper and lower body and also prevents the lower body from doing all of the work while the upper body just rides along.