Step Up Your Cardio Workout with the Aerobic Step

To withstand the impact of your steps your aerobic stepper should be sturdy enough to absorb this shock. Not known for most people, our sudden paces carry more force than the weight of our bodies. It is more or less 30% higher than our body weight. It’s when a tiny squash ball breaks your window glass. Maybe not as intense as that but you get the gist, right? So test the waters first before purchasing. A key to ensuring that the aerobic step you’re eyeing can carry you is to check its thickness. The platform should at least have a 1” to 1.5” solid-plastic platform to guarantee its sturdiness.

Size

When doing step aerobics, most of the time, you just step on the fitness equipment without minding your steps. This should not be the case, but it’s true. The exhausting cardio workout will make you forget to be cautious, plus the stepping in and out of the platform happens in a split of a second that you haven’t got time to think. So your platform needs to be wide enough to give you ample space to step on. Also if you’re planning to use the aerobic step with any of your other exercise routines, like using a dumbbell while lying on it, then you need to take into account that too. Your platform should be at least 16” wide to accommodate all the exercises you would want to do with it.

Non-slip

Make sure that the aerobic step you’re purchasing is non-slip to avoid any injury or accidents happening during your step aerobics sessions. A recommended non-slip surface should have 1mm protruding bristles that can hold your feet steady. Recommended material for the non-skid surface is rubber or those that are rubber-like. Also, these same criteria should apply for the base of your aerobic step. Both the platform surface and its base should be non-slip or non-skid.

Height Adjustment Feature

You should purchase an aerobic stepper that has a height adjustment feature. It will give you the capability to adjust it to your current needs. You can lower it to adapt to your physical movement limitations, or you can progressively set it higher to add a little bit of challenge to your cardio workout. This type of freedom would make the aerobic step more versatile and better accommodate your fitness needs.

Doing step exercises on an aerobic step or platform has all the benefits of a high-intensity cardio workout without subjecting your joints from strain or stresses, unlike other cardio exercises. It improves your overall fitness by building your strength, reducing extra fat, and boosting your cardiovascular system. How does it do that? Read on.

Cardiovascular Health

Step exercises such as step aerobics enhance your cardiovascular health, increasing the efficiency of your heart to pump blood and your lungs to increase its oxygen intake. The routines done on the platform causes your heart and lungs to race for more oxygen and blood to prevent you from feeling dizzy or passing out. This reaction of your cardiovascular organs helps them to work on an optimum level which also translates to proper blood circulation throughout your body. Having a healthy heart means a decrease in the chance of having heart and artery diseases and better lungs give you more stamina to endure the increased stressors your body is subjected to.

Musculoskeletal Health

Musculoskeletal health pertains to the condition of your bones, particularly its strength and density. Aside from being an intense cardio workout, step exercises are weight exercises too. Just like your exercise routines when you take a seat on the bench press, step exercises increase your muscle mass which in turn results in an increase in bone density. Your bones are structured and have enough strength to carry your current muscle weight, but as your muscle weight changes, so do your bone density.

Weight Loss

One main benefit of incorporating the aerobic stepper in your workout routines is it allows you to shed extra fat from your body, toning, and shaping it to its best form. Since the exercises that you do, especially when stepping off and on the platform rapidly, are both cardio and weight-bearing exercises, it burns a lot more calories than your typical treadmill. Of course, the number of calories you burn from your routines is dependent on its intensity. Don’t think that if you step up and down the platform like a child’s play that you would burn 100 calories. You have to step up your exercise too.

Mental Health

Like any form of exercise, the exercises you do on the aerobic step release endorphins, which are the natural happy pills of our body. It makes you happy, content, and gives you a sense of joy but not like the “happy pills” that have adverse effects on your nervous system and impedes some functions of your body. Our endorphins are the reason why we feel refreshed after a satisfying workout. Without enough of it, you would often feel tired and stressed. This is not a healthy way to live one’s life.

Efficient Metabolic Rate

Another great benefit of exercises on an aerobic step is the drastic increase in your metabolism. Metabolism functions by producing proteins that break down your fats and calories that you ingest and expel ones that cannot be absorbed by your body. The more exercise you do, the more protein your body produces. What’s more, your body also produces HGH or the human growth hormone, the fountain of youth hormone of our body. It is this hormone that regulates our body composition, body fluids, muscle and bone growth, and metabolism. This hormone is produced less the more we age. So to keep feeling and looking younger than your years, you can just exercise using the aerobic step and let your body take care of it.