A certified trainer says this low-impact leg-strengthening stair climber workout will boost cardio and build muscle in just 30 minutes

Walk into a gym and you’ll probably spot people doing one of two types of cardio. One is training flat out in short bursts, while the other is taking it slow and steady.

Certified trainer Mia Green falls firmly into the second category. The Oner Active athlete prefers to leave the intervals, fartlek and lactate threshold training for runners.

Instead, the 23-year-old says you can boost stamina, respiratory fitness and muscle simultaneously using nothing but the stair climber.

This cardio machine replicates a never-ending flight of stairs. You can increase its speed to make it more of a cardiovascular challenge, or its resistance to build strength.

Posting on Instagram, Green recently demonstrated her favorite way to use this device, tagging a stair climber routine onto the end of an upper-body push session.

But, she says, it’s equally effective—and versatile—as a standalone cardio workout.

“I find this more enjoyable [than intervals] as I can do other things at the same time—like read, edit or watch a TV show,” she tells Fit&Well.

How to do the workout

Green tends to set the StairMaster at level eight out of 20 and maintain this pace and resistance for the full 30 minutes.

“I like to use the StairMaster for a prolonged state of cardio rather than intense [interval] bursts,” says Green.

“I find 30 minutes at this level effective as I’m [working] at a sustained effort, keeping my heart rate elevated and improving my aerobic endurance and VO2 max over time.”

The trick is to find an effort level that allows you to maintain a rate of perceived exertion of 3-5 out of 10 for the entire 30 minutes.

As a general rule, this should be a pace that allows you to maintain conversation throughout, rather than being out of breath.

This form of cardio, she adds, is low-impact and uses larger muscles like the glutes, quads and hamstrings which “require more energy, increasing calorie burn”.

If your gym isn’t equipped with a stair climber, Green says an incline walk on a treadmill or outside can be just as effective. The 12-3-30 workout is a popular format if you have access to a treadmill.