What's the Best Cardio? Stairs, Treadmill, or Elliptical?

Here’s How I Actually Use Each With My Athletes

Cardio doesn’t need to be complicated. Don’t overthink it or spend hours figuring out what machine is “best.” What matters is using the right equipment for the right phase of your training. Each machine hits your body differently, which affects your recovery, and impacts your cut or bulk in its own way.

Here’s how I break it down for myself and my athletes. This will help you choose the option that fits your goals instead of working against them.

1. Stair Stepper

The stair stepper is the most intense machine of the three. It’s basically a guaranteed sweat session, and it hits your legs hard.

Pros for using the stair stepper when training

• Heavy glute and quad activation

• Burns calories quickly

• Great for lower-body conditioning

• Super time-efficient

Cons to using the stair stepper when training

• Creates a lot of leg fatigue

• Can interfere with leg days

• Harder to recover if you’re doing it too often

Stair stepper is best forShort, high-intensity sessions, cutting phases, and athletes who need extra glute stimulus without adding more lifting volume.

Avoid stair stepper ifYour legs fatigue quickly or you’re in a high-volume leg block. This machine can drain recovery.

2. Treadmill (Incline)

The treadmill is the most versatile cardio tool. It’s easy to adjust, easy on the joints when walking, and perfect for steady-state work.

Pros for using the treadmill for training

• Easy to scale intensity

• Natural movement pattern

• Low impact if you’re walking

• Great for longer steady-state sessions

• Doesn’t tax your muscles too much

Cons to using the treadmill for training

• Running can be high-impact

• Not ideal if you deal with knee or ankle pain

• Bad running mechanics make everything worse

Treadmill is best for Fat loss phases, long duration cardio, daily movement between training days, and anyone who wants to burn calories without adding stress to their legs.

Avoid treadmill ifRunning bothers your joints or you know your mechanics fall apart once you speed up or add an incline.

3. Elliptical

The elliptical is your recovery-friendly machine. Low impact, easy on the legs, and perfect when you’re needing to have fast recovery from training, but still need cardio in your plan.

Pros to using the elliptical for training

• Lowest impact of all three

• Minimal leg fatigue

• Great for recovery or off-season cardio

• Full body involvement when you use the handles

Cons when using the elliptical for training

• Lower calorie burn per minute

• Easy to coast if you’re not focused

• Doesn’t translate to real-world movement

Elliptical is best forAnyone with joint pain, athletes in a bulk, active recovery days, and phases where cardio needs to be frequent without destroying training quality.

Avoid elliptical ifYou need high-intensity conditioning or want something that really targets glutes or quads.

So What's The Best Cardio You Should Use?

Cardio you need depends on your goals. Here’s the quick way I assign cardio to my clients based on where they are at in their training.

For Fat Loss:Stairs for short intensity plus treadmill incline for longer steady work.

For Muscle Retention:Elliptical or treadmill walking. Keep the heart rate up, not the leg fatigue.

For Leg Growth:Go easy on the stairs. They eat into your leg-day recovery fast.

For Busy Schedules:Stairs or incline treadmill. More work in less time.

For Injury Prevention:Elliptical or flat treadmill walking to keep impact low.

Recap: 

Cardio is super straightforward. Choose the machine that fits your goal, your recovery, your training phase, and your schedule. The best cardio is the one that helps you progress without wrecking your legs for tomorrow’s session.

If you’re looking for a coach to help you figure out what cardio you need and when, click here to schedule a free consultation.