For many, the word “cardio” is synonymous with running. Whether it’s on a treadmill, a track, or a trail, running is the default, go-to form of cardiovascular exercise. It’s effective, straightforward, and requires minimal skill to get started. However, the cardio section of any gym is a landscape of untapped potential, filled with machines that often gather dust while a line forms for the treadmills.
Exclusive reliance on running can lead to overuse injuries, muscular imbalances, and, perhaps most detrimentally, workout boredom that derails fitness motivation. Exploring alternative cardio equipment is not just about variety for variety’s sake; it’s a strategic approach to building a more resilient, balanced, and engaged body.
This guide delves into five of the most underrated cardio machines, uncovering their unique benefits, detailing the proper form to use them effectively, and providing workout structures to help you break free from a running rut and unlock new levels of fitness.
The Rowing Machine (Ergometer)
Often relegated to the corner of the gym, the rowing machine is arguably the most comprehensive piece of cardio equipment available. It’s a full-body powerhouse that simultaneously builds cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength.
Why It’s Underrated: Many people use it incorrectly, turning it into an awkward arm-and-back exercise, which leads to frustration and a perception that it’s ineffective or uncomfortable. When done properly, it is a smooth, rhythmic, and incredibly efficient workout.
Primary Muscles Worked: Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, core, biceps, and forearms. It’s a true head-to-toe exercise.
How to Use It with Proper Form:
The rowing stroke is a continuous motion broken down into two phases: the drive and the recovery. It is sequenced as legs -> core -> arms -> arms -> core -> legs.
- The Catch: The starting position. Your shins are vertical, shoulders are in front of your hips, arms are straight and extended, and you’re gripping the handle. Your back is flat and proud, not rounded.
- The Drive: This is the power phase. Explosively push through your legs, extending them. Once your legs are nearly straight, swing your torso back by engaging your core, and finally, pull the handle to your lower chest with your arms.
- The Finish: Your legs are extended, your torso is leaning back slightly (at about an 11 o’clock position), and the handle is touching your sternum. Your shoulders should be down and back, not hunched.
- The Recovery: This is the rest phase. Extend your arms away from your body, hinge your torso forward from the hips, and then bend your knees to slide back up the slide to the catch position. The recovery should be about twice as long as the drive.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Using arms too early: The legs should always initiate the movement.
- Rounded back: Maintain a strong, neutral spine throughout the entire stroke.
- Racing up the slide: The recovery should be slow and controlled. A faster recovery does not mean a faster split time.
Sample Workouts:
- For Beginners: 20 minutes steady state. Row at a comfortable pace where you can hold a conversation (Rate: 20-24 strokes per minute).
- For Intensity: 8 x 500 meters with 60 seconds of rest between intervals. Focus on powerful drives and a controlled recovery.
- For Endurance: 30-40 minutes of continuous rowing, focusing on consistent split times and technique.
The Assault Bike (Air Bike)
The Assault Bike, and its cousins the Echo Bike and AirDyne, is the masochist’s choice for a reason. It’s brutal, humbling, and unbelievably effective. Unlike a stationary bike, the air bike has moving handles, meaning your upper body is just as involved as your lower body.
Why It’s Underrated: The level of discomfort on an air bike is immediate and intense. People often avoid it because it exposes their fitness level honestly—there’s no hiding. However, this is also its greatest strength: it delivers a metabolic punch unlike any other machine.
Primary Muscles Worked: Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, calves, shoulders, chest, back, and arms. It is the definition of a full-body cardio burner.
How to Use It with Proper Form:
- Setup: Adjust the seat so your knee has a slight bend at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
- Posture: Sit tall with your chest up and core engaged. Avoid hunching over.
- Movement: The motion is a push-pull with the arms coordinated with the legs. As you push down with your right leg, you pull toward you with your left arm, and vice versa. It should feel like a full-body rhythmic effort, not a disjointed arm and leg movement.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Gripping the handles too tightly: This can fatigue your forearms quickly. Think of hooking the handles with your fingers.
- Rounding the back: Maintain an athletic, engaged torso to protect your spine and generate more power.
- Pacing too high for too long: The air bike is best used for intervals. Going all-out for more than a few minutes is a recipe for quick exhaustion.
Sample Workouts:
- The Classic Interval: 20 seconds of all-out max effort, followed by 40 seconds of rest. Repeat for 8-12 rounds.
- The Calorie Crusher: 10 rounds of: Max Calories in 60 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of rest.
- The Long Burn: 5 minutes on, 2 minutes off. Repeat 3-4 times. Hold a challenging but sustainable pace for the 5-minute work period.
The SkiErg
Modeled after the motion of cross-country skiing, the SkiErg is a vertical pulling machine that has gained popularity in CrossFit boxes but remains a mystery to the general gym population. It builds an incredible upper back and delivers a unique cardiovascular challenge.
Why It’s Underrated: It looks simple but is highly technical. The learning curve can deter people, but mastering the rhythm is incredibly rewarding and delivers a cardio experience focused on the posterior chain and pulling muscles, which is a great counterbalance to the pushing dominance in most gym routines.
Primary Muscles Worked: Latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, rear deltoids, triceps, core, and to a lesser degree, quadriceps and glutes as you engage your legs to drive the movement.
How to Use It with Proper Form:
- Stance: Stand facing the machine with feet shoulder-width apart. Reach up and grab the handles with an overhand grip.
- The Sequence: It is a rhythmic, wave-like motion.
- Start tall with arms fully extended overhead.
- Initiate the pull by quickly hinging at the hips and bending your knees (similar to a slight squat), simultaneously pulling the ropes down with straight arms, engaging your lats.
- As the handles pass your face, continue the pull by bending your elbows, driving the hands down to your thighs.
- Return to the start by smoothly reversing the motion: extend your arms, then stand up tall to reach overhead again.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Using only arms: The power comes from the hip hinge and leg drive. Your arms are the finishing agents.
- Shallow range of motion: Make sure to fully extend overhead at the top and fully finish the pull at the bottom.
- Jerky movements: The ideal SkiErg stroke is a smooth, continuous, powerful wave.
Sample Workouts:
- Technique Practice: 5 minutes of easy skiing, focusing entirely on the wave-like rhythm and connection between hips and pull.
- Interval Sprints: 30 seconds of hard skiing, 30 seconds of rest. Repeat 10 times.
- Distance Challenge: Ski 2000 meters for time, holding a consistent pace.
Jacobs Ladder
This intimidating, continuously climbing ladder is a relic that has stood the test of time because it is brutally effective. It is a self-powered climbing machine where the speed is determined entirely by your effort.
Why It’s Underrated: It’s not a common machine, and its old-school, industrial look can be off-putting. Furthermore, it is exceptionally demanding. It requires significant grip strength, full-body coordination, and mental fortitude. Those who avoid it are missing out on a unparalleled low-impact, high-intensity workout.
Primary Muscles Worked: The entire posterior chain (calves, hamstrings, glutes, erector spinae), latissimus dorsi, grip and forearm muscles, core, and shoulders.
How to Use It with Proper Form:
- Grip: Use an alternating grip on the rungs. Your grip strength will be a limiting factor, so consider using weightlifting straps for longer sessions.
- Posture: Maintain a neutral spine. Avoid the temptation to round your back as you fatigue.
- Movement: It is a climbing motion. Drive through your legs and use your arms to pull your body slightly closer to the machine, coordinating your limbs in an alternating pattern. The machine will move faster as you push and pull harder.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Hanging on with straight arms: This turns it into a passive leg exercise and can strain your shoulders. Engage your back and arms to actively pull yourself up.
- Looking down: Keep your head up and gaze forward to maintain spinal alignment.
- Letting the machine control you: You control the pace. Find a rhythm you can sustain.
Sample Workouts:
- Grip and Glory: Climb for 5 minutes straight, focusing on consistent pacing. This is a major win for grip and cardio endurance.
- Vertical Intervals: 2 minutes of hard climbing, 1 minute of rest (stepping off onto the side platforms). Repeat 5 times.
- The Finisher: After your regular workout, hop on Jacobs Ladder for 3-5 all-out minutes to completely empty your tank.
The StepMill (Stepper)
Not to be confused with the smaller, less intense steppers, the StepMill is the escalator-like machine that seems to ascend into eternity. It is a relentless test of lower-body muscular endurance and cardiovascular capacity.
Why It’s Underrated: It is often perceived as monotonous and brutally difficult—which it can be. However, it is one of the best glute and hamstring developers in the cardio room and provides a high-intensity workout with zero impact on the joints, making it a fantastic alternative for those with knee, hip, or ankle issues who cannot run.
Primary Muscles Worked: Glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, and core for stabilization.
How to Use It with Proper Form:
- Posture: Stand tall with your chest up and shoulders back. Avoid leaning heavily on the handrails.
- Foot Placement: Place your entire foot on each step. Avoid letting your heels hang off, which can strain the Achilles tendon.
- Movement: Drive through the heel of the front foot to engage the glutes and hamstrings. Step lightly and deliberately. Use the handrails for balance only, not to support your body weight.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Hunching over and pulling on the rails: This takes the work away from your legs and can lead to back strain. If you need to hold on, do so lightly and maintain an upright torso.
- Shallow steps: Make sure to step fully onto each step to ensure stability and proper muscle engagement.
- Going too fast with poor form: It’s better to use a slower speed with full, powerful steps than to skip steps and use momentum.
Sample Workouts:
- The Incline Sprint: 1 minute at a challenging speed, followed by 1 minute at a very slow recovery pace. Repeat for 15-20 minutes.
- The Ladder: Start at speed level 5 for 2 minutes, then move to 6 for 2 minutes, up to level 10, then work your way back down.
- The Long Haul: 30-45 minutes at a steady, conversational pace. This is excellent for building a massive aerobic base.
Integrating These Machines into Your Routine
You don’t need to abandon the treadmill entirely. Instead, use these machines to create a more well-rounded weekly schedule. For example:
- Monday: Rowing Machine (20-30 mins steady state)
- Tuesday: StepMill (Interval workout)
- Wednesday: Rest or Active Recovery
- Thursday: Assault Bike (HIIT Session)
- Friday: SkiErg or Jacobs Ladder (Technique and endurance)
- Weekend: Outdoor run or other activity
This approach ensures you’re working your body in different planes of motion, challenging your energy systems in unique ways, and building a truly comprehensive, resilient fitness profile.
Conclusion
The path to peak fitness and sustained motivation is paved with variety. By venturing beyond the familiar belt of the treadmill and embracing the unique challenges of the rower, the assault bike, the SkiErg, Jacobs Ladder, and the StepMill, you open the door to a higher level of athletic performance. These underrated machines offer the key to balanced muscle development, superior caloric expenditure, joint-friendly training options, and the mental engagement that comes from mastering a new skill. So the next time you walk into the gym, skip the wait for the treadmill and discover the untapped potential waiting on the other side of the cardio room. Your body and your fitness results will thank you for it.
SOURCES
American Council on Exercise. (2014). ACE lifestyle & weight management consultant manual. American Council on Exercise.
Bell, G. J., & Syrotuik, D. (2018). The physiological effects of concurrent strength and endurance training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 32(3), 831–842.
Bishop, D. (2019). The science of HIIT: Understanding the acute and chronic adaptations to high-intensity interval training. Sports Medicine, 49(Suppl 1), 1–3.
Garber, C. E., Blissmer, B., Deschenes, M. R., Franklin, B. A., Lamonte, M. J., Lee, I., Nieman, D. C., & Swain, D. P. (2011). Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: Guidance for prescribing exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(7), 1334–1359.
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Schoenfeld, B., & Dawes, J. (2020). High-intensity interval training: Applications for general fitness training. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 42(6), 145-152.
Thompson, W. R. (Ed.). (2021). ACSM’s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
HISTORY
Current Version
Sep 1, 2025
Written By:
SUMMIYAH MAHMOOD