The Context
In 1983, three engineers in Tulsa, Oklahoma built a rotating staircase machine and launched it at the National Sporting Goods Association show in Chicago. It became the StairMaster. By the late 1980s, the brand was so dominant that consumers used “StairMaster” as a generic term for all step climbers. Oprah called it “my little friend.” Gyms posted time limits on machines because the lines never stopped.
For the next 35 years, the fundamental mechanical design of the StairMaster stepmill stayed essentially the same.
The 10G changed that. It was the first complete ground-up engineering rebuild of the StairMaster stepper since the original machine launched. Not a console upgrade. Not a cosmetic refresh. A clean-sheet rebuild of every major system: the drivetrain, the step geometry, the handrail structure, and the training modes the machine was capable of delivering. For a piece of equipment that had defined an entire fitness category for nearly four decades, this was a significant moment.
What Changed
Previous Gauntlet models ran an alternator-based resistance system that required high RPM to generate resistance, creating friction that disadvantaged lighter users and limited what the machine could do mechanically. The 10G replaced it with an electronically controlled generator and brake system. Smoother, quieter, and responsive across a full range of user sizes.
The step surface became the widest and deepest in the industry: 12 inches deep by 22 inches wide, with a 9-inch step-up height. The handrails were rebuilt from scratch to support multiple climbing positions, including the forward push position required by the machine’s entirely new training mode.
That training mode was OverDrive.
OverDrive Training Mode
OverDrive was not an incremental feature. It introduced two functional strength movements into stair climbing for the first time: sled push and farmer’s carry.
In sled push mode, the user leans forward into the redesigned handrails and drives upward as if pushing a loaded sled uphill. In farmer’s carry mode, the user climbs while holding a loaded carry position, engaging the shoulders, core, and upper body simultaneously with the legs. Both modes converted what had always been a lower body cardio machine into a full-body training tool, placing the 10G directly at the intersection of cardio and functional training.
This was not possible on any previous StairMaster model. The redesigned handrail geometry and the new generator-based drivetrain were prerequisites for OverDrive to work. The machine had to be rebuilt before the training mode could exist.
Official brand language positioned it plainly: “StairMaster invented the stepper category and redefined it with the 10G, which is the most intense stair-climbing machine ever built.”
The Campaign
To launch the 10G, StairMaster partnered with Rea Kolbl: a 3-time 24-hour OCR Ultra World Champion, back-to-back Spartan Ultra World Champion, and one of only two women to have won both the Spartan Ultra Championship and World’s Toughest Mudder. Kolbl holds a degree in Physics and Astrophysics from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford. She is undefeated in any obstacle course race 30 miles or longer.
Her sport requires carrying sandbags and loaded objects up hills and over obstacles. The OverDrive Training Mode simulates exactly that. The partnership was not a celebrity lifestyle endorsement. It was a direct functional match between an elite endurance athlete whose training demands align precisely with what the machine uniquely delivers.
Kolbl’s response to the 10G was direct: “The amount of power I had to put down was insane.”
The launch received trade press coverage across Athletic Business, Club Industry, American Spa, Leisure Opportunities, and Sports Management, with Gronk Fitness Products subsequently carrying the 10G in its commercial lineup.
The Work
Video Production
All video editing for the 10G launch was handled by Robert Pallister, founder of Fourside Studios,, working as an embedded member of the brand’s production team. This included the OverDrive Introduction and the campaign Sizzle Video. This included being on set during the production shoot to assist and capture behind the scenes content, then taking all footage through the full post-production pipeline.
One shot was missed during the production day. Rather than schedule a reshoot, the missing element was rebuilt entirely in 3D and composited seamlessly into the final edit. The finished video shows no gap. That kind of recovery in post is what keeps a production on schedule and on budget when something does not go as planned on set.
Published Videos:
- OverDrive Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adhxt4F2d9c — 6,792 views, 28 likes
- Sizzle Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enr3WGPtrLs — 2,696 views, 12 likes
3D Product Rendering and Lifestyle Imagery
Alongside the video work, Robert Pallister, founder of Fourside Studios, produced 3D product renders and lifestyle imagery for the 10G. This was also the beginning of building out a formal 3D rendering pipeline within the marketing team, establishing a repeatable production process for high-quality product visuals that the brand could carry forward across future launches.
The Takeaway
The 10G was the most significant product moment in StairMaster’s history since the original machine launched. The founder of Fourside Studios contributed at every stage of the visual output: on set, in the edit, and in 3D. When a gap appeared in the footage, it was closed in post before it ever became a problem. When the marketing team needed a 3D capability it did not have, he built it.
Production Credits
- Editor: Robert Pallister (Fourside Studios)
- Videographer: Simeon Muller
- Lighting: Brandon Daniel
- Creative Director: Leslie Marois
Work completed as part of an ongoing engagement with the brand. Portfolio use approved.