Stair climbing

Spiderpug

With the nights closing in it won't be safe to go out walking/running alone so thought i would climb stairs in the house on a couple of eves?
Anyone done this and any advice ie short time and quicker or longer time and slower?

Lounmoun

I walk in my house. I sometimes climb stairs but don't just go up and down the stairs repeatedly.

goldthistime

I've done stair climbing as my cardio with great success. I've varied in my approach depending upon how fit I was. At my least fit I've done sets of 5 with very long rests in between, (which might mean I did as little as 2 sets that day), starting off with some pep in my step but by the 4th or 5th flight of stairs I was basically walking up. At my most fit I did 100+ flights at a time, three times a week. Obviously there were lots of days that I was in the middle of those two. I haven't used stairs in my exercise routine for the last year or two because of some hip problems I was having (not caused by the stair climbing btw). You've motivated me to try them again. I found them a great way to get your heart rate up and keep it up in a short period of time. Jump rope in the basement is another good one.

Machka9

I climb stairs regularly at work. At times I have been up to 40 flights of 20 stairs. Right now I am at 20 flights of 20 stairs.

I log the calories at 30 cal per 5 flights of 20 stairs.

NorthCascades

I only tackle stairs when they're in my way.

You can get some lights and continue walking it running outdoors.

BrianSharpe

NorthCascades wrote: »

I only tackle stairs when they're in my way.

You can get some lights and continue walking it running outdoors.

Agreed, I have a Petzl headlamp that lights up the darker paths or can go on blink mode if I'm running on sidewalks and I re-purpose one of my bike lights to have a red flashing light showing to the rear. I also wear running gear that has lots of reflective material (there's a company called noxgear that makes an LED running/walking/cycling vest - they even make them for dogs for walking when it's dark)

sgt1372

FWIW, I think that it would be incredibly tedious and boring to climb up and down just 1 flight of stairs in a house over and over again.

IMO, better to get a spin bike or rower to use instead, if you don't want to go out in the dark and/or the cold/rain as the season & weather changes.

H_Ock12

Have you checked out YouTube for a cardio circuit you could do? I feel like stair climbing with only one set of stairs would be very boring. Also, depending on where you live or work...Parking Decks are great well-lit places to run or walk as the days shorten, just get permission from the owners of the deck if you don't have a public deck nearby.

Machka9

sgt1372 wrote: »

FWIW, I think that it would be incredibly tedious and boring to climb up and down just 1 flight of stairs in a house over and over again.

That's a benefit of doing it at work.

First, the flights are 20 steps long ... in homes, they're often les than that.

Second, I can do 10 flights at a time, in just a few minutes on a coffee break. I need to get up and move now and then anyway.

So I climb to my floor in the morning and when I come in from lunch, and then I do however many flights I want to do mid-morning and mid-afternoon.


Plus, of course, that's not all I do ... there's a lot of walking and cycling year round, mainly outside, but also sometimes inside.

sgt1372

Machka9 wrote: »

sgt1372 wrote: »

FWIW, I think that it would be incredibly tedious and boring to climb up and down just 1 flight of stairs in a house over and over again.

That's a benefit of doing it at work.

That's great but I was speaking to the OP of this thread who said s/he was going to climb up and down the single flight of stairs in her home in order to avoid going out at night.

Personally, I'd rather use a StairMaster and that's, in fact what I do.

1-2 30 min sessions at a time but I'm working my way up to 60 mins straight which better replicates my 2 mile & 1k ft elevation hill climbs on hikes in local parks near my home.

feisty_bucket

You could do the stairs like that, but it sounds really tedious. Unless you have many, many stairs? You said "house" but maybe you mean apartment complex which is a lot more pleasant, IMO.

Anyways, assuming few stairs: I'd do a round of stair sprints and then some Burpees and Squat Thrusters (if you've got dumbbells). Rotate through all three as intervals, for however long. That'd be a good workout.

Machka9

If it is a situation where there's one flight of stairs in a house, I might do that maybe 10 times ... but then I'd start to look for stairs or hill climbs elsewhere.

Nightgrl1980

I have done the stairs. Usually I warm up by casually walking up and down the stairs for 5 minutes then I would alternate stair climbing and strength training in the following sequence:

Sprint stairs one stair at a time x 3 minutes
Strength training circuit comprised of 3 exercises performed for 1 minute each with 30 second break between each exercise (see below)
Climb two stairs at a time x 3 minutes
Repeat same strength training exercises as above
Sideways lunges up the stairs (leading with one leg for a flight then the other)
Repeat same strength training exercises

Then I repeat the same cycle alternating stair climbing with a set of three different strength training exercises.

exercises for the strength training intervals could include: squats, pushups, wall sits, lunges, free weight exercises, core exercises, or whatever else you might enjoy.