Want a booty kickin exercise...

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AmyBrenn
AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Without any fancy equipment? Try running stairs! (And I use the term running loosely). OMG! I was needing a good workout for my T,Th mornings because I HATE cardio machines but need the cardio burn. I've been running in the mornings, but I've become too efficient at it and found myself not willing to push myself. Plus, my shins are killing me. So, I decided to run the stairs in my office building. I should preface this by saying that we have a gym on the 13th floor of my office (top floor) so I'm able to shower and get ready for work there. Last Thursday, I told myself I would go up and down the 13 floors two times. I started off bounding up the steps. imagining myself as a gazelle leaping gracefully across the Savannah, until, ohhh, about the 5th floor when I had to stop, bend over and suck in air like I hadn't taken a breath for days, all the while waiting for the intense burning in my quads to subside. My visions of gazelles quickly turned into images of water buffalos giving birth. I made it to the top floor, gasping and panting like the afore mentioned water buffalo, and again had to suck wind and drink about a gallon of water. Round two wasn't any easier and just for spite (of myself), I did it one more time for a total of 39 floors! For the next few days, my calves screamed each time I took a step. I think they were saying something like "listen heifer, we're gonna go postal on your a** if you do that again." It was awesome.

Today, I aimed for 4 times, up and down, for a total of 52 floors. By the fourth time, my legs were as wobbly as noodles but I made it. It took me two minutes going down and three minutes going up. I plug my headphones into my ears and rock out to a hodge-podge of different songs. I love passing people on the stairwell (and they are few and far between) as they make their way down a flight with coffee and donut in hand. It's such a good cardio burn and I don't even have to be going fast. I have vowed to do this routine on T and Th for the entire month of March. Hopefully, by then, my gazelles will reappear and quickly get devoured by the lioness within me. :)

BTW, I'm making this my blog today too. I think I got carried away with my story. I was just going to post that running stairs is an awesome workout!
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  • AmyBrenn
    AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
    Options
    Without any fancy equipment? Try running stairs! (And I use the term running loosely). OMG! I was needing a good workout for my T,Th mornings because I HATE cardio machines but need the cardio burn. I've been running in the mornings, but I've become too efficient at it and found myself not willing to push myself. Plus, my shins are killing me. So, I decided to run the stairs in my office building. I should preface this by saying that we have a gym on the 13th floor of my office (top floor) so I'm able to shower and get ready for work there. Last Thursday, I told myself I would go up and down the 13 floors two times. I started off bounding up the steps. imagining myself as a gazelle leaping gracefully across the Savannah, until, ohhh, about the 5th floor when I had to stop, bend over and suck in air like I hadn't taken a breath for days, all the while waiting for the intense burning in my quads to subside. My visions of gazelles quickly turned into images of water buffalos giving birth. I made it to the top floor, gasping and panting like the afore mentioned water buffalo, and again had to suck wind and drink about a gallon of water. Round two wasn't any easier and just for spite (of myself), I did it one more time for a total of 39 floors! For the next few days, my calves screamed each time I took a step. I think they were saying something like "listen heifer, we're gonna go postal on your a** if you do that again." It was awesome.

    Today, I aimed for 4 times, up and down, for a total of 52 floors. By the fourth time, my legs were as wobbly as noodles but I made it. It took me two minutes going down and three minutes going up. I plug my headphones into my ears and rock out to a hodge-podge of different songs. I love passing people on the stairwell (and they are few and far between) as they make their way down a flight with coffee and donut in hand. It's such a good cardio burn and I don't even have to be going fast. I have vowed to do this routine on T and Th for the entire month of March. Hopefully, by then, my gazelles will reappear and quickly get devoured by the lioness within me. :)

    BTW, I'm making this my blog today too. I think I got carried away with my story. I was just going to post that running stairs is an awesome workout!
  • pooh70
    pooh70 Posts: 38 Member
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    OMG Thank you, that was priceless. We only have one flight of stairs at work, but I think if I started trying to run them the other employees might fall down laughing. :laugh:

    Good luck on finding your inner gazelle!! Maybe by the end of the month some of your fellow employees will put down their donuts and join you.
  • Chellekk
    Chellekk Posts: 421 Member
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    Carried away? NO WAY!! :smile:

    PS. I used to run ONE stair. Sounds so sad compared to the many floors you ran. But here's the idea:
    A gym buddy and myself would go out to the stair well and time each other. 30 secs on and the swap. You have to run the stair (one foot up, second foot up, one foot down, second down) as fast as you can until you hear STOP. I think we'd do that 10 times each. ?? Maybe less in the beginning and then worked up to more reps and seconds. OMG...what a work out and yep...I remember my calves screaming.

    I should do that again and find my gazelle!
  • AmyLou9903
    AmyLou9903 Posts: 73
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    In college, my roommates and I often would take the stairs. We figured it was a way to counteract our weekend binging on food and drinks. . . and we did live on the 8th floor.

    I wish we had big hills around here or stairs so I could do this too! Our stairway, you have to duck, and I can imagine myself attempting to behead myself by accident!
  • moniike1
    moniike1 Posts: 20
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    hey the people i work with are teachers and i am a kindergarten assistant (forgive all my lowercase it is a form of rebellion) hehe i eat a qiuck low cal lunch and off to the stairwell(15-20 steps) I run jog as many times as possible before i get my kids from the cafeteria. Well i do have my ears plugged with music (soulja boy) i do this maybe too much anyway today one of the preschoolers asked why i was doing that i told him to get stronger and another little boy saw my bright red sansa clip and he asked me if that was my heart how funny this week is our last weigh in and i have to really hump it Friday here i come! i got up at 3:55 this morning to do a spinning class I had sweat dripping off my nose in 15 minutes of work there have been boys instructing my last two spinning classes i burned way more cals than usual
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    love runnin stairs....ever wonder why the stair master is usually open at the gym? it is a booty kicker!
  • jessmomof3
    jessmomof3 Posts: 4,590 Member
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    I love running stairs!! My running buddies were training for the Hussle up the Hancock (building in Chicago) so I did some training with them. We went to a university dorm, the tallest one around here (26 flights of stairs) and would go around 5AM. (of course, college kids, no one is up then! :laugh: ) We'd do them twice (once all the way up and back down and all the way up and back down again). It is a KILLER workout!! 26 flights... you were dying by the time you got to the top! :laugh:
  • AmyBrenn
    AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
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    love runnin stairs....ever wonder why the stair master is usually open at the gym? it is a booty kicker!

    I prefer the Stepmill to the Stairmaster. Those things are like a never ending escalator.
  • AmyBrenn
    AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
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    Whew! So I threw in a little more to my stair routine. My building actually has 14 floors. There's one flight that leads down to the parking garage. I thought to myself this morning that I should add that floor in as well. Since I'd never been down there, I did a little exploring and saw the parking garage and thought, I should run around it and then do stairs. So...I did. I went up and then down the stairs and ran two laps around the garage. I did this three times, the stairs four. I'd say, all in all, it was just under 1 mile of running and 56 floors. Also, on my last set of stairs, I decided to bound (like that gazelle) up them. I had to stop every other floor to catch my breath, but I made myself bound up them. What a freaking awesome workout! I was sweating and panting hard afterwards.

    An added bonus is that my pants are starting to fit a little looser!
  • AmyBrenn
    AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
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    I'm up to five times up and down the stairs, still with two laps around the garage in between. I alternate between running and walking up the stairs. Trips 1,3 and 5, I run (having to stop every third or fourth floor to suck wind) and trips 2 and 4, I walk steadily up with no breaks. Got my heart rate monitor working again and finally got to see the calorie burn. 653 calories baby! For 40 minutes of exercise, that's pretty dang good.

    I started this routine to get ready for a grueling 60 mile mountain bike ride in Arkansas. Did the ride last weekend, and could totally tell a difference in leg strength and cardio fitness. I blogged about it if anyone's interested.
  • miasuperstar
    miasuperstar Posts: 112
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    I'm up to five times up and down the stairs, still with two laps around the garage in between. I alternate between running and walking up the stairs. Trips 1,3 and 5, I run (having to stop every third or fourth floor to suck wind) and trips 2 and 4, I walk steadily up with no breaks. Got my heart rate monitor working again and finally got to see the calorie burn. 653 calories baby! For 40 minutes of exercise, that's pretty dang good.

    I started this routine to get ready for a grueling 60 mile mountain bike ride in Arkansas. Did the ride last weekend, and could totally tell a difference in leg strength and cardio fitness. I blogged about it if anyone's interested.

    YOU GO GIRL!!!
  • meanness67
    meanness67 Posts: 366 Member
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    Did you see the episode of biggest loser this week and all the stairs they had to do...unreal!:sick:
  • AmyBrenn
    AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
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    Did you see the episode of biggest loser this week and all the stairs they had to do...unreal!:sick:

    I did! I love Tara! She kicks some serious *kitten*! And...I did think about my stair running while they were doing the stadium stairs. Awesome!
  • VballLeash
    VballLeash Posts: 2,456 Member
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    I run in my arena at school and theres also stairs there, the ones that are always there don't go very high but I run around and then go up them then run around and go up them again and twist around and such lol Anyways it's a great workout! Keep it up and I love Tara too, shes my favorite!

    ~Leash :heart:
  • becomingv
    becomingv Posts: 9
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    This is off topic, Amy, but your baby is sooooo cute! Gah. I'm such a mommy cooing over infants. I've got two teenagers now and miss that "little ones" stage.
  • wanderinglight
    wanderinglight Posts: 1,519 Member
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    LOVE this thread and Amy's original message was so funny I laughed out loud! We should all find our inner gazelle and outrun that water buffalo!

    I LOVE (and by love I mean HATE) running the stairs because it is SUCH a great workout and nothing else kicks my butt as much.

    Out here in Southern California there is a set of stairs by the Santa Monica beach that all the celebs use -- it's quite a scene and it's fantastic!! It's about six filghts. On any given day you'll see football players, Hooters girls, bikini models, soap opera stars and just regular old folks like me gasping and wheezing. Some run, some stagger, but everyone suffers. It's great because it's outside and the views are spectacular.

    And the bodies are so inspirational! I hadn't done them in almost three years and I did a few sets the other day and was dying. I'm going to try to do them once per week! Thanks for the inspiration!

    http://notfortourists.com/ViewRadar.aspx?radarID=21384&city=LA
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    What a wonderful read!! You rock girl!:glasses:
  • AmyBrenn
    AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
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    This is off topic, Amy, but your baby is sooooo cute! Gah. I'm such a mommy cooing over infants. I've got two teenagers now and miss that "little ones" stage.

    Thanks! I'm probably a tad bit biased, but I think he's probably the cutest baby in the world. :) His personality matches, which is a blessing. Very easy going baby and loves to be outdoors, like his parents!
  • rowerc2
    rowerc2 Posts: 158
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    Stairs are good but you might find after a while that your ankles/shins will start to get sore. In my mind, there is nothing more basic than going out for a morning run, and incorporating push ups and sit ups into your workouts.
  • AmyBrenn
    AmyBrenn Posts: 93 Member
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    Stairs are good but you might find after a while that your ankles/shins will start to get sore. In my mind, there is nothing more basic than going out for a morning run, and incorporating push ups and sit ups into your workouts.

    Actually, I found that it was the running that was making my shins and knees hurt. I do another routine on the other days that incorporates weight training in with cardio intervals. I can post up my "boot camp" routine if anyone's interested. It includes 60 pushups, squats, lunges, crunches, plie squats, bicep curls and tricep dips.

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