FitSugar

The Best Way to Get Up

FitSugar — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0700

A new initiative from New York City Health Commissioner, Thomas Farley, is encouraging people to get off of elevators and take the stairs. I think it's great since taking the stairs is an easy first step to a healthier you. Take my quiz and test your knowledge of this heart healthy alternative to the elevator.

Question 1 of 5

What year was the StairMaster introduced?

Short on Gym Time? Be a Two-Timer

FitSugar — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:30:00 -0700

Climbing stairs instead of taking the elevator is a great way to add quick bursts of exercise to your day, and here's a new twist on stair stepping: When climbing up, take the stairs two at a time. The effect is like combining the StairMaster and lunges. Really focus on the back of your leg and your booty as you climb. Think of your hamstrings and glutes pushing you up, rather than your quads pulling you up the stair. I think it feels great, but if you feel it in your knees you might just want to give this move a miss.

When it comes to taking the stairs, don't forget there are benefits to going down them as well!

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Green Exercise: Run Stairs With a Medicine Ball

FitSugar — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:30:00 -0800

Using the stairs instead of the elevator is a great way to burn some extra calories while on the go, but you can also use your stairs at home for working out. It's a perfect way to get your heart rate up in the Winter without having to brave the cold, not to mention it's completely free. While trudging up and down stairs is itself a major workout for your legs, you can work your upper body too by holding a weighted medicine ball ($17). If you don't have a ball, use a set of dumbbells or a kettlebell.

Just hold the weight in front of your chest, or straighten your arms over your head for a real challenge, and go up and down the flight of stairs 10 times. When going up the stairs, skip every other step to make it even more difficult for your quads and booty. Move at a slower pace as you go down the stairs to prevent putting too much pressure on your knees. Not only does this workout require no electricity, but it's also a great way to warm up without having to turn up the heat in your home. Two green reasons rolled up in one great exercise.

Another Reason to Climb Stairs: It Prolongs Your Life

FitSugar — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:00:00 -0700

I see almost every staircase as a personal challenge, and as a result I love to take the stairs. Not only are these brief bits of cardio a great way to burn some extra calories throughout your day, Swiss researchers believe that taking the stairs can prolong your life. Their recent research indicates that taking the stairs regularly can reduce your risk of dying prematurely by 15 percent.

Sixty-nine self-described sedentary hospital workers volunteered for the study and were asked to exclusively use stairs and skip the elevator while at work. Over the course of the 12 week study, the volunteers improved their lung capacity, blood pressure, and cholesterol measurements. Plus they lost weight, and their body fat as well as waist measurements also decreased. The added and most expected bonus of taking the stairs was that their capacity for doing aerobic exercise improved. All this adds up statistically to decreasing the chance of premature death by 15 percent, and to me that is reason enough to take the stairs. How about you?

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Building Incentive to Take the Stairs

FitSugar — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:30:00 -0700

It's certainly no secret that I'm a big fan of taking the stairs. And more and more, it seems that architects are becoming fans too. First, I heard about skip-stop elevators, which stop at every other floor with stairs filling in the gaps. Now, the latest issue of Metropolis magazine has a cool profile of designer Bruce Fowle, who focuses on
new ways to encourage stair-climbing through architecture.

Fowle believes that if you make stairways accessible and inviting - as opposed to gray, dark, and closed-off - people will be more apt to take them. For the new New York Times building, Fowle included centrally located fire stairs and bright-red open stairwells on the building's windowed corners.

For more on how Fowle makes buildings stair-friendly, read more

Though Fowle has employed a number of different tactics, all of his designs focus on getting people walking around and enjoying natural light. Not only can this keep employees healthier, but it also encourages them to interact more. From the Metropolis story:

Fowle has crafted sunlit staircases to be places where people will gravitate, both to circulate and to socialize. He envisions the stairs inside his buildings functioning the way the front stoop does in an urban neighborhood.

People will naturally choose stairs over elevators, the thinking goes, if you locate them conveniently and treat them as avenues for spontaneous encounters.

It sure beats trudging up a cement stairway lit by fluorescent lights! What do you think: Would sunnier, more accessible stairwells encourage you to take the stairs more?

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Be a Two Timer

FitSugar — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:00:00 -0800

You all know I am crazy about taking the stairs. Climbing stairs instead of taking the elevator is a great way to add quick bursts of exercise to your day. Well here's a new twist on stair stepping: When climbing up, take the stairs two at a time. The effect is like combining the StairMaster (everyone's beloved cardio machine - not) and lunges. Really focus on the back of your leg and your booty as you climb. Think of your hamstrings and glutes pushing you up, rather than your quads pulling you up the steps. I think it feels great, but if you feel it in your knees you might just want to give this move a miss.

When it comes to taking the stairs, don't forget there are benefits to going down them as well!

Source

The Benefits of Going Down

FitSugar — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:30:00 -0800

You all know I am avid about walking up the stairs whenever I can, but I just learned the benefits of going down the stairs. Surprisingly, walking down stairs or even downhill reduces blood-sugar levels more than walking uphill. What a pleasant surprise! Having lower-blood sugar levels can help reduce your risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Walking up stairs is a good cardiovascular workout, but going both up and down stairs will help lower your LDL (aka bad) cholesterol. So don't skip doing down the stairs.

The only downside of going down, is that it can be hard on your knees. Walking down stairs and hills uses your leg muscles in an eccentric or lengthened position, which can strain the knee joint. Also, it is easier to trip on the way down so keep your eyes on the stairs.

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Green Exercise: Do the Stairs

FitSugar — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:00:00 -0800

For many people, when the temperature turns chilly, running outside really is no longer an option. Joining a gym working out on cardio equipment is a viable option, but one of the reasons I love running outdoors is that it doesn't use electricity, so it keeps my carbon footprint just a little bit smaller.

How about using the stairs in your home, apartment or office building? It may seem a little silly at first, but it's really a great way to exercise your heart and lungs, and it tones and strengthens your lower body too.

Try these variations:

Walk up and down the stairs.
Sprint up and down the stairs.
Run up, walk down.
Walk up, run down.
Walk up the stairs, skipping every other step.
Do squat lunges (where you bend and then straighten your front knee) to strengthen your quads and bum.
Hold lunges to stretch your hip flexors.
Place your left leg on the ground at the bottom of the stairs, and your right heel on the third, fourth or fifth step (depending how flexible you are). Keep your right leg straight, fold your torso towards your right knee and stretch your right hamstring.

Fit's Tips: If you don't have stairs in your home, do the stairs during your lunch hour at your office.

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You Asked: Are Short Bursts of Exercise Beneficial?

FitSugar — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:45:00 -0800

You're asking and I'm answering...

Dear Fit,
I've heard that you need to do at least 15 minutes of cardio to reap the calorie-burning and heart benefits. Is that a myth? If it's true, how is it that taking the stairs or jumping rope for five minutes can help burn calories?
Concerned About Calories

The short answer: Take the stairs; it is worth it.

The long answer goes like this:

Let me start this answer by saying that the new exercise guidelines, created by the American College of Sports Medicine in conjunction with the American Heart Association, recommends that we all get 30 minutes of accumulated moderate intensity exercise daily. You can, as your schedule permits, break up your moderate activity, meaning you feel warm and slightly out of breath, into shorter increments. Shorter increments tend to be 10 to 15 minutes, but taking the stairs or jumping rope for five minutes will surely benefit your heart and help you burn calories. In fact, a new study estimates that seven minutes of stair climbing everyday can reduce your risk of developing heart disease by about 60 percent.

On the timing issue, the body revs up to respond to exercise after about two minutes of activity. The body responds by using energy (aka burning calories) and generally uses carbohydrates as fuel first, then fats, and finally proteins. Since your body is burning calories all the time, when you increase the amount of oxygen your muscles need by climbing the stairs or jumping rope, you are burning more calories. Plus you burn extra calories during your recovery period (as your heart rate normalizes) too.

As for quick bursts of exercise, they are beneficial just like interval training, when you mix up intensities during cardio. You are walking along burning some calories; then you climb 6 flights of stairs. You are taxing your muscles and your heart and burning up to 36 percent more calories than you would by just walking on flat terrain, or standing and waiting for the elevator.

So five minutes here and ten minutes there...it all adds up, and it all counts.

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You Asked: Why Is Stair Climbing So Difficult?

FitSugar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:30:00 -0700

You are asking and I'm answering...
Dear FitSugar,
I walk up six flight of stairs to teach a class – I'm a university TA. I climb these stairs at least three times a week and I am always out of breath by the time I reach the top. I am an active person and run regularly. What gives?
– Breathless Betty

I too am always amazed how out of breath I become when climbing the six flights of stairs to the office. Stair climbing seems to really tax my cardiovascular system and I run regularly too.

The main difference between running and climbing stairs is gravity. As you climb up those stairs you are fighting gravity, which really can be a force to reckon with. You are carrying your body weight against gravity, and that is also why climbing real stairs is harder than using a stair stepper machine at the gym, too. When using those machines you are using the power of your legs to push the stair down not to pull yourself up against gravity. Even celeb trainer Bob Greene agrees with me on this one. Plus, you are probably carrying a backpack or book bag with you up those stairs which you don't ordinarily have on your regular runs.

So think about it. Can you imagine running up a hill that is six stories high? Plus, the incline of stairs is steeper than most hills we climb (unless you live here in SF because we have some doozies). To make your regular stair climb easier, you should run hills or workout on stairs by climbing more flights than you do in your regular climb. While it seems somewhat counter intuitive to train hard aerobically to tackle your daily stair climb, cardio workouts do make the activities of our daily lives easier. Training sprints has made running after my girls so much easier.

Keep climbing!

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