Stair Climbing: A Fast, Efficient Anti-Aging Workout
Walks are wonderful, relaxing and invigorating, but if you want to kick butt, literally — building strong glutes and thighs, strengthening your core, which helps improve posture and tighten abs, and stepping up your cardiovascular fitness quickly and efficiently, try stair climbing. Wayne Wescott, PhD, exercise physiologist and author of Get Stronger, Feel Younger (Rodale Press) says it’s one of the more vigorous cardiovascular workouts you can do.
Of course, Sylvester Stallone became the icon of stair climbing workouts when he portrayed Rocky scaling the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, something I naturally asked my walking tour participants to take a shot at when we visited the City of Brotherly Love a few years ago. Because you’re pushing your whole body weight up vertically you burn lots of calories and use up lots of energy quickly. I often advise flatlanders who want to take a hiking vacation to find some stairs in an office building or stadium to strengthen their legs and increase their endurance.
I don’t have stairs in my ranch house (except to the basement) but I have two stair workouts I like to “play” with. On one, I walk about two miles on a wooded path by the river to a triple flight of stairs that takes me onto a bridge where I can then double back to my car along shaded city streets. It’s my mini Mount Everest and it really perks up the entire workout. For a more steady and challenging stair workout I use the Stairmaster at the gym, the kind with an actual revolving staircase. In fact, I used it this morning. (It’s the one machine that is almost always free — because it is a challenge!) The trick is to start out slowly and find a pace that you can maintain without gasping for breath. I started at level one and moved up to level 4 and in 5 minutes my heart rate was in my target zone of 70% of maximum heart rate, a feat I rarely reach when walking on treadmill.
And you don’t have to plow away at those stairs for 30 minutes. As Dr. Wescott points out, it’s actually better if you break up a 30 minute workout into three 10-minute bouts. That’s because the body builds cardiovascular endurance during recovery mode. With three shorter workouts you have three recovery periods, rather than just one. And you will find the workout much less daunting!
The good thing about both these workouts I do is that neither of them requires me to go down stairs, which can be quite hard on your joints, ligaments and tendons. And since I do have arthritis in both knees, I know how painful going down can be. In an office building, you could climb up the stairs and recover taking the elevator down again. Then make another ascent! While waiting for the elevator, and any time your heart rate is elevated from vigorous exercise, be sure to walk around to ease yourself back into recovery mode. (When I hike in Switzerland, I use walking poles which really help take the weight off my knees going downhill.)
Here are some other tips from Dr. Wescott:
1. Wear running or cross training shoes for good support. (Good walking shoes would also work.) You can save your knee joints from damage by wearing the right shoes.
2. Warm up first for a few minutes by walking before you start your ascent or jump on a machine.
3. Stretch after your workout. (Not before.) Stretch your quadriceps, calves and hamstrings.
4. Lean slightly forward as you climb. But keep your back straight and your head in alignment.
5. Keep your knees soft. Don’t lock them out as you push up.
6. Try intervals. This is the perfect workout for interval training, which studies show gets you fit faster. Work hard, then back off a bit, then go for it again. This comes naturally with stair climbing as you tend to get out of breath anyway and need to kick back.
7. Drink up afterwards. This is a tough workout and you need to rehydrate.
8. Be careful going down. If you do have to walk down the stairs, take your time, step down deliberately and carefully and use the handrails to take pressure off your knees. Those with arthritis or other inflammation of the knee should avoid going downstairs if it’s painful.
While I love walking for regular exercise, I know how much effort it takes to get your heart rate up and burn extra calories once you get conditioned. It’s easier, mentally, for me to tackle some stairs to boost my heart rate than to focus on walking very fast, which takes a lot of concentration. Compare the calorie burn: in a 150 pound person, 10 minutes of moderately brisk, 3 mph walking burns about 40 calories, while 10 minutes of running up stairs burns 179 calories!
Note: Because stair climbing is a vigorous activity, be sure to check with your doctor to make certain you’re healthy enough to tackle vigorous exercise. And always warm up and cool down for 5 – 10 minutes before and after your workout.
The Anti-Aging Bottom Line: Walking is great exercise and is good for the mind, soul and body. But if you want to really challenge yourself and step up your fitness level, try an anti-aging stair climbing workout!
