Doing Stairs
(17 posts) (9 voices)-
I'm intrigued by the thinking behind high intensity exercise as opposed to (or maybe, in tandem with) regular low-level distance aerobics of 30 or 40 min a day.
For a year I've been riding a stationery bike for about 45 min. in the morning... a sweat-pouring, burning ride. Every other day I do weight training with two 40 pound dumbells (curls, presses, Telemark squats, etc. But I've kind of plateaued at 200 lbs. (I'm afraid not enough of it muscle weight) and I was thinking of doing some 'stair jogging' since I work in a 12 story building.
Any thoughts on how to figure how much... how many... how long... in order to re-fire the fat burning mechanism?
Posted 4 months ago # -
MariaNYC
MemberI would do stair sprints instead of jogs. There was a thread today about evidence showing 4 to 6 30 second sprints (with enough recovery between them) are equivalent to or perhaps superior to 30-45 mins steady state cardio.
I sprint 5 flights in my building, at maximum effort. I imagine this is less than 30s, but those last few stairs are really hard, so this works for me...for now. Another thing, you should probably take the elevator back down, since walking down stairs is hard on the knees.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/topic/fat-loss-resistnace-training-vs-aerobic-exercise
Posted 4 months ago # -
Why is walking down stairs hard on the knees?
Posted 4 months ago # -
nina_70
MemberI second the idea of sprints. It will totally change-up your workout routine (= good for getting out of the plateau), only takes ~4 min to do and is very, very intense. Once a week should be fine. Start with 4-5 sprints the 1st time you do it, working up to a max. of 8 over time. 20-30 sec of sprinting (as hard as you can go), followed by recovery as you walk down the stairs. And...don't do any other exercise that day (believe me, sprints are enough). I definitely saw a change in my own body when hubby & I started sprinting once a week.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Juan
Member@BlazeKING
"abs are made in the kitchen" That's awesome! I hadn't heard that phrase before even though I've been involved in fitness for a long time.@chazglen
I'll add my support to the "sprints" rather than "jogs" camp. They are way harder and way more beneficial as regards fat-burning. The key will be the progression you use. Always go uphill to sprint.To progress slowly so that you actually do them will be probably the most important aspect. For example, at first, sprint ONE flight only ...but really haul ass. Then walk the next one, two, or three flights; whatever it takes to recover sufficiently to do another All-Out sprint for just ONE flight. Keep going for a while till you start to get the feel of it. So, maybe on week 1, it will be Sprint 1 flight, walk 2. and just do that till you're done. If you want to do another set, walk all the way down and start up again.
Then the following week, try Sprint 1, Walk 1, then the next week, or two weeks later, do S 2, W 1 or W2, then eventually you can get on to whatever rhythm you need till you are sprinting all the way up.
Just some suggestions to get the ideas rolling ...good luck with it.
Juan
Posted 4 months ago # -
MARIA:
I don't have anything but practical experience concerning WHY going up an incline is less stress on the knees than coming down. My body, however, knows the truth. I just turned 60. This past summer I decided I didn't want to go gentle into that good night and planned a solo, 5-day backpacking trip into the Cuillins (mountain range) on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. I was carrying a 50 pound pack. All day the weather was going from bad to worse and as I reached the top of one of the first peaks, it was blowing a gale. 60 mph winds, horizontal rain and bank after bank of clouds suddenly obliterating all visibility. I decided I had to bale. The 3200 feet I had just come up, now had to be got back down... each step pure torture as it slammed my knees and the wind kept knocking me off balance. That was in August and I still have trouble going down a flight of stairs without deep knee pain. I am a believer in exactly what you say... but don't really know why.Posted 4 months ago # -
MariaNYC
MemberRE: going down inclines, I just thought of this (pure conjecture) when imagining how things might have been in Grok's time. Obviously, no stairs. But if we imagine the side of a hill with an incline angle similar to modern staircases, I would bet Grok descended either sideways or backwards, to keep from falling flat on his face. It's the same in modern times on very steep hills.
I don't really have knee problems, but I definitely feel pain walking down the incline and/or steps when exiting a movie, for example. Something about the combination of the A/C and extra strain I feel from the suspension of my legs (I say extra because I am short, so my feet are often not squarely planted on the floor) for 2+ hours makes my knees stiff and sore.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Juan
MemberRe: going downhill, I'm not sure of the exact bio-mechanical issues involved but I do know that the so-called eccentric stresses on the muscles, and the gravitational stresses on the joints, are exponentially increased from the downward force vectors involved. The momentum of going downhill adds "gravities" to your own weight at each step. Plus, it is the most likely time that good form will be sacrificed. "You can't NOT have good form sprinting uphill", is an old saying for training. If you have ever run down a hill yourself, when not racing anyone, that is, you probably went in a zigzag fashion so the downward gravitational forces, focussing primarily on the knee area, are lessened. You can't realistically go in a wide zigzag on a set of stairs. So it's the knees and then the hips that take the beating going downhill!
Posted 4 months ago # -
For me, the uphill/downhill thing is a question of control. When I'm going up (against gravity) I feel in control and can "press into" the activity. Going down, my fight is WITH gravity, that wants me to go faster and faster as I "fall" down the hill. My knees, then, are the "brakes" that bear the brunt of unregulated speed. Cars have the same problem. They may labor going up hill but it is the engine doing the laboring and it is much better equipped to handle the strain. On the downhill side, if you ride the brakes, you will end up with that awful smell, a bit of smoke and a brake job sooner rather than later.
Posted 4 months ago # -
OnTheBayou
MemberYou know that big giant statue of Jesus in Rio?
Many years ago when my family was visiting, my uncle John started running downhill. He couldn't stop. Another uncle was set to run after him but my grandfather held him back with words to the effect of better one than two.
John finally tripped and fell just as the path took a very sharp turn with a huge drop in front of him.
One of my mother's classic family stories - like the one biting the flying roach in two.
Posted 4 months ago #
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