Looking for ways to burn a few extra calories, build your strength, or tone your rear end? Stair climbing is a great way to get an excellent aerobic workout, no matter where you are or what your fitness level.
You can take the stairs in any building that has them, in your workplace, your house, a parking garage, or your dentist office. Take the stairs instead of using the elevator or escalator. You can use them for moderate exercise or a full-fledged, high-energy workout. It’s free, easy, and effective.
Stepping up on a stair is great work for the leg and buttock muscles. Stair climbing builds more muscle than running, and is excellent for balance, strength, and elevating the heart rate. You even get a good workout going downstairs, when your quadriceps work hard supporting you. The FruitGuys’ Aaron Smith got quite the stair workout on Jan. 31 during Chicago’s Step Up for Kids benefit for Children’s Memorial Hospital. He climbed 90 flights in 16 minutes—fast enough to finish in the top 100.
Using the stairs casually, as an alternative to the elevator, can burn about 640 calories per hour (cal/hr) for a 140 lb person. Doing a stair workout, which can involve running up stairs, taking stairs two at a time, and other strenuous exercises, burns about 950 cal/hr for the same person. For comparison, moderate cycling, skiing, swimming and fast walking are all on par with casual stair climbing. Active sex clocks in at 430 cal/hr. Fast running and competitive singles tennis are on par with a stair workout.
Of course most of us are not inclined to spend an hour on the stairs, but even short boutscan contribute to fitness and waistline. A 15-minute stair climb offers the same workout as 30 minutes of running on flat ground, and with less impact. At work, using the stairs can bring some welcome blood flow after you have been sitting for a while, and can be as effective as coffee to wake you up.
If you want to try a more serious workout, treat it as you would a run. Bring some water along so you can stay hydrated, and wear supportive athletic shoes. Do a few minutes of quadriceps and calf stretches, and then walk a flight up and back to warm up. Pace yourself – start by running a flight, then walking the next. Alternatively you can create sets – start with running one floor up, then walking down. After a minute’s rest repeat. Over time build up to more flights per set. Stay alert when rounding corners. Watch and listen for others using the stairs, and for doors opening. Never run down the stairs, which can easily lead to falls. If you find you are hooked, there are competitive stair climbing races held in buildings around the world.
After your first workout, you might just find yourself singing, “…and she’s climbing a stairway to heaven.”
Stair climbing is not recommended for people with knee injuries or high blood pressure (untreated). Always check with your doctor before beginning a new exercise program.
- Rebecca Taggart
Rebecca Taggart is a San Francisco yoga instructor.
Pranayama is simply defined as lengthened inhalations followed by lengthened exhalations. In his book “Light on Pranayama”, 
Maybe it’s the rain, or the cold, or the winter light, but at this time of year those Calgon-take-me-away-moments seem nearer. One of the best for me was a few winters back: at a small restaurant I was helping my twin toddlers and my young son, who was wearing his favorite stuffed green parrot wrapped on his arm, to use the restroom. The room was small. My son handed me the parrot because – well, you can’t use the restroom with a parrot looking over your shoulder – and was now washing his hands. The twins were squirming like fish. As I tried to manage one and then the other in each arm, and then wash their hands while “Hey, stop opening the door” and “Don’t fill the back of your sister’s pants with air from the hand dryer,” I leaned over and, in the slowest of slow motion, with little helpless plastic parrot eyes looking up at me whispering “Why?,” the parrot, my son’s constant pirate companion, slipped from my hands into the depths of Davey Jones’ porcelain commode. There was a muted splash and then a moment of shocked awe. Kids were frozen in place, one was wrapped in toilet paper, another had washed and dried her hands, but her clothes were soaked. My son just stared in horror. All three opened their mouths and sucked in air to power the loudest cries of horror that the 10’ x 6’ restroom had ever known. Trudging home in the rain, parrot finally blown dry but forever changed, kids red faced and still crying as passersby asked if they were alright, I wanted nothing but to be taken away. I’m sure the kids felt the same way. Winter and just the complexity of life can often fray our nerves. But whatever triggers stress for you, remember this: get your Folic Acid, it may make you happier.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=649ebcd1-a160-4a5f-b6ec-454122f83f46)
The obvious response to all this information is to increase your vitamin D intake, at least in the winter. But that isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. Our skin naturally manufactures adequate vitamin D for us, so long as the sunlight is sufficiently strong and we bare some skin. But in winter the sun is too weak north of latitude 34°, roughly a line between Los Angeles and South Carolina. For up to six months a year most of us cannot manufacture our own D because we spend most outdoor time covered up, in sunlight too weak to produce the vitamin.
Unfortunately there are very few food sources of vitamin D, and the only good natural source is fatty fish. A serving of salmon (about 800 IU) or mackerel (about 400 IU) are good sources. Milk began to be fortified in the 1930s with vitamin D to 
Cod liver oil is naturally high in vitamin D, and was given to children before milk began to be fortified. Today cod liver oil comes in gel supplements or is lemon-flavored, making it much more palatable than during our grandparents’ childhoods. It is taken religiously in Norway and other Scandinavian countries in months with an “r”, when sunlight is weak and days are shorter. Cod liver oil is also high in omega-3s, compounds found to have extensive health benefits. The downside is that many fish oils sold in the US have very high levels of fat-soluble vitamin A, which can be toxic in high doses, unlike the vitamin A our bodies produce from vegetable-produced beta-carotene. Unpurified cod liver oil can have high levels of PCBs and heavy metals. Norwegian-produced oil generally has reduced A and is purified.
Less sunlight also decreases the body’s Vitamin D production. Our skin produces Vitamin D for us in sunlight, but the combination of warm clothes, weaker light, and more indoor time means our vitamin D production drops dramatically in winter. The effects of this decrease are wide-ranging, including seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and a weakened immune system. Less widely known is the increased risk of acute depression, hyperglycemia, osteoporosis, insulin resistance, hypertension, and heart disease.
Upward Arm Pose: Stand straight in facing your desk with your chest lifted, buttocks dropped towards the floor, and your face relaxed. On an inhalation raise your arms straight overhead with palms facing each other. Breath evenly as you stretch your fingertips up to the ceiling while dropping the buttocks and keeping your ribs in. Relax your face and jaw as you lift up. Hold for 30 seconds. On an exhalation lower your arms.
Supported Hero Pose: Kneel with your back facing your desk (if your back is stiff or quadriceps are tight) or chair. Keep your buttocks drawing firmly down towards the floor as in the first pose and lie back with your shoulder blades and head supported on the desk or chair edge. If this bothers your neck place a book or large file folder under your head. Press your tailbone forward away from the chair/desk to increase the stretch on the front of the thighs. Hold for one minute, then use your hands to push yourself up.
Upward-Facing Dog Pose: Face your desk and place your palms on the edge. Step back until your arms are straight and your feet are under your hips. Now keep your legs straight as you lift your heels and bring your shoulders over your palms and the front of your pelvis close to the desk. Draw your buttocks strongly towards your heels and move the chest forward between your upper arms. Hold twenty seconds while breathing evenly. On an exhalation take your hips back over your heels. Repeat three times, then stay in the final position with feet under hips and arms straight for one minute before standing up.
If you didn’t descend the buttocks enough in these poses you may feel tightness or ache in your lower back. Try the Relaxed Forward Bend: Sit at the front of your chair. Straighten your legs with your heels resting on the floor. Lift your chest as you place your hands on your upper thighs. Slowly slide your hands down your thighs, but only so long as you can keep your chest lifted at the same time. If you are stiff, you will stop somewhere above your knees. This is fine. If you are more flexible, your hands may reach your ankles or even the floor. Remember to breath regularly. Stay in the pose one minute. Keep your legs firm as you slide your hands up your legs and sit up.
