Almost all of us use stairs in our daily lives & who knows that can be the key to your fitness too. A flight of stairs does takes you to another floor level, but it can also be the essential tool to take you to a higher level of fitness. You can use it anywhere, anytime & for any amount of time you like or your body allows. Just don’t overstrain yourself while using the stairs. A great deal of fitness can be achieved by doing certain exercises on them. It can be helpful in improving your cardio-respiratory output and definitely strengthen whole of the body as well.
Here are a few exercises that can be easily done on the stairs:
Stair walking
The most basic exercise to be done on a staircase is to walk/climb up the stairs and get down/descend it. It tones the muscles of thighs, hips, calves and hamstrings. Doing it also improve the stability of lower body joints namely Hip, Knee & Ankle and also provides the same for pelvic area and lower back.
A wide stride stair climb is a very good exercise for hip stabilizers and lower back muscles while a side walk up and down the stairs get your outer thigh muscle active.
Stair run
Running up and down on stairs is a great form of cardio-respiratory (aerobic) exercise that can be done effectively almost anywhere. Although caution should be taken for not keeping the foot contact ample on the step otherwise it may lead to serious injuries to muscles or fall injuries can happen. An exercise which is capable of not only providing aerobic workout but also strengthening of the lower body muscle groups as well. It can also serve as a recovery exercise for athletes during rehabilitation.
Squat jump on stairs
A popular exercise with fitness enthusiasts and athletes, although done on a hard box in the gymnasium. The same effect can be achieved while doing it on the stairs. The only caution to be taken is to choose stairs with a larger step area so that the landing area is not cramped thus reducing the chances of any injury. It can be done by jumping on the next step in the beginning and a step can be skipped after some days as it gets comfortable for getting a harder workout. Muscles around pelvis, hip, knees are benefited and strengthened.
Stair lunges
The only difference in doing lunges on stairs is that the forward leg is placed on a higher step bending at knee and extending it. The back leg or the lower leg is also bent at knee making it near perpendicular to ground and extending afterwards. It can be done on the next step if the step is higher than usual otherwise the forward leg can be placed two or three steps higher as per comfort and tolerance. It can be done alternatively on both the legs or can be done by completing a set on each leg separately. A great exercise to strengthen and tone lower body muscles.
Stair pushups
Stairs can be used as a great tool for performing pushups. An incline pushup requires keeping hands on the higher and legs on lower steps whether a decline pushup requires hands on the lower steps and legs on higher making it completely inverse to each other. Pushup is a great exercise for upper body along with a core strengthening and stability workout.
Note: Kindly consult a Physio about your fitness and joint condition in order to pursue this form of workout.
Go ahead and make a good use of stairs available around!!!
Any queries and suggestions are very welcome!!