Here is a little story about an 85 year old friend of ours that needed a knee replacement.
After surgery her knee was five times the size of her pre-surgery knee. Or least that’s what she felt it looked like. Her recovery progress was slow going but one lucky day, her Doctor shared that she needed to do stairs. He said the only way to get this knee in shape is more movement and the challenge of stairs would be excellent for conditioning her new knee.
Most of us have heard that having stairs in your house can extend your life by five years. How true that it is, who knows, but what we do know is that stairs train muscles throughout the entire body but more focused around the hips, knees and ankles. In Nimble Fitness, our functional strength and conditioning studio, we coach clients to opt for stairs and treat them like a focused exercise. We coach to have a TRAINING MINDSET and when you have the opportunity to either build strength, cultivate mobility, increase endurance or improve energy, you take it!
How to Conquer Stairs:
First, like most aspects of health and fitness that we coach, you start with MINDSET.
Be focused and move up the stairs quickly and with power. Of course safety is of the utmost importance but what we want to see, is that our clients are actively driving into the lead leg as soon as it hits the step. This tempo change helps activate the glute max which is a strong and large muscle that extends the hips. At the same time you are driving off the back leg. Think of going up stairs as a full body exercise. Although the upper body is not physically challenged like the lower body and core, moving your arm in opposition to your lead leg, can help stretch your obliques and lats on the opposing side, helping you move efficiently up the step.
Yes, your heart rate goes up and your breathing should be challenged! This does not mean you are out of shape but the more cardiovascular fitness you have, the easier conquering those stairs will feel!
If you are currently too sedentary, then just do what you can at the pace that you can. You don’t have to break records on day one; it’s about moving everyday.
Taking daily actions to improve our health and wellbeing is part of the TRAINING MINDSET. Maintaining a strong and powerful body throughout life is a game changer for our last decade of life.
Stairs are everywhere, and are free. Take the stairs when you see them throughout your day: the subway stairs, the stairs in your building, the stairs around your city and neighborhood. Not only is it a great way to get extra training in, it’s also a wonderful way to discover your city and surroundings.
Our friend with the knee replacement I mentioned earlier, discovered different areas of the city, challenging her new knee with tons of stairs and using stairs to progress her rehabilitation. She would also go down the stairs which proves to be much harder for some people. This is because going downstairs can sheer the knee joint and cause pain for some. It’s important to also be intentional when descending stairs and yes, your strength plays a major role as well. Being able to handle the eccentric load on one leg while going down stairs takes the muscles around the knee being active and strong.
Keeping stairs in your life will help you be able to handle them whenever you’re faced with your next big life challenge.
The secret for all of us to embody is that no matter what your current age or specific physical challenge, you can improve! It just takes patience, information, determination and dedication to putting your body to work.
So the next time you are faced with a long flight of stairs or the escalator, choose the stairs and enjoy the challenge! The result will be blood flow to your brain, improving muscular strength, a cardiovascular benefit and possibly a boost in your mood. Movement is our medicine.
Namaste,
Daniel
