Have you ever considered your home’s staircase as an alternative to outdoor fitness? As the cold weather sets in and training outdoors becomes less inviting, you may consider using your stairs as a means to keep fit.
Stairs offer similar exercising to step aerobics in gyms, all you need to do is follow a certain pattern or routine to derive the best possible results from the exercise.
Start at the bottom of the stairs and warm up by walking in place for one minute, then move on to the first step and step back again, do this ten times, then walk on the same spot for another fifteen seconds. Now walk up two steps then back down again and up one step again, do this again for ten times.
Next walk up three steps, come back down, walk up two then come back down, then finally up one step again and come back down to the base of the stairs again. This exercise must be repeated ten times until by the end of a few weeks you will have built up enough resistance to continue this rhythm through ten steps on the staircase.
You may also use your staircase for push-ups and increase or decrease the intensity of the effort by choosing the lower steps for more strenuous exercise or the higher for less effort. Push-ups are ideal to tone the upper body, including the shoulders, chest, abdominal muscles and triceps.
You may consider using a wall for push-ups if you are not fit enough to start with the stairs. Stand three feet from the wall, rest your palms on the wall at the level of your chest then fall towards the wall and push back again, for 25 to 30 times.
