It probably won’t sound like a big secret, but GOSH, I’m fed up with this snow… and winter… and cold! Despite living all my life in countries with cold winters, I don’t think I will ever accept it or get used to it. Yesterday, on the way home with my hubby from work, I kept on daydreaming. I was like, so one day when we are rich we’ll move to a warm country. But Justin bluntly cut me off, he said he’d rather take winters than hurricanes, tornadoes, wild fires or earthquakes. What’s your take on that?
On second thought, I think my hubby forgot about having to deal with my cold feet every night… I might have a chance! haha!
As you know, lately I’ve been looking for different ways to strengthen my legs to improve on speed during my runs. There is a StairMaster at my gym; however, I don’t use it. I don’t even know why. Most likely because I just feel so comfortable with my routine. I guess it’s time for change because there are many benefits of stair-climbing for runners.
According to this article posted on http://www.canada.com, the benefits are as follows:
- ability to increase your cardiovascular fitness;
- burn more calories;
- improve muscle conditioning in your legs and buttocks;
- improve balance
Pretty sweet, don’t you think?
Then, I came across a great article on Runner’s World: Why Stair-Climbing Is Good for Runners. The article proposed these 3 amazing stair workouts:
- Run Up Like… A Competitor: “After a 10-minute warmup, run hard up stairs for 20 to 30 seconds, then walk back down. Repeat for 20 to 30 minutes. Or run stairs for 10 minutes after a long run to help your body build endurance and learn to push through fatigue.”
- Run Up Like… November Project: “Warm up for 10 minutes. Then climb 20 to 30 seconds up the stairs at a tempo effort—slowing as needed to keep your ascending pace consistent—and without pausing, run back down. Repeat the cycle for 30 minutes. If you’re in a stadium, run from section to section at the tops or bottoms of flights, maintaining tempo effort.”
- Run Up Like… A Gym Rat: “After a 10-minute warmup, crank up the incline *on a treadmill* (slowing your pace as necessary) to 15 percent (or whatever the machine’s maximum incline is—the higher, the better). Do one minute at the hardest pace you can manage, then reduce the incline to zero and recover for one minute. Follow with two minutes at maximum incline and two minutes of recovery, working your way up, minute by minute, to five minutes of each. Then work your way back down to end with one minute hard and one minute recovery.”
I am really looking forward to trying them out over the next couple of weeks. As for today, I have Arnold Strength training according the training guide.
Repeat this 3 times, using a weight you can lift within the desired range, 10-15 reps each:
- Alternating backward barbell lunge
- Alternating dumbbell chest press with overhand grip
- Alternating incline dumbbell row with neutral grip
- Back extension on machine with arms across chest
- Cable lat pull-down with underhand grip
- Alternating dumbbell shoulder front raise
- Barbell wrist curl with arms on bench
- Barbell wrist extension
- Alternating dumbbell bicep curl with neutral grip
- Seated 1-arm dumbbell tricep extension
- Bridge and leg curl on stability ball
- Bicycle
- Dead bug
- Leg raise with flutter kick on incline bench or floor
** For dead bug and flutter kick, make sure the lower back stays neutral.
Now I’d like to hear from you! How often do you incorporate StairMaster in your workout? What is your favorite way to break some sweat apart from running?
xoxo
Olena
candies & crunches 
I have a moving stair master at my gym, I keep telling myself I should try it, maybe I’ll give it a go next week! Thanks for sharing, this is great info! My favorite way to break a sweat other than running is heavy weight lifting or hot vinyasa yoga!
Hi sweetie! I haven’t done hot yoga in forever. I actually kinda miss it *as long as no one around farts! Believe me it happened!* xoxo
Thanks for the reminder my dear – going to add sine stairs to my run today! LOVE that top pic – cracks me up!
I know, right?! It cracked my hubby up when I showed the picture to him 😀 xoxo
When I was training for the Tough Mudder a couple years back, I would warm up for about 5 minutes at a comfortable pace on the treadmill at zero incline, and then bump the incline up to 15 and run there for 1 minute, lower the incline to 14 and run a minute there, and so on all the way back down to zero. It’s such a killer!
Wow! It does sound like a killer workout! How fast do you run at such high inclines? xoxo
I think 6 mph if I remember correctly 🙂
That’s amazing considering the incline! Wow! I’m really impressed!
Thanks! Definitely try it, such a great workout!
Yay! Go Khrysty! ❤ xoxo
Stairs are great, I never thought about mixing them up a bit with a fun workout:) I have a stair climber in my room, and right in front of the TV, (pre injury) I used to enjoy using it when watching TV, I would put it on the hardest setting and force myself to push through each commercial break:) May sound dumb, but man commercials are long sometimes haha:)
Also, although I am getting a little sick of winter myself, and where I live we still have a good few more months of it at the least. I do love to travel to warm places, I could visit Hawaii each winter if I could afford it. But all said and done, I absolutely love my 4 season’s and I wouldn’t trade them for perfectly warm and tropical all the time:)
I hear you girl! Commercials suck! Big time! xoxo
I didn’t used to like the Stairmaster because my knees were super bad. They crunch and grind when I walk up stairs. It doesn’t usually hurt since losing weight but it sounds awful. Now, however, I love the Stairmaster. They have a competition on the new ones my gym got so you can compete for high scores. I always feel like I got a great hip flexor and butt workout when I use those machines. My butt is so nasty. It needs all the help it can get so I feel awesome every time I get off the machine. One workout closer to a better butt! Woo!
I totally hear you with winter. I hate the cold. I’m wearing my snow pants just to get around town these days. I’m so sick of being cold.
Okay, Katie, don’t take it the wrong way, even though I am pretty sure it will just sound weird, but I’m pretty sure that your butt is just fine! Haha! ❤ xoxo
I don’t have a stair master but I have lots of stairs in my house I should start utilizing as a workout! I kind of agree with your hubby in the whole weather debate. As much as I hate being cold, I think I would be more scared to live in a region where hurricanes and tornados happen often because they can just sneak up on you! But then again I say this but I don’t know how “Cold” your area is.
Ah, Meranda, I was just starting to like you.. Haha! Just kidding 😀 xoxo
I do lots of stairs – I think they’re a great workout… and I’m definitely sick of the winters too!!
High five Jason! xoxo
For someone like me who usually can run only on weekends, stair climbing is a great exercise to complement my weekly runs. I think it works a different set of muscles than the ones used for running, which is great as it will most likely prevent you from getting injured. And as was said it’s also very good for cardio if you happen to be unable to get out and run.
Hi there! Thank you so much for stopping by! You got it right. In my opinion, we should always work on strengthening various muscles in order to run faster, longer and injury free!
xoxo
Olena