Stair Climbing

Lately, I have been restless for some exercise.

I work at a desk job in a downtown office building, and my break times are quite short and rigidly scheduled, so I don't have much time during the day. I travel for an hour on the bus and train to and from work, so my days don't have a lot of free time. The long cold snowy winter also makes it hard to get out and about for any sort of outdoor activity. I used to take walks in the evening, which can work in the spring and fall but summertime walks have become difficult because of my sensitivity to the sun.

So, one day it occurred to me that I work in a 12 floor office tower. With stairs. I hadn't really thought about it before because the stairs are for fire escape and don't open into the lobby and cannot be reached externally.

I work on the 7th floor, so one day about a month ago I got off the elevator on the 5th floor and hoofed it up the rest of the way. I kept that up for a couple of days, and I also started climb the stairs out of the train station instead of taking the two escalators on my way to and from work.

At first, it was really hard to even climb 2 flights at a time, then I became accustomed to it, and as soon as it felt to easy I added more flights. Up to this point, I wasn't adding any special effort to getting exercise - all of my stairs were accomplished as part of my regular activities. At the point I reached 11 flights spread out over the day.

Then something happened. I got to the point I could do 4 flights without stopping, and sometimes when I did that... I would get the most wonderful feeling afterward. Maybe about 15 minutes later, I would get the most fantastic sensation; euphoria mixed with a kind of sleepiness and a warm glow blanketing my whole body. It was like a shot of morphine (to be honest it was also similar to the rush of hormones after orgasm or during breastfeeding). I imagine this is something like a runner's high, but I didn't have to run a marathon to get there. But... it didn't happen every time. Maybe only 3 times in total. Just often enough to be an intriguing incentive.

I started to climb stairs duing my breaks too, and I added a few flights every few days. I like being strong, and I began to notice that my leg muscles are getting bigger and more defined. I also have high blood pressure and I am still technically "obese", so it is good for me to get some exercise for those reasons too.

Last week I reached a total of about 40 flights in a day. I am exercising for about 30 minutes in a day, in two major stints and two minor sets. I can still only climb about 5 flights withoutpausing briefly, I should add.

My muscles were plateauing out in terms of what I could force them to do, so I decided to find a way to increase a different aspect - cardiovascular. I took a deep breath and tried jogging up some of the stairs. Interestingly, it feel subjectively easier than walking up the risers, but I cannot sustain it as long and need more frequent rests.

I have now reached 48 flights in a day, and jog about 25% to 33% of it.

There are some downsides. After the first week I found that my knees started to twinge a little. So with some internet research I found that descending the stairs is very very hard on the knees. My solution is a hilarious twist... Once I get to the top I take the elevator back down. I haven't had any further knee problems thus far.

Also, on two occasions my blood pressure dropped too low after doing a stint. This made me feel very ill and weak. In response I became more careful about how hard I pushed myself in a single session and temporarily pulled back a little on the number of sets. I also made sure to eat something a little while before attempting a major session.

I found it discouraging at first because I thought I was not losing any weight. I saw some muscle changes but the scale was not cooperating. After a month of working at it, I could finally see a positive effect - I lost 1 inch (2.5 cm) from my waist, and the same from my hips.

I do not know how sustainable this exercise will be in the long term. But for now, I find it extremely enjoyable and rewarding.