10.10.2009

stairs

Do you take the stairs? I was thinking about the stairs a few weeks ago, and realized that between my senior year in high school and first year of college I stopped using the stairs. Not only did I stop using the stairs, but I started planning ways to not take the stairs.

One of the books I read this year posits the theory that fat people are not lazy, their bodies are just better at naturally conserving calories. So while skinny people have an urge to exercise and move, fat people don’t. I don’t. If I am not meeting Sam in the gym, I am not going.

But I am trying to change that habit. Hence my thinking about stairs. How is it I cut out stairs? I mean, cut out in the way I cut out lima beans from my diet. I don’t care how you try to get me to eat them, it ain’t happening.

My friend and former boss John, who is of an undetermined age, was told to stop running so much by his physician a few years ago. He has to keep it to 3 miles a day. He emailed me to tell me, randomly, that he has reincorporated stairs into his life. “I'm trying to follow that advice and try to take the stairs exclusively, up and down in the office. After about a month, the 10 flights stairs have gotten easier, and I spend less time reading the floor numbers going up. Hopefully after 8 or 9 months I'll notice a difference.”

What am I doing bitching about a few flights up to our apartment, when he is doing 10 flights a day? Granted, I don’t think he goes out to lunch, but that is a lesson for another posting...but you see my point, I hope.

The article about stairs in the New York Magazine sealed the deal: “Stair-climbing is a more efficient form of exercise than walking: Two additional minutes of stair-climbing per day (approximately three floors) can burn more than enough calories to eliminate the average adult’s annual weight gain.” (You can read more about stairs by clicking this sentence.)

Needless to say I will be taking the stairs. (Be careful if you do the same in an office building, as some floors lock the stairwell doors!)

3 comments:

Pam Rutter said...

I don't mind going down stairs but I too don't like going up stairs...I get winded and my legs get incredibly heavy...my blood pressure spikes...but I will purposefully park far away from my destination and walk no problem. Somewhere balance is the key and a faster metabolism which I don't have either... :)

SAHM said...

I just read a blurb the other day from the book that I think you referred to here (because I remember you mentioning it before) "Why French Women Aren't Fat" or something like that. The blurb I read was about the stair thing. A definite good point, and although I don't encounter many buildings with stairs in my daily life, I do find myself using elevators since I often have multiple small people with me and it is just plain easier to use the elevator instead of try to all stay together on the steps and hold 2-3 people's hands. Just plain lazy, I guess! :) Good for you and the steps tho.

On a side note, I remember my mom used to walk the steps at work for exercise during her lunch break when I was little and ALWAYS used the stairs to get to/from her office.

Bungalow Builder said...

I found the link to the "Fun Theory" - it is a fantastic video about making stairs fun: http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/