Just wanted to compare notes with active people here

I usually jog from 20-30 minutes without any extra exhertion, walk for an 1+ hour, and thought I'm in reasonably good cardio shape for my size.

Well today it just occured to me to use the stairs instead of the elevator. I'm usually more comfortable climbing 2 steps at a time, my knees prefer it this way, but once I reached the 9th floor, I was out of breath, and well above my 80% max range. I didn't measure, but I could feel it

Is this normal, or does 9 flights of stairs do this to the "average" person?

Wa'il

Wa'il, I'd say thats above average. Climbing stairs, without doing it two at a time, is not the same as jogging or walking briskly, IMHO (and I have done all 3 at various intensities). I have noticed co workers who look quite healthy and work out regulary out of breath going down 16 flights of stairs at a leisurely pace during a fire drill.

HTH
Nat

I haven't crunched the numbers, but I would say that stairs are definately a much harder workout.

Especially since you are taking them 2 at a time ... that's akin to doing a walking lunge every step. Did your legs feel it too, or was it just your heart pounding?

No, it didn't work my muscles much, no burning sensation like weights or anything like that. I'd have to add that my thighs are disproportiantely large in comparison to the rest of my body in general. Usually maxing out most nautilus machines to be just a cardio (high-rep) work out. Can't say the same for other muscles though, so I usually attribute it to living several years with more than 400 lbs to carry around.

But the heart pounding was way too much for me to think it would do me any good as an exercise. I might climb up gradually starting from 4 or 5 floors and take the elevator for the rest, until I build up enough stamina to handle it within reasonable hart range.

Wa'il

Wow, Wa'il, I'm TOTALLY impressed! It's all I can do to manage the two flights up to the fitness centre - I only do it 'cause it's embarrasing not to! And you should see me wobbling my way down after a workout! WTG!!

Rachel

PS: Gee, this post has a lot of "w's" in it, said Rachel, who, after studying Old English poetry for years, is hypersensitive to alliteration...

Thanks Rachel, I definitly consider you more active than I am! Your walks are much longer, let alone your regular work outs.

Thanks everyone for the confirmatiom, I almost started contemplating this as a mid-life crisis

Wa'il

Yes Wa'il, 9 flights is a lot.

I always take the stairs DOWN, unless I have a load to carry. A couple weeks ago, I was on my way down, and as I rounded the landing between the 7th and 8th floor, this guy was sitting there, hunched over, his head between his knees. I asked if he was ok, and he just said,"I'm never taking the %&$#~ stairs up again!" And he was skinny

I do stair-climbing when the weather is too crappy to go outdoors. What I do though, is take one flight up then briskly walk the length of the hall to the stairs at the other end (I'm in a long building so it's quite a walk), then another flight up and so on ... it's just enough of a break in between.

You have much more strength than I .. you might try going up two or three flights at a time, then a floor-walk etc, etc

Just a thought

Doreen

9 flights!!!!! I had to get out my smelling salts.

I can do two without puffing. I live on the sixth floor (really 7th, as the lobby floor is ground) and when the elevator is out -- a not unusual occurrence -- I walk up one flight, then down the hall so I get my breath back, then up another, then down the hall, etc. Very, very slowly. I have a long way to go.

I can remember, though, a time when I walked a lot, usually the 2.5 miles from work to home every day. I would often visit a friend who had a fifth floor walk up. When I started the walking home, I'd do the last few flights on my knees. One day, about a month into the walking-home experiment, I forgot to huff -- and simply walked up the stairs. Another thing to look forward to in the dim and distant future.

Wa'il, you're amazing

As a matter of interest, there is a challenge going to happen in the New Year involving climbing 48 floors in a high rise in Vancouver. I believe it's a fund raiser. Sorry I don't recall all of the details, but I was quite taken with the idea of walking up 48 floors!

I find stairs a challenge and I'd love to know how the folks at the gym using the stair climber manage to do that for 20 minutes?????

Thunder thighs I guess!!

Marlaine

That's impressive. I once gave up the elevator for Lent. I was student nurse tech at that time and "floated" to whichever floor needed me most. I was on the ninth floor one night when they were giving blood to several people. Each bag (6 total I think) they'd send me downstairs to lab to get. Lab is in the basement. Up and down 10 flights of stairs in one night. LOL-LOL-LOL! Good deal I can laugh now...

mb