Last Wednesday, it was a beautiful 12º C in Calgary.  On these days it’s a time to celebrate and enjoy the outdoors since snow is always around the corner for us after such a beautiful day.

My good friend and  running partner-in-crime, Joylin, convinced me to join her for a stairs workout.  She is an avid stair climber and tries to get a bunch of us ladies out every week to climb with her.  I always forget how good climbing stairs is for cardio and strength training.  My calves have been sore since Wednesday evening and are finally starting to feel just tender to the touch rather than ready to seize up at any minute!

Stair Climbing: Killer workout!

These are the stairs we climbed.  It was great to see a lot of other people there as well, including a mother with a young child.

Joylin encourages us to run up the stairs and then quickly walk/skip down.  Some of the sets we climb two steps at a time to work on our quads.  The two step ups are similar to lunges.

Typically we do about 10 sets and include a short run or longer run before or after the stairs.

Stair climbing is also something you can do indoors.  In fact, we have run stairs at the gym and then run on the track.  Of course, you don’t need to run.  You might want to combine this leg workout with a series of upper body strength training exercises (e.g. push-ups) in between a few sets of stair climbing.

Running stairs indoors.

If you work in an office building or live in an apartment building, then climbing the stairs is also something you can incorporate into your workout routine.  Maybe it’s just simply taking the stairs once a day!

Let us know what kind of workouts you’ve done using stairs or send us a picture of the stairs you climb.

Be sure to check out today’s Nourishing Tips & Recipes:  Is your goal to eat more vegetables?