Turn Your Staircase into a Fitness Machine

You are putting on weight and are slightly worried about your health. Your doctor has recommended a regular cardio workout and you wonder what fitness machine you should buy to help you doing the exercises in the comfort of your home. Well, if you have been worried about the finances, here is the good news! You don't have to spend a bomb in buying a regular fitness machine that would give you a cardio workout. All you need is the staircase of your building. Yes, you read that right! Believe it or not, the stairs of your house can function as an excellent fitness machine ,and ,with a little innovative thought process you can do almost everything that you need for a complete cardio workout. Some Interesting Everyday Facts about Climbing Stairs  Using the staircase for 30 minutes can not only give you a cardio workout but also help you lose almost 500 calories. That is equivalent of walking for 2 hours!  A staircase can serve as a blend of a number of fitness machines put together, as it can be used for everything that you do on a work station i.e. weight training, lunges, step-ups to push-ups, dips, treadmill, etc.  When you alter the exercises intelligently you have with you a mix of machines that is useful for walking as well as doing exercises. Is there any Equipment That We Need? Certainly not! You do not need any equipment other than your personal training kit which includes good quality shoes that have adequate padding. Even those who are flat footed can easily do these exercises by using shoes that have insoles for flat feet. It would help them absorb the jerks when they step up and down the stairs. You may also like to wear sweat bands and knee supports as you intensify your exercise routine. Staircase Circuit Training The circuit training involves the following exercises done in a sequential manner with minimum rest between them. It is important to do these exercises 3-4 times with a short rest of 1 minute or so. As you progress with the exercises you should be able to do minimum 10 times in order to gain maximum benefit from them. 1. Warm-up exercises Climb one flight of staircase (roughly 12 to 15 stairs) and come down immediately; do this 5 to 7 times increasing your speed every time. It is important to start at a slow speed during the first two times and then pick up the speed as you Increase the count. 2. Push ups After the warm up exercise go down to the base of the staircase or at any landing and place your feet on the third stair, with hands on the ground or the landing. Do a minimum of 20 pushups. In case you have just started you can do just 5 on the first day and gradually increase the count by 2 everyday till you reach 20 after a week or so. 3. Aerobic Treadmill Routine Just as we set the treadmill to step up exercises over a period of 10 minutes, do the same on the staircase Alter between climbing 2 flights at a fast pace and 2 at medium pace. Then come down one flight at slow pace. Repeat this about 3 to 5 times in a period of 10 minutes. In case you are wearing shoes with insoles for flat feet then you should do this exercise at a slower pace. It is also important to select thick soled shoes that have well designed insoles so that it gives you the maximum comfort. 4. Body-Weight Squats Stand on a landing about a foot away from the first stair. Then lower yourself slowly into a squatting position with your arms hanging behind the torso, till the hands touch the staircase. Squat further by taking weight on the elbows and then push yourself up in an upright position. Repeat this for about 2 to 3 minutes 5. Cardio Interval Training Take a few deep breaths and start moving up on the staircase for 3 flights at a moderate pace. Then come down at the same pace. In case there are fewer flights in the staircase then modify your routine to suit the conditions and do this exercise for 5 minutes. At the end of 5 minutes decrease your pace slowly and cool down. There is no end to innovating. You can practically do any type of exercise by incorporating small modifications and equipment like resistance bands and simple dumb-bells.