Running Stairs for Conditioning (was Rocky wrong?)

[scottster]

I would be concerned about running on a concrete surface, but stair climbing (either on physical stairs or on a stairmill type machine) is a killer workout. I can never get my heartrate as high on any other machine.

[Progressive Overlord]

Here is my solution regarding the walking down part:

http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/water-slide-ex-2.jpg

It's pretty safe to say that in order to run up stairs, one has to come back down at some point, and I like your solution.

Im thinking about marketing it as Prowler Version 3.0. It will come with thong.

[Kyle Schuant]

The peak force in the front of the knee happens at about 100-120 degrees of flexion. Think about going up stairs or a hill, now think about going down. Way up is more like a below-parallel squat, way down is more like a partial squat. This is why the deep squat is a position of relaxation for about 3 billion Asians and Africans, and the partial squat is a position of punishment for soldiers.

There are a few articles about runner injuries that basically say, uphill is rough but not horrible, downhill is nasty as shit. That sudden stopping with your knee at 100-120 degrees of flexion is just a lot of force through the front of your knee without the benefit of your hamstrings etc to balance it out (as happens in a deep squat).

This does not mean never do this stuff. It just means most of us won't be able to do it hard for years and years. But that is true of everything.

[Progressive Overlord]

Here is what Matt and Stef wrote about it in the "Death by prowler" Article:

"We know that the eccentric portion of an exercise causes significantly more muscular damage than the concentric portion. Actually, concentric only work can be an excellent method of active recovery and restoration, because of the increased blood flow to the area, without the microtrauma to the muscle fibers that is associated with eccentric work."

Thinking about it I come to the conclusion that the hamstrings are actually worked eccentric, cause they lengthen during knee extension (or my understanding of human anatomy is off). I guess the prowler can give you some serious soreness in your hamstrings.

[OBoile]

Minimalist shoes are not that great for hiking, in my opinion. I like my shoes to be flat without a heel and super wide, but I need the cushioning for all those rocks. And the last thing I need is to worry about catching my pinky toes on roots and rocks. But I hate boots. I like my shoes to breathe and dry in an hour after walking in a stream. The longer I've hiked, the looser my shoes have gotten and the thinner my socks. I wear trail running shoes that are at least a couple sizes too big these days. I squat in my hiking boots.

For running stairs or stadiums, I worry about tripping on the way down. A faceplant on stadium steps would hurt.

I know nothing about hiking, but from what you describe, you may want to look at Altra shoes. They're minimalist, but have lots of cushioning (relatively speaking). I could describe them as a running shoe with an extra wide toe box and zero drop height. It sounds to me like they check every box for you.

[cdaugherty]

I work for the Forest Service and my job is to literally hike up and down mountains all day, every day for a living. The cartilage in my knees has yet to turn to ground beef. This is also while lugging around about 50 lbs. of field gear, food, water, etc. Having strong legs and a heavy squat helps...a lot.

[JLB105]

I started walking stairs at my work a few weeks ago. 2-3 days a week for about 15-20 minutes each session. There are 7 flights of stairs. I start off on the 6th floor and walk all the way down and then all the way to the 7th floor. On the way up I do 2 stairs at a time. On the way down I don't skip any stairs and I try and take my time going down with the goal to recover as much as I can on the smway down before I start my next cycle up.

How do people feel about this type of exercising? Anyone here have good luck with it with fat loss and building up conditioning?

[Peter Dempster]

I sometimes run the stairs in my office building. Up two floors, breathe, up two floors, breathe, etc. Then take the elevator down.

[I_iz_a_fatass]

There's always this: PRO STAIRS, Free Assembly and Delivery