Running stairs for conditioning in regards to the squat

[Tom Lang]

Rip recommends hill sprints for conditioning (as well as flat sprints and the Prowler).

Have any of you run stairs? Has it affected your recovery or your squat strength?

I have long, steep sets of stairs in my neighborhood, which I would run occasionally, but this was before SS.

Thanks!

[Michael Wolf]

I can't comment on running stairs for conditioning from personal experience. But I can say that having to take lots of stairs as a part of everyday life has made recovery for squatting a challenge sometimes, even though I should be adapted to it as something I have to do so often. If sleep and nutrition are on point, they don't present a problem. But if one or both of those is not where it should be, the stairs really exacerbate the issue.

[Tom Lang]

I can't comment on running stairs for conditioning from personal experience. But I can say that having to take lots of stairs as a part of everyday life has made recovery for squatting a challenge sometimes, even though I should be adapted to it as something I have to do so often. If sleep and nutrition are on point, they don't present a problem. But if one or both of those is not where it should be, the stairs really exacerbate the issue.

Interesting. Have you had any experience with sprints or hill sprints?

[Gwyn Brookes]

Rip recommends hill sprints for conditioning (as well as flat sprints and the Prowler).

Have any of you run stairs? Has it affected your recovery or your squat strength?

I have long, steep sets of stairs in my neighborhood, which I would run occasionally, but this was before SS.

Thanks!

I like to run stairs, but have to limit it to once a week and I would not do it before a heavy squat or deadlift day, or at all if I were running the texas method. But I'm old and also do a lot of other training.

[Michael Wolf]

I do sprints regularly. If you ease your way into them, starting with very low volume and speeds easier than your current capacity, and slowly increase both variables, they don't impede recovery too much. But volume does need to remain pretty low, overall, if you don't want it to get in the way of strength progress.

If you're running 8x400 three days per week, for example, you're letting your conditioning impede your strength progress. If you're running 1x400 twice a week, you're not doing enough conditioning to make a difference. The exact amount will vary person to person, so start low and slow, and very carefully add volume and intensity. You should sense when you're in danger of getting under-recovered, and scale back the volume a bit.

[Tom Lang]

Thanks Michael.

I do a 4-day split, which allows for more recovery time. I'll often do a Tabata routine on the elliptical trainer, or run some 200' (yes, feet, limited space in front of my gym) sprints, usually about 8x, with the first two slower warm-up reps.

So far, I've found doing conditioning after squat/pull day, or on otherwise off days, hasn't affected my recovery too much. Regardless, I was curious specifically about running stairs.

And I agree, 1x per week is not enough, and 3x would probably be too much.

[kessg]

Running stairs is obviously harder since you have to push your body weight up the steps, vs running on a level surface. But I assume it would be similar to hill sprints. I tried stair runs recently and I'm certain squats helped them a lot, as I was not sore/terribly tired and was able to squat the next day without any issues (I'm a female/on a slower progression, so take it for what it's worth).

But I'd be careful of cement stairs if you have any issues with your knees -- too much pounding can do a number on them.