Mt. Toomanystairs
One of my new ideas came from a story I heard on NPR last week that said climbing stairs for just two minutes a day can prevent the American average of one pound of weight gain per year. (click here to hear/read that story)
The building I work in has five floors. So today I decided that I should climb those stairs and see what two minutes of stair climbing is like. Here are some notes on my experience:
- It took me just about the recommended two minutes to reach the summit of Mt. Toomanystairs.
- It took me a little over twenty-seven minutes to recover (i.e. stop wheezing and seeing stars) following my expedition.
- The air is thinner at higher altitudes.
- My descent to the bottom was made more challenging by the sweat and tears that blurred my vision.
- Two minutes sounds like a very small amount of time but when you’re climbing a mountain, is just short of eternity.
I think I’ll try to do this a couple of times a day. Two minutes of stair climbing isn’t enough exercise by itself but it certainly can’t hurt.
Wait a minute. What am I saying? It’s going to hurt a great deal. I think “every little bit helps” is the annoying cliché I’m looking for here.
The Incredible Shrinking Shrinks 
An endocrinologist here told me once that if you add two flights of stairs to your daily routine, even if you change nothing else, you could lose up to 10 pounds in a year. He treated many diabetics, who typically have weight problems, so I trust this. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But we know that most things that sound easy are really not easy. Still, of all the “I have to do SOME exercise every day” possibilities, this is one of the most attractive.
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Didn’t see this comment till now…I definitely agree that things that sound easy rarely are. But 2 flights of stairs is a small price to pay for such a benefit!!
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