Everyday Systems

I have recently moved to Philadelphia to go back to school, and found myself an urban ranger by default; I do not own a car and walk everywhere. I am rather enjoying this; it's a great way to get exercise and to be environmentally conscious and all that.

Is anyone here extending "urban rangering" to stairs? I live on the 13th floor, and do occasionally take the stairs all the way just to add some more exercise to my day. It's really good for cardiovascular exercise; first time I tried running up the stairs, I thought I'd have a heart attack then and there.

Hi Larissa,

Here's a thread on this subject:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=833

You don't have to run! 13 flights of stairs is plenty exercise just walking. The far more important thing is to do it consistently. I've found the easiest way to do it enough is to do it always.

Just a suggestion: if 13 is too much, then take the elevator up to 7 and walk from there. Or whatever. Increase as you get better at it.

Reinhard

13...whoa!
Now i think the numbers at the link <a href="http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/vgn/portal ... html">here </a> are a little high, but still...

Now i know this isn't about calories... but come on! Even a lightweight tiny person would burn over 50 calories for those stairs!

Also have heard 10-13 cals/minute, so maybe if 1 floor takes 30 seconds?

I'm not really sure how many calories this is, but I know that even walking, I'm still about ready to collapse by the time I get to the 13th floor. Today, I did it with a full backpack (about 30 lbs.) and carrying a package; yipes.

The vertical urban rangering in my case is partially motivated by necessity; the elevators here don't work too well, and it frequently takes less time to just climb the stairs than to wait for an elevator. Though it is nice to realize that it's also good for my health.

Incidentally, the whole law-student thing seems to be designed to keep one in excellent shape; we are supposed to bring our textbooks to every class session (and these are heavy textbooks), there's lots of walking involved (both vertical and horizontal) - I'd originally intended to join a gym, but now I see that I really don't need one.