Are you finding yourself skipping your workouts? Or feeling the weight of the quarantine is creeping up on you? Are you looking for a way you can work out using your own home? If you have a set of stairs, you are in luck, that’s enough for a great at-home workout. Here, Christopher Lee, a fitness trainer from Buffalo, New York, shares five easy ways to exercise at home, using nothing but the staircase.
Stair Pushups
Pushups are a fantastic way to build upper body strength. Place your toes on the last step of the stairs, or a higher stair if you would like more of a challenge, and get into a plank position. Place your feet together and your hands on the ground, each hand beneath each shoulder. Keeping your core tight, complete 15 pushups, focusing on using your arms to lift your body. Doing decline pushups creates more of a challenge than level pushups. Decline pushups target the chest and shoulders and can benefit upper body strength. You can also do incline pushups with your hands on the stairs instead, to take away any extra weight on the upper body.
Elevated Lunge
For a rear elevated lunge, begin the stair lunges by standing two feet away from the stairs and facing away from them, with your legs hip-width apart and core muscles engaged. Placing your hands on your hips, lift one leg behind you and place your toes on the bottom stair. Slowly bring your knee to a 90-degree angle, then bend your leg to a 90-degree angle, and then slowly bring your leg back straight again. Complete 15 lunges on each leg, adding up to a total of 30 lunges. You can also do a forward lunge by standing with your feet hip-width apart and core tight. Taking a step forward while keeping your weight in your heels, lower your body until your thigh is parallel to the floor, and the shin is vertical. To protect your knee, do not let it go past your toes. Then push with the weight in your heel back into the starting position.
Step Jumps
Begin the squat jump in a squatting position facing your stairs with arms bent next to your sides. Being mindful of your knees, jump from the squatting position and onto the first step using your arms in a swinging motion to help give you momentum. Keep the weight on your heels and land yourself back into a squatting position. Continue up the staircase, 15 more jumps. If jumping upstairs is something you might not feel comfortable doing, you can complete a step-up jump with calf raises instead.
Elevated Lateral Squats
Stand sideways at the bottom of your stairs, right leg closest to the stairs. Raise your right leg and put it on the second step, skipping the first. Keeping the core engaged and upright and your arms bent in front of you, squat deep with the weight in your heels and your tailbone back. Once you raise up, hop to the next stair and continue up the staircase two stairs at a time. When you finish the stairs, run back down and do the same amount on the opposite leg. Complete these three times.
Stair Sprints
Using your stairs to sprint is a great way to burn some serious calories. Start at the bottom, setting a timer for 3 minutes. Once the timer begins, start quickly running up and down your stairs as quickly as possible until the timer beeps. Incorporate stair sprints several times into your workout to increase your stamina and get your heart rate elevated. To make the exercise a little more interesting, try increasing the number of stairs you sprint up. For example, the first round is one stair at a time, the second round, take two stairs at a time, etc.
Whether you do all of these exercises together for a great workout or incorporate them one at a time throughout the day, you will love how effective they can be. Your stairs can provide you with a great workout right from the comfort of your own home. Of course, make sure you are always careful to avoid slipping or getting injured!
About Christopher Lee Christopher Lee, originally from Buffalo, New York, is a certified personal trainer. Mr. Lee helps his clients build muscle and improve their overall fitness. Christopher supports his clients as they revamp their health and fitness routines, increase their metabolism, and get stronger. His exercise programs and training sessions are designed to help clients build strength, athleticism, and agility so clients can enjoy the activities an