Why You Should Take The Stairs
People do a very funny thing.1Since you happen to be a people, you probably do it too!
Care to know what it is so you can chuckle at the fuckery everybody does?2Including you!
Well, they go home to their apartment building after a workout.
Oh, so their mistake is renting instead of owning?, you ask.
Yes, but that’s a separate matter!
As to what the mistake is that’s made by people in this specific instance, it isn’t paying off someone else’s mortgage and walking away with zero equity. No, the mistake made by people is going home to their apartment building after a workout and then hopping on the elevator right by the entrance instead of walking the few extra steps to the stairwell to take the stairs.3And your mistake, too! Assuredly, they do this because they’re so plumb tuckered out from their physically and mentally draining sets of quarter squats.4You do too!
Now, while I know it’s easy to be totally wiped out from only thrusting up and down an inch, taking the elevator instead of the stairs isn’t the right choice because it cuts down on energy expenditure, which effectively reduces the potential amount of calories that could be burned for the day. Compounding things is all the other inactivity before and after the gym that tallies up to the burning of fewer potential total calories.5One example is parking as close as possible to the gym entrance so you don’t have to do that much walking to and fro.
So what’s the solution?
Ha, the answer to the complex problem is to take the motherfucking stairs!
Foregoing the elevator in favor of the stairs allows you to squeeze more activity and movement into your daily life. And with that increase in activity and movement from taking the stairs comes the burning of more calories in furtherance of your physique goals to lose weight and get ripped, in addition to several health benefits whose importance pales in comparison to having a hot bod.6A recent study found that one of the health effects of regular stair climbing is a reduced risk of cardiovascular-related issues. In the study published in Atherosclerosis, researchers observed 458,860 adults and assessed their risk for cardiovascular disease by examining their family history and genetics, as well as if they had high blood pressure, a history of smoking, and other known risk factors for heart disease. After following the study participants for 12.5 years and looking at their lifestyle habits, researchers discovered that the participants who climbed at least 5 flights of stairs (65-80 stair steps) per day had a 20 percent lower risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a condition that includes heart attacks, stroke, and blood clots.
The researchers attribute the reduction of heart disease to stair climbing helping to raise the heart rate, which in turn strengthens the heart and makes it more efficient at pumping blood and oxygen. Increasing the heart rate via movement also impacts several risk factors for heart disease, such as blood pressure and blood sugar and cholesterol levels, all of which can have negative consequences when they’re too high.
NOTE: The same advice here goes for any other motorized conveyance designed to transport humans to higher or lower elevations, such as an escalator, for example. So yeah, don’t play slick in thinking you should take the stairs only when it comes to elevators!
Glossary: calories, genetics, goal, gym, squats, workout
