A simple stair workout for longevity, recommended by a personal trainer

 Did your competent? doctor and therapist get you recovered correctly in climbing stairs by pointing out EXACTLY how it should be done? Like  this? 

With this series of images from Nathan Nicholson I finally got the understanding that you don't just lift the foot straight up, you  engage your hamstring to pull your leg up behind you at the same time pointing your toes down(plantarflexion) to clear the lip of the step. I have to plan this all out on my own since most of my premotor cortex is dead. This currently is a very slow process. My therapists DID NOTHING for me on this!
1. Engage the hamstring
2. Point the toes down - plantarflexion
3. Clear the step
4. Dorsiflexion to lift the toe up
5. Straighten the leg 

NO, SO PURE INCOMPETENCE? Haven't you gotten them all fired yet?

A simple stair workout for longevity, recommended by a personal trainer

• Why this matters: VO2 max measures how effectively your body uses oxygen during exercise. Stair climbing can improve your VO2 max.
• What you can do: Start with one or two sessions per week. Alternate four minutes of hard effort with a slow recovery period.
• The payoff: Higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with a lower risk of premature death.

The stairs don’t have to be just something to get you from one place to another. They can also be a really effective workout tool—one that boosts your VO2 max. VO2 max measures the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise. Turns out, VO2 max is also a predictor of longevity. The higher your VO2 max, the more likely you may be to live longer. Here’s what you need to know about a stair workout so you can start increasing your VO2 max and, in turn, your longevity.

How To Do the Workout

There are different stair-related methods to increase your VO2 max, but a simple one you can implement is a 4x4 interval. Here’s how it works: 

1. Climb stairs for 4 minutes straight: The key is to do it at a pace that leaves you near exhaustion by the end. You can approximate this pace by asking yourself, “Could I keep going at this pace for more than four minutes?” If the answer is no, you’re on target. 
2. Recover for 4 minutes: Walk slowly on a flat surface or slowly climb the stairs. 
3. Repeat: Once you again complete four minutes at the fast pace and four minutes at the recovery pace, you’re done.

How Often Should You Do It?

For most adults, two 4×4 interval sessions per week is the best starting target for improving VO2 max. Research comparing weekly frequencies suggests that two to three sessions can improve VO2 max, but there is no clear extra benefit from doing three instead of two for recreational exercisers. Classic 4×4 studies often used three weekly sessions, but that volume may be harder for you to recover from.

 Related video: Study finds strength training sweet spot for longevity (KYTX-TV Tyler-Longview)

How To Progress

As you get comfortable doing your stair climbing workouts, a practical progression might look like the following:

• If you’re new to intervals: Once weekly for two to three weeks
• If you exercise regularly: Twice weekly
• If you’re well-trained and recovering well: Up to three times weekly, provided these are your only very hard cardio sessions

How To Adjust the Workout

Everybody has different physical needs and health implications, so by no means do you have to follow this prescription exactly to improve your VO2 max using stairs.

If using stairs hurts your knees or other lower body joints, feel free to do a 4x4 workout on a more suitable tool. You can still replicate four minutes on and four minutes of recovery using a workout tool of your choice, such as a stationary bike or elliptical. The key is to work at a strenuous pace for four minutes, recover slowly, and repeat.

If four minutes is too challenging, you can shorten the interval as needed to match your current capacity, then work up from there.

Stair Workout Safety Tips

Before starting a stair climbing exercise routine, keep these three safety points in mind:

• Warm up: Especially with interval work, warming up beforehand is a good idea. Take a few minutes to loosen up and get the blood flowing before starting your first interval.
• Stop if you feel unwell: If you develop chest pain, dizziness, faintness, or an irregular or pounding heartbeat when you start your intervals, stop immediately. 
• Talk with your doctor: Check with a healthcare provider before trying vigorous stair intervals if you have heart or lung disease, frequent falls, unexplained dizziness, a recent injury or surgery, or joint symptoms that make stairs difficult. Adults with chronic conditions should consider how those conditions affect their ability to exercise safely.

How Much of an Impact Can the Workout Have?

Stair climbing should be part of a larger fitness plan. But workouts like it that target VO2 can have a big impact on health over time.

A 2018 study showed that participants with extreme cardiorespiratory fitness—which VO2 measures—had a lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to people of any other level of cardiorespiratory fitness.

You don’t have to be an elite athlete with extreme cardiorespiratory fitness to get the benefits. The study also showed that improving cardiorespiratory fitness from low to even just below average was associated with a 50% reduction in all-cause mortality. When you go from low to above average, the risk reduction is about 70%. The results suggest that the better your cardiorespiratory fitness, the longer you may be able to live. Stair climbing may be able to play a part in this.

Read the original article on Health