Are you stuck at home missing your regular exercise class? Are you less active than usual, feeling stiff or sluggish? Are you looking for ways to keep fit at home?

If you have stairs at home, look no further! And even if you don’t, keep reading as there will almost certainly be some nearby steps that you can use.

Going up and down the stairs is such brilliant exercise. It gets your blood pumping, your heart working, and strengthens essential muscles in your legs and hips.

Taking the stairs more often and with more intention can be a great way to boost your fitness.

Stair Climbing Technique

When we climb the stairs, we’re usually thinking about what we’re going up or down to do (even though we often forget by the time we get there!). When we do focus on our technique, we get more of a fitness benefit from each stair climb.

These are the three things to focus on:

Posture

Check your posture at the start and as you go up the stairs. Think about straightening yourself up as much as possible. Imagine you have a string coming out of the top of your head pulling you taller.

Foot Position

Put your weight through your heels and push up through your glutes. Often when we climb the stairs, we push off our toes. Instead, try pushing up through your heels, and you will feel the difference.

You do need to get your whole foot on the step to do this, and the stair tread isn’t always deep enough. Get as much of your foot on the step as you can, and it should be enough.

Don’t Rely on the Handrail

If there is a handrail or a bannister and you need to use this for support, then do. Safety always comes first. However, try not to pull yourself up with the handrail. If you do need it, try to have your hand lightly resting on it, so you feel secure but aren’t holding on too tightly.

Think about the handrail providing support, and focus on your leg muscles propelling you up the stairs. Try to pay attention while you climb the stairs for exercise. Think of it as an exercise you need to concentrate on, not an activity you do on autopilot while thinking about the next thing you are doing.

The better your technique on the stairs, the more muscles you will activate and the more of a ‘workout’ you will get.

Stair Climbing Tips

Here are some stair climbing tips you can use every day.

Clear the Clutter

Stairs do look awfully like shelves, and it’s easy to let clutter build up. However, the risk of tripping increases if you are using the stairs for exercise. So, check for clutter before you start exercising.

(Some people keep a basket at the top and bottom of the stairs to have a safe place to store items which need to go up or down).

Remember to check for pets too! I know lots of cats who love to snooze on the stairs, so they will need moving on as well.

Check Your Specs

Be careful on the stairs if you wear bifocal glasses. They can make it harder for you to see steps and therefore more likely to trip or fall.

If you have another pair of glasses, you may wish to switch to these before stair climbing for exercise. If the only lenses you have are bifocals, then take extra care and keep your hand gently resting on the handrail, just in case.

Please check with your optician if you are unsure or need further guidance.

Pay More Attention on the Descent

Many people find it harder going down the stairs. If you struggle with your balance, you may feel unsteady on the way down. If that’s the case for you, take care.

Take a little more time to come down; hold on a little tighter to the handrail. You may even wish to place both feet on each step or to come down sideways. Concentrate fully and don’t let yourself get distracted.

If you do find it hard coming down the stairs, you will likely benefit from some additional strength and balance exercises, like the Vida Wellness free course on balance.

What If You Don’t Have Stairs at Home?

If you don’t have stairs at home, don’t discount stair exercise. Here are some places you could find stairs near your home:

• In your apartment building,
• In a nearby shopping mall or community centre,
• In a park or outside area.

It doesn’t have to be a full flight. Even just a set of five steps can be enough to get a great workout.

Little and Often

As with anything, little and often is best. Try to intersperse the stair climbing throughout your day and between other activities. It will give you a bit of an energy boost, and it won’t feel like such hard work.

It might be easier to get 10 or more stair climbs in over the day, but if you try and do 10 in one go, it might feel too much like hard work!

Helena is one of our Studio members. She does her Better Balance videos every morning and then takes the stairs throughout the day. She told me that she always goes upstairs to use the bathroom in order to climb the stairs (even though she has a bathroom on the ground floor!).

Try setting a small target (smaller than you think), keeping a record and celebrating every stair climb.

Combine Your Stair Climbing with Other Exercises

Если вы уже делаете упражнения дома, то сочетайте с ними лазание по лестнице.

For instance, Melissa, another one of our Studio members, starts with one of our Move More Easily or Wake Up, Warm Up! videos. Then she does her stair climbs (concentrating on her posture and technique) and finishes with a Quick Win balance training video or a breathing/relaxation exercise.

If you would like more ideas on staying active at home, take a look at the Vida Wellness online exercise Studio. It will help you improve your balance and posture, feel stronger, and move more easily.

Remind Yourself Why You’re Doing It

As with anything that’s hard work, it always helps to remind yourself why you’re doing it. So, when you go to do your stair climbs, tell yourself how it’s going to help you. This will be specific to you, but here are some examples:

“I’m going to climb the stairs five times today because I want to stay fit and strong so I can keep up with my grandchildren in the park.”

“I’m going to fit ten stair climbs in my day to keep my legs strong for dancing!”

“I’m exercising on the stairs so that I have the stamina to make the most of the holiday I have booked later this year.”

Taking a minute to think about what’s meaningful to you and reminding yourself of this will help you to get started and keep going.

Do you avoid the stairs or appreciate them as a valuable exercise opportunity? What might be your reason to do stair climbs? Please join the conversation below!

There’s something about being inside for months, having the privilege to stay safe at home, that could be making you nitpick at things. As for me, my apartment is annoying me, my grown-out roots are annoying me and my split ends are driving me crazy. And let’s not even talk about my eyebrows. So far, I’ve worked hard to put down the scissors. Celebrities are feeling it, too. For example, Uma Thurman gave her daughter Maya Hawke a haircut at home and while that seems pretty brave on Hawke’s side, when your mom is UMA THURMAN you’re probably in pretty great hands.

Hawke, whose dad is Ethan Hawke, made her big on-screen debut in the third season of Stranger Things. She quickly became an It-girl when it comes to her style and beauty looks. Her medium-brown hair is often styled in a long bob with chunky bangs. While hanging at home though, it looks like Hawke wanted to go even shorter with her bob. Who better to emulate than the iconic Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction, who happens to be your mom?

It’s hard to tell in the below photo but it looks like Thurman is cutting Hawke’s hair into a short blunt bob à la her ’90s character. “Home hair cuts bring us back home. We are all finding our selves again,” Thurman wrote on Instagram.

Source: Instagram

I cannot wait to see the finished product and hope they really went for it with blunt bangs are well.

Photo: little-blvck-submarines.tumblr.com

A girl can dream

If you lived through the ’90s you remember how much we all destroyed our brows. We plunked and waxed until there was just a tiny little line à la Jennifer Lopez or Kate Moss. Thank goodness that time has ended and we’re back to rocking whatever natural brow we already have. I have pretty full brows already but I like to give them a little boost with some pencil to color in any sparse spots and eyebrow gel to tame them. Lately, I’ve been looking for the toughest, strongest-hold brow gel to really sweep them up and out to get that cool-girl “boy brow” look. Well, I think I’ve found it and it comes in the form of a wax. Read on for my Patrick Ta Beauty Major Brow Shaping Wax review.

One trend that’s come into popularity as of late is brow lamination. This goes with the full-brow trend perfectly. The service is done in a salon and involves applying a keratin solution to brows that slicks the hairs up in a desired direction and shape. Brows look naturally fuller and thicker right away. It’s a pretty amazing service but one that costs a pretty penny and only lasts up to eight weeks. With Patrick Ta‘s newest brow wax, you can get that laminated look temporarily at home whenever you want.

Image: Patrick Ta Beauty.

How does this magic happen, you ask? Well, first you need Patrick Ta Beauty Major Brow Shaping Wax in either Clear or Tinted. Tinted works best on brows that are on the light side. The formula contains growth peptides to support healthy
new hair growth, as well as glycerin and olive oil to condition and soften brows and skin. You also need a spoolie and Patrick Ta Beauty is selling one of those with the Major Brow Dual Ended Brow Brush ($18 at Sephora).

Go ahead and wet the spoolie with a little water or some setting spray. Then, rub the brush back and forth across the wax to pick up a lot of product. Brush your brows up and out and allow the product to dry for a few minutes. You can repeat this again to really “laminate” the hair or you can just stop there like I did. You’ve probably heard of people using a bar of soap for this trick, which can work depending on your hair texture but I find Ta’s wax stays much longer.

Image: Elizabeth Denton.

Once your brows look like crazy caterpillars, use the eyebrow brush or your fingers to push the hair back in place a little wherever you think it looks best. I like the front of my brows to be full and feathered and the tail to be a little straighter. Watch exactly how I did it, below.

Source: Instagram

To say I’m obsessed would be an understatement. I love the way it makes me look put together without a lot of makeup.

Image: Elizabeth Denton.

It seems like others are loving it too because Major Brow Shaping Wax in Tinted sold out at Sephora and on Patrick Ta Beauty’s website. Clear is still available and works great. But don’t worry! This isn’t a limited-edition product and Tinted will be restocked in a few days.

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