POP QUIZ!

Question: What exercise provides a quick and readily available workout that is a high calorie burning exercise, can be easy or intense and is perfect in any weather, any place and any time of the day.....plus....it's absolutely FREE!?

Answer: Stair climbing!

Using the stairs as an alternative to an escalator or elevator can burn about 500 calories per hour depending on your weight. It's a great leg and butt workout and it's more work than running because each step requires the lift of your entire body's weight up each stair on just one leg. There's no excuse that you can't afford a gym to exercise. There are stairs everywhere! Grab your iPod and get climbing! :)

Did you know?....stairs have been around since prehistoric times. The earliest staircases were developed by accident through the use of footholds on steep slopes and graduated from there! Castles in the Middle Ages built their stone staircases in a counter-clockwise manner as a way to protect the castle from sword wielding intruders. The intruder quickly discovered that their attempts to attack with their sword was in vain! The counter-clockwise rotation of the staircase inevitably caused the swords to hit the stone wall instead of the castle guards. Also, before the advent of the burglar alarm, stairs would offer an excellent way of detecting an intruder. Constructing a staircase with uneven steps would trip up a unwelcomed guest and alarm the rest of the house!

Interested in running the marathon at The Great Wall of China? Expect to use 5,164 steps to accomplish this extraordinary event! If that doesn't intimidate you and you are crazy enough for the challenge, make your way to Tianjin Province on May 16, 2009 and join the race! Great Wall Marathon Website

Although it wasn't nearly the challenge of The Great Wall, I did my first workout using the stairs this morning!! It wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be! For some strange reason it was easier to jog up the stairs than walk them. I'd rather use the momentum of jogging to propel myself up the stairs rather than labor through each walking step. All in all I did the stairs for nearly 30 minutes (walking down each flight of stairs) and I didn't pass out from fatigue! :)

This is a photo I took of The Great Wall when we traveled to China. Matt scaled the wall up to the third tower in the upper right corner of this picture. Of course, I chose to find the best photo opportunity- which just so happened to be at the base of the staircase (lol) - rather than join the rest of the group for the steep climb up the wall. Yup...me and one of the grandmothers on the trip were the only two who chose not to make the climb.....hmmm....I think that says a lot!!!! Well, you never know...I could be one of the marathon runners at The Great Wall in 2013! :)