Annette Penney writes:

As most kindly asked for, here are the details of effective stair climbing. My own personal experience is that in the off-season, bulking and putting on as much muscle "size" as possible was emphasized. My trainers always told me however, that if leg exercises were performed "properly over time" when the time came to lower body fat, the cuts would be there. Stair climbing was used to keep the size on the legs (dieting and cardio can kill muscle size if not done properly to begin with, but even when done properly there is always the chance of losing some size) AND also to bring out definition and striations. It definitely did that for me and when I competed, the most noticeable differences I noted in the other competitors was in the back and legs. I always had a thicker, wider back, and my legs had the deepest cuts. Okay, here goes what I did as pre-competition stair climbing:

Dieting started at 20 weeks out, stairs started at 16 weeks out.

METHOD

Do a sufficient warm up by stretching out the legs, calves especially. Only go up 8 to 10 flights of stairs MAX. The method I used was referred to as "marching up, running down". Going up the stairs, plant your entire foot on the stair, don't just put half of your foot on the stair with your heel off the stair. Pick a pace and stick to it, although this is tough at the beginning and even tougher at the end when calorie intake is low etc.... With your arms at your side comparable to how a runner holds their arms, march up the stairs. On the way down hold onto the rail and run down. Don't go so fast that you could trip and fall - it's not a race. There is no stopping at the top or the bottom of the stairs; when you get to the bottom immediately turn around and march back up, when you get to the top immediately turn around and run back down. I used to keep a bottle of water at the top (eighth floor) and hurriedly grab a sip before heading back down. You get into a groove after a while and don't seem to miss a beat. I also wore a pouch around my waist to put my keys in and hold my walkman. Stair climbing without music will cause you to lose your mind, guaranteed.

WHICH DAYS TO PERFORM

Do stair climbing on training days only. I did a 4 on/1 off when getting ready for a show and stair climbing was always in "addition" to the regular amount of cardio that you would do. If you do your regular cardio in the morning, leave stair climbing for the evening or vice versa. What TIME of day you do stairs is entirely dependent on the individual; I did mine in the evenings. Don't include stair climbing as part of your cardio sessions. On your days off, take complete days off. No activity. None.

TIMING SCHEDULE

Weeks 16 & 15: 15 minutes

Weeks 14 & 13: 20 minutes

Weeks 12 & 11: 25 minutes

Weeks 10 & 9: 30 minutes

Weeks 8 to 0: 35 minutes

If you thought you were in great shape, wait until you start climbing REAL stairs. I thought I was going to croak the first few weeks I did them. It gets easier as your weight goes down - that's hopeful!