I have been to the college's gym in weeks because I've been very busy, too busy to have yet maintain any semblance of a "habit" of exercising. I've been thinking recently that I could cut the time needed to go to the gym by climbing up and down the stairs of the building over and over. Our building has 10 floors so it takes quite a bit of effort to get to my floor, the eighth. I thought it might be a good idea because I don't have to worry about wether or not the gym is open and I didn't need to wait for someone to get off the elliptical or stairmaster, plus I could go at any pace I want. On the other hand, there is the chance of me being a minor inconvenience to others going up or down and the consequences of falling are significantly greater than on a machine. I would like to know if stairs are a reasonable aerobic exercise to do on a regular basis or if my efforts would be best for a different exercise altogether. Tl:dr exercising using the stairs would be convenient but I don't know how useful it actually is.
Sounds like decent exercise to me. Stay safe and go for it. Honestly even if gyms are quite useful sometimes, quite a few work outs you may be able to do from home or out of the gym- like the stairs/running, and pushups/situps/dips, if you're looking for some more as well (though those are more focused on the upper body). You can also do lunges at home if there's a big enough space to do so. Some of these, if you can do them at home or near home, are quite convenient and don't take up too much time if you're too busy to go to the gym. Good luck with it!
