Racing up staircases or jumping down them gives you that I’m-in-a-rush rush. Handrails play helper as you leap on stage as the quick-zipping star of the show.
Here’s how to make the magic happen.
Okay, if you’re going up, two of the classiest moves include:
1. Roboto Man. You’re a straight-faced, mild-mannered Stairskipper 4000, an advanced prototype who skips steps nonchalantly and even does the triple step every so often. Robotos sometimes act super casual because they’re quietly racing someone in the escalator beside them.
2. Eager Beavers. These are sweaty six-year olds who just scarfed all their candy, businesswomen racing to catch the commuter train, or teenagers in ballcaps and baseball gloves running to the park. Eager beavers sometimes leap up two, three, four stairs at a time. Although it’s in their best interest to avoid you, keep your eyes peeled for sharp elbows and sweat showers.
Okay, now if you’re going down I recommend one of the following:
1. The Tarzan. Some lords of the jungle motor down the stairs and then plant their hands on the rail to swing themselves the rest of the way. We’ve all heard long tales of six, seven, even eight steps at once, but details are always fuzzy and hard to check out. Still, if done well The Tarzan can be very majestic. If done poorly, it can be very ankle sprainy.
2. Cliff Jumpers. This one’s for pros only. This is just a huge, free falling jump, generally on the way down to the rec room to play video games. Hopefully you’ve got a padded cushion landing and don’t crash head first through the thin wood veneer wall. There is no limit to the heights you can reach with this move.
Yes, jumping stairs gets your blood flowing from mini cardio workouts throughout the day. For a few brief moments you transform from a gal on her way to biology class into an animal in the wild again — scaling mountains, leaping rivers, and jumping cliffs like you were born to do. So as you go about your day don’t forget about your primal roots and caveman instincts.
Jump up. Jump down.
Jump forever.
AWESOME!
I did the Advanced Tarzan off my friend’s bunk bed stairs. She told me to stand at the top one, twenty feet off the ground, and just swing with my arms. Thankfully I didn’t break anything, but I landed in a somersault and nearly plowed her over. Then I said, “Can I do that again?”
I used to do the Tarzan all the time when I was a kid, and I would jump down 10 steps since the stairs in the house I lived in had that many. I should add that I only did that on carpeted stairs, not tiled or wooden stairs. But now that I’m older, I can’t do it anymore without feeling a shock of pain through my leg and knees if I were to jump from 8 steps and land on the ground.