Avoiding the elevator

For the past month and half, we have tried to avoid the elevator and take the stairs. Most elevators in high rise buildings have a counter weight and efficient electric design. So, a lot of energy is burnt as they go up compared to when they come down. The hydraulic elevators in most apartments are very inefficient power hogs. At the end of the day, a lot of energy could be saved and exercise gained by avoiding the elevator.

It was easy at home as it was only two flights of stairs from the apartment to garage. At work, it is a different story. Mayuri was able to manage well as her office is mostly on the 1st floor. My office is on 9th floor. For about 3 weeks, I avoided the elevator. That meant up and down 9 floors twice a day as I go home for lunch. It was great initially. I was feeling more energetic with all the work out I was getting.

After 3 weeks, my knees decided to give up. I think it was mostly the climbing down that hurt the knees. So, I started taking the elevator again at work. The plan is to take the stairs up and elevator down once the knees get back to normal in a couple of weeks. At the apartment, it is still the stairs.

After the knees returned back to normal, I started taking the stairs on the way up and elevator on the way down.

This experiment was mixed success.