Bloomer Park stairs workout review, pics, & video. “The Stairs” or staircase at Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills MI is one of the best outdoor fitness workouts in Oakland County.
Bloomer Park is a gem. It’s changed and developed so much over the decades that many people aren’t aware of many of the features. When I visit to do the Bloomer Park stairs workout, I often run into older people that used to visit in the 1970s and beyond that marvel at how well it has held up with the addition of modern equipment and well-manicured trails. Bloomer Park stairs & bloomer park are maintained by the City of Rochester Hills Parks Department
The stairs are just to the left of the giant Stone Shelter picnic pavilion.
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Bloomer Park Stairs Workout
I, by no means, invented the Bloomer Park stairs workout. I’ve been doing it for about for about 20 years and see a lot of people doing various workouts using the 200 step (approximate) Bloomer Park staircase to nature. Either way, it’s great to see people pushing themselves outdoors in the fresh air and nature and not stuck at a Lifetime surrounded by 50 million watts of technology.
I’ve seen and met so many interesting people while doing my Bloomer Park stairs workout. The young, the old, the fit, the trying to get fit, dog walkers, nature lovers, extreme crossfitters…
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Bloomer Park Stairs Tour
Bloomer Park Stairs Workout – My Own Routine
This is my personal Bloomer Park Stairs Workout routine. Feel free to do whatever workout you want. Maybe you can make up one that’s way better than mine.
Bloomer Park Stairs Workout Routine – Do some thorough stretching followed by a light jog down the main Bloomer Park staircase (to the left of the Stone Shelter). Stretch a little more at the bottom and your workout begins!
Jog or walk up the steps (depending on your current fitness ability). If you skip steps (or doublestep), you’ll work your quads more. If you take each step one at a time, you’ll get some heavy cardio and tone your calf muscles more. Even walking the steps is no “piece of cake”. It’s a rewarding climb.
Once at the top, briskly walk (to keep your heart rate steady) to the LEFT and you’ll see a path opening about 1/4 of a mile down on your LEFT. Take this short path until you reach the NEXT set of stairs. Briskly take these steps to the bottom and take the path to your LEFT. Try to keep your walk rate brisk to keep your heart rate balanced. A quarter-mile nature hike later and you’re back at the bottom of staircase #1.
Repeat these “laps” as desired. Your lungs and legs will be tired but the fresh air feels great! Repeat these “laps”. If you’re new to fitness, 1 lap will feel brutal. Now, in my 22nd year of doing the stairs workout, my routine consists of 5-10 laps.
Why the Walking Part?
NOTE – I did the LEFT turn and path routine (described above) as a necessity because just going up & down the stairs for the Bloomer Park Stairs Workout was killing my lungs (and the workout became boring too). I NEEDED the little path jaunt in the video as a break to get my air back so I could do more reps of stairs… and it’s VERY scenic. Now this is part of my routine. I liken it to if you were doing a set of arm curls and you rest for a minute before doing your 2nd set. If I did stairs only with no path walk, my workout would be a lot shorter because I’d be too gassed. The 6 minute nature walk allows my lungs to catch up so I can do another set. 1 full lap of the Bloomer Park stairs workout takes between 6-7 minutes (including the trip up)
Here’s video of a typical “lap”.
Bloomer Park Stairs Workout Video 1
My typical Bloomer Park Stairs Workout goes like this – 1st lap double step jog, 2nd lap double step walk, 3rd lap single step walk. Repeat as necessary. I usually do 3, 6, or 9 laps total. I only do 10 when I know I’m not doing much the rest of the day!
I developed my little routine routine through trial and error. When I started doing the Bloomer Park stairs workout back in 2007, my cardio level was poor. So, by the time I went up the stairs once or twice, it took me so long to recover that I often cut my workouts really short. Again, that’s why I do the lap around back to staircase #1. I feel this Bloomer Park Stairs Workout is the best combination to blast your lungs and your legs equally.
The Bloomer Park video I took gives the basics of the location and some helpful, descriptive tips. Due to camera shakiness, I left out the workout routine but it’s a great introduction and road map of the basics involving the steps and the stairs at Bloomer Park.
The steps is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of fitness. Bloomer Park offers sledding, baseball fields, cross country skiing and miles of nature trails.
Bloomer Park
375 John R Road
Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309
See our Oakland County Parks Tab for more Oakland County and Metro Detroit, Michigan park reviews and pics.
Bloomer Park is open year-round. Check out the Bloomer Park stairs today.
Take the 2nd staircase instead. When you get to the bottom turn Right and take the old trail all the way to Yates Cider Mill. In the 70’s it was a train track, with a bridge over the river. The last time I was there in 2001, the bridge was gone, the river dried up, But you could still walk All the way to Yates.
Thanks Laurie! I learned on an elementary school field trip in the eighties that the dried up river along the path was really a canal that was dug so you could travel and move goods inland through a series of canals that started in New York and were to run throughout the Midwest. But the progress of trains and railroads came along and they abandoned the project (right at the Bloomer Park site). They just picked up their shovels and left.