2,909 Stairs. An 11-Inch Box. Six Days Without Food.
by: Michaelson Williams, author of *The Legacy Wife, Playground Dating Theories, YOU ARE ILLUMINATI: Psychological World War III, Trainwashing: The Secrets of Positive Brainwashing,* and more.
No, I'm not actually in Dubai physically climbing the Burj Khalifa, but I'm using an 11-inch box to mimic the journey. Let me tell you how this started.
I had already been consistently performing my 300-repetition workouts three days per week as a founder and member of The Fit 300. Then I got the idea—again—to complete a 72-hour fasting process to push my mental state a little bit further. You know, testing what it means to be a man, and whatnot.
In these modern times, it's really easy to find excuses as to why you shouldn't be a better man, so I like to challenge myself. A lot.
The fast was going as expected. I've fasted many times in my life, even stretching one out to 33 days consecutively. None of those "I'll skip breakfast" or "eat one meal a day" wimpy "fasts" for me. I like the real deal.
Seventy-two hours is the beginning of the sweet spot of fasting, as it's the transition time where your mind and body are tested the hardest. After that first 72 hours—three days—your mind and body generally settle in for the long haul, at least in my experience.
So here I am on day number six and, like usual, trying to find a way not to extend my fasting process longer.
That's right, you didn't just read a misprint or brain fart in that last sentence. I am indeed six days into a three-day fast.
There is something about getting over that 72-hour hump that triggers my mind and body to go further. My body feels better. My brain feels sharper, and my work production increases.
If you've read any of my other fasting process articles, then you've seen me express the idea that it feels like unlocking a superpower. This doesn't happen to me once or twice. This happens every single time I pass the 72-hour mark, give or take a couple of hours.
I believe every man should experience this elevated state of being. It's like something biologically primitive is being activated.
Spear hunter-like.
Anyway, during these 300-rep workouts and the fasting process, and in my elevated mental and physical state, I got the idea of pushing even further.
That's where the 11-inch box came into play.
I figured I would perform a few step-ups to burn a little extra fat around my belly area. The best way I've found to do this is by using one of the largest muscles in the body to light the furnace of fat burning: the upper legs.
I love running, but running is a huge problem these days. I like to be barefoot when I run, but years of running on concrete took its toll on my knees a bit.
Regardless, there is a solution for every problem, and mine was the box.
As a side note, I post and will be posting my full workouts and long-form box steps on Rumble, with shorts on YouTube. I've observed that most men online are increasingly full of BS, so I like to have proof of what I say as a record.
That way, if you feel the need, you can hold me accountable for whatever claims I've made.
Just keep in mind that if you call me out, I won't even acknowledge you unless you've joined me in The Fit 300 Podcast workouts. This cuts out all the keyboard warriors who love acting like little boys online while having zero masculinity to back up their finger-typing knives.
You know who you are.
So, let's continue.
At The Fit 300, we regularly perform a 300-second, or five-minute, mental and physical reset after the workout, so I thought my box steps should follow that principle.
300 seconds. 300 steps.
But that would be pretty impossible as that's one step up per second. Not sustainable even for the most fit people on the planet.
However, if broken down into 3/300 seconds, or five minutes each, then you have a solid framework to work with, especially due to the added pressure of having an empty belly for a few days.
Yes, I didn't start the box steps and fasting at the same time, if you didn't catch that above.
This is all on-the-fly change, because life shouldn't be all rigid and structured all the time. Humans, in my opinion, need unpredictability to help them feel truly alive.
I feel alive.
Okay, let's get to the numbers.

From this chart, you can see my step count thus far, or at the time you're reading this entry.
The Burj Khalifa is 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall architecturally, but that's not the number of steps that would need to be climbed. Because the box that I'm using isn't a standard 8-inch riser, some calculations had to be made to make sure I knew exactly what it would take to get to the top of the Burj.
The total number of stairs in the Burj Khalifa is 2,909, so my calculations are based solely on that number. The total height of the building isn't really relevant here.
Since my box is 11 inches high, each step-up represents 0.9167 feet of vertical ascent.
If we assume the Burj's 2,909 stairs have an average 8-inch rise, then the total vertical rise represented by those stairs would be approximately 1,939 feet.
Using my 11-inch box, that means I would need approximately 2,116 step-ups to complete the equivalent vertical ascent of those 2,909 stairs.
From my current chart, you can see that I'm already more than halfway to the top, around 62% of the way. I have around 786 step-ups to go to reach the top of the Burj.
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That means I'm two days from reaching the top, with an extra push because my max number of steps per day is 350. With the remaining 786 steps split over two days, that means I'll have to step it up and complete 393 per day to complete the equivalent of climbing all 2,909 stairs. I'll have to do this all while fasting, because I will not eat until I've completed my task.
I almost forgot about the added benefit of this climbing task, and that's the bonus of weight loss—not just from the fasting, but from the elevated cardio.
When I started, I was 195.7 pounds, and at the time of writing this entry, I'm 187.6 pounds. That's 8.1 pounds in six days.
FYI, I am drinking exactly 28 fluid ounces of water every day.
Full disclosure.
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This is not a goal.
This is a task.
You can fail a goal, but a task, at least in my eyes, is a do-or-die situation. And that's the whole idea of the task: to create for myself tasks that challenge my mind and body to the point where I'm asking myself:
"Who are you really?"
Now I ask you:
Who are you really?
Task completion update coming soon.
Michaelson Williams
The MichaelsonEffect
Founder at GoVoteX Infinity
Author of YOU ARE ILLUMINATI - Psychological World War III
Also checkout The Fit 300 Podcast
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