Stair climbing gets the heart pumping quickly, as anyone who’s ever skipped the elevator or escalator knows. That makes it an excellent low-impact exercise that’s as accessible as walking, since stairs are everywhere, but it burns many more calories. Even short bouts come with powerful health benefits, including improved , and a .
The movement is simple, but intense because stair climbing forces you to work against gravity as you repeatedly propel your body up a small height, doctors say. Yes, even competitive athletes use stair climbing as a part of their fitness training. “You’re working your heart, which is the most important muscle of the body, but then you’re also working your legs and you’re building muscles,” Dr.
Carrie Jaworski, a sports medicine physician in Park City, Utah, and president-elect of the American College of Sports Medicine, tells TODAY.com. “It’s a great workout.
” “It’s excellent cardio,” adds Dr. Stuart Cherney, chief of sports medicine at Stony Brook Medicine in New York. “It also incorporates a lot of muscle groups, which is going to require more work and burn off more calories.
” Stair climbing works the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and gluteal muscles, he notes. It depends on how fast you’re going, but it can be significantly more than — up to four times more, Jaworski says. “Stair climbing is one of the easiest activities you can do to burn calories without going to a gym,” the notes.
For a 155-pound person, .
