Walking up the stairs is practiced all over the world as an effective workout for fat burning and general strengthening of the muscle frame. Unfortunately, today more and more people lead an extremely sedentary lifestyle. They travel by car, sit in offices all day, and walk a little. There is no time left for fitness or sports. As a result, heart disease develops, muscles become flabby, excess weight and cellulite appear.
Walking up the stairs to lose weight or simply to maintain health is a way out for people seeking to break the vicious circle. It can be practiced everywhere, for example, in the office, instead of using the elevator, use the stairs. Houses also walk up to their floor. Do not use escalators in shops, metro, shopping centers, but use your feet to overcome descents and ascents. Thus, a person begins to lead an active lifestyle without wasting time training in the gym.
Of course, walking up the stairs is no substitute for a full gym session. However, it will give an excellent result for those wishing to tighten the muscles of the legs and priests, strengthen the heart and lungs, and lose weight.
What muscles sway when walking up stairs?
Let's find out what muscles are exercised when walking up and down stairs. This will help you better understand the exercise itself, as well as how it works.
As you can imagine, ascent and descent are not the same thing. You will be surprised, but despite the fact that the descent burns fewer calories, the muscles work harder. The fact is that when a person rises, he moves his leg to an even elevation, intuitively calculating the height of the next rise. During the descent, each step is a small dip down, albeit to a certain depth. The brain and muscles work in conjunction, they constantly control the position of the body in space, experiencing a kind of stress. Thus, going down, you strengthen and tone your muscles more, and while going up, you spend energy more actively, which means you lose weight.
Climbing up the stairs involves:
- Knee straighteners;
- Calf muscles;
- Hip biceps;
- The gluteal muscles.
During the descent, in addition to the indicated muscle groups, the quadriceps (front surface of the thigh) are included in the work.
Now you know which muscles work when walking up stairs, which means you understand why exercise is so beneficial for the muscles of the lower body. By the way, this kind of training involves movement, which means that many other muscle groups are involved - the back, arms, abdomen, and shoulder girdle. In addition, ligaments, joints and tendons are involved.
Execution technique
To get started, check out the helpful guidelines.
- First of all, be sure to do a warm-up - warm up the muscles in your legs and back. Perform circular rotations of the working joints, jump in place, stretch well;
- Work out in comfortable sportswear, do not skimp on high-quality sneakers with springy soles;
- Start at a slow pace, gradually building up towards the middle. Slowly slow down the last 10% of the time. Finish the workout with a small stretching complex and breathing exercises;
- Breathe regularly as you walk, breathe in medium depth. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth.
- The recommended heart rate zone is 130-140 beats. / min. You can download a special fitness application to your phone or buy a fitness watch;
- For those who want to climb the stairs for weight loss, for a quick result, reviews recommend exercising at the fastest pace you can.
- Take a break only after descending: ascend, descend immediately - you can sit for a while.
In the process of movement, the leg is put on the toe, rolling the foot onto the heel, the knee is bent to an angle of 90 degrees. The back is kept straight, the body can be tilted slightly forward while lifting. It is advisable to bend your arms at the elbows and help them in the course of movement. Don't look at your feet. Put headphones in your ears - so much more fun!
Benefits, harms and contraindications
Next, we will consider the benefits and harms of walking up the stairs, because this exercise, like any other, has its own contraindications. Let's start with the pleasant:
- Cardiologists unanimously answer the question "is it useful to walk up stairs" in the affirmative. Exercise strengthens the cardiovascular system, normalizes blood pressure;
- The lesson trains the athlete's endurance, improves breathing;
- Strengthening of muscles and joints occurs, a beautiful relief appears, the body becomes more elastic, the skin becomes elastic;
- Exercise is classified as energy-intensive, so it actively promotes fat loss. Below we will tell you how to properly walk up the weight loss stairs so that the result appears as soon as possible;
- Blood circulation is activated, especially in the small pelvis, which is equally beneficial for the reproductive function of both men and women;
- A beautiful posture is formed;
- Any sports activity has a positive effect on the general emotional background of a person - the mood rises, worries and worries go to the background.
When can walking stairs harm an athlete?
- If you set yourself too high a bar and start exercising at a very fast pace, unusual pains in the heart or joints may occur. In this case, reduce the load, allow yourself to rest. Be sure to see a doctor;
- If you exercise in the wrong shoes, you can injure your ankle. The risk of falling and twisting a leg remains with beginners who are not yet used to the exercise, or who are immediately practicing high speed;
- If you exercise, if you feel unwell, there is a risk of shortness of breath, dizziness, weakness. Never go to workout if you are sick, have a cold, have a poor sleep, or are very tired.
Next, we list the contraindications, in the presence of which walking up the stairs is strictly prohibited:
- Active varicose veins;
- Conditions after a heart attack or stroke;
- Injury to the knee, ankle, or hip joints. Please note that it must be diagnosed by a specialist. If your knee hurts after running, it still means nothing and it's too early to talk about contraindications;
- Damage to the musculoskeletal system;
- Scoliosis;
- Exacerbation of chronic diseases;
- After abdominal operations;
- With inflammatory processes, including at temperature;
- Glaucoma;
- Severely poor eyesight.
Walking stairs and pregnancy
Many expectant mothers, especially those leading an active sports life in the recent past, are interested in the benefits of climbing stairs for women. And in general, is it possible to arrange such training in an interesting position.
The answer to this question will be positive, because pregnancy is not a pathological condition. On the contrary, this is a wonderful period when moderate physical activity will have a positive effect on both the woman and her baby.
- During sports activities, the body absorbs more oxygen. Thus, the expectant mother, with the help of exercise, negates the risk of developing hypoxia in the baby;
- Physical education strengthens muscles and ligaments, improves well-being, which means that it will be easier for mom to give birth and it will be easier to recover after childbirth;
- Of course, the burden for pregnant women should be moderate. No weights, no new records and no tiring races. If you suddenly feel unwell, stop immediately. Practice slowly and with pleasure. You will lose weight and swing your ass later, but now, you just need to improve your health, cheer yourself up and your baby.
- Before starting training, be sure to consult with your doctor. It is forbidden to play sports in the presence of a threat of miscarriage, uterine tone, bleeding, pain, as well as in the early stages.
- In the last trimester, we recommend wearing a compression garment and a bandage.
How many calories are burned?
All women losing weight are interested in how many calories are burned when walking up the stairs. By the way, this exercise takes up much more energy than regular jogging, because in the process of lifting, the athlete is forced to constantly overcome the force of gravity.
- On average, for every 10 steps a person spends 1 kcal;
- Thus, at a moderate pace, it will consume 10-15 kcal per minute;
- By simple calculations, we calculate that in an hour you can lose 600-900 kcal
Energy expenditure depends on many factors, such as the weight of the athlete. The more a person weighs, the more difficult it is for him to lift his kilograms up the stairs, respectively, the more calories he will spend. Also, the speed of movement, the duration of the lesson, and even the air temperature in the area have an effect.
As you can see, stair walking is effective for weight loss - calories are spent more actively than when running (500-600 kcal per hour). By the way, when the initial load becomes familiar to you, try to accelerate the pace or switch from walking up the stairs to running. Alternatively, start using weights. This will increase the difficulty of the task, which means you will spend much more calories. If you're looking to lose weight, remember to eat healthy, get adequate sleep and rest.
Sample lesson program
If you are just getting started, do not use weights. Exercise 2-3 times a week for 15-30 minutes at a slow pace. After a couple of weeks, you can increase your walking speed.
For athletes with normal physical condition, we recommend adding light elements of physical education to walking up the stairs:
- Jumping upwards - 20-30 times;
- Rises on tiptoes 40-70 times;
- Swing your legs forward, backward and to the sides 30 times;
- Further 10-15 minutes walking up the stairs at a moderate pace;
- 5-10 minutes brisk walking (almost running);
- Smoothly reduce the walking speed for 10 minutes.
- Several stretching exercises.
For experienced athletes, we recommend complicating the task for themselves, for example, hanging a backpack with a weight on their backs, picking up dumbbells. Try interval running with alternating speeds.
We reviewed reviews and results on ladder walking for weight loss, and concluded that the exercise is very effective. Women who deliberately travel to stadiums to run up and down stairs say they've been able to lose 5 to 10 kg in a month. At the same time, of course, they followed the correct diet, drank a lot of water and combined stair walking with other loads.
As they say, the road will be mastered by the walker, which means that the main thing is to start training. Try it today, down with the elevator, walk home!
