Is climbing 10 flights of stairs per day a lot?

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Kiyomoo
Kiyomoo Posts: 354 Member
edited September 2021 in Fitness and Exercise
Hello! Previously, my exercise was slim to none, I only went on walks sporadically, once a week at most. Now, after transferring to a new school, I climb about 5-15 flights of stairs every weekday. And I'm trying to make sure I go on a walk every week, now. My question is, is 10 flights of stairs a day a lot? Will it make a difference in my overall health or impact my weight loss journey? Would there be a big difference if I aimed to walk up 15 flights of stairs per day rather than some days only doing 5-10?

Note: I do plan on doing 15 flights per day on a regular basis eventually, but at the moment, it is hard on my legs. I'm basically wondering if I should wait for my body to adjust and get there gradually, or push myself to start doing that many every single weekday now.
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  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,675 Member
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    Let your body adjust. Doing too much too quickly gets you injured or burned out. You want to gradually increase the load, not do it all at once. If your legs are hurting, then don't increase yet. When your legs don't hurt, then increase a bit and hold there until you get used to that level of effort.

    Ten flights of stairs is a lot if you aren't used to doing any. It's about 100' of climbing. It's a good start.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    Current recommendations say you should be aiming for 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise - enough to breathe harder. That’s 30 minutes a day every week day. I have no idea how long it takes you to walk up stairs, but probably not that long. If you could incorporate a little daily walking you could get there pretty easily though!

    Every little bit counts and taking the stairs is certainly helping. It’s okay to start where you are, and gradually approach your goals. Just do a little more and then a little more, and soon you will be amazed at what you can do. And definitely plan to have easy days for rest. Your muscles grow during rest, not during use.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I don't think 10 flights a day is especially a lot, but if it is more than zero before, it will likely improve your fitness quite a bit. I used to live in a 4th floor walk-up and even when I was overweight I could run up the stairs, even carrying a heavy bag or some groceries, no problem, and although it didn't prevent me from gaining weight I think it helped me be somewhat fit and able to easily up exercise when I did (same with daily walking). Now I live in a house with a second floor and basement and go up and down those stairs frequently daily and climb other stairs (up and down to the L) and yet -- despite being in better shape in some other ways -- when I climb up to my sister's or my friend's 4th floor walk-ups, I find it much more difficult than I did for my own back in the day, so I've lost some relevant fitness. I wish more places I went let us take the stairs vs the elevator.
  • love2lift_85
    love2lift_85 Posts: 356 Member
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    I go up and down my stairs probably 10 times a day. If I'm putting things away, helping the kids with the tv down there, cleaning up, etc... yeah i can easily do 10 flights a day. ❤
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,898 Member
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    Kiyomoo wrote: »
    Hello! Previously, my exercise was slim to none, I only went on walks sporadically, once a week at most. Now, after transferring to a new school, I climb about 5-15 flights of stairs every weekday. And I'm trying to make sure I go on a walk every week, now. My question is, is 10 flights of stairs a day a lot? Will it make a difference in my overall health or impact my weight loss journey? Would there be a big difference if I aimed to walk up 15 flights of stairs per day rather than some days only doing 5-10?

    Note: I do plan on doing 15 flights per day on a regular basis eventually, but at the moment, it is hard on my legs. I'm basically wondering if I should wait for my body to adjust and get there gradually, or push myself to start doing that many every single weekday now.

    As said above, if it's a challenge for you, then it's a challenge.

    Do add flights gradually - I wouldn't want you to hurt your knees.

    When I lived in a first floor apartment I noticed some degrading of my fitness due to not doing regular stair climbing.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    What is a lot? A lot is when what you're doing is too much for you to handle, either physically or mentally. For some people, even one flight of stairs is a lot, for others 50 is fine. Build up your activity gradually until you reach a point you're happy with. Think forward: what level of activity can you reliably keep up for the next week? Consistency is more important than sheer volume for habit creation. Don't overthink it, just do what you can consistently do and increase gradually.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited October 2021
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    To answer your initial question 10 flights a lot for someone who doesn't do 10 flights within your current load management that allows for recovery.

    If it is part of your job you will adapt as long as you don't start from nothing to 10 flights per day.
    Will it make a difference in my overall health or impact my weight loss journey?
    You haven't given enough information to determine that.

    If your goal is to do 15 FPD I would dose the in a less linear progression. How you do that is up how creative you are as well as the many factors that go into proper load management. Experiment with the data you have on how you recover and respond to load increases.

    You might try something these two example per the week and see how it feels for the entire week. This will allow you to increase your volume with giving some recovery to increases.

    Current volume: 50F
    10-10-10-10-10

    Example volume 1: 52F
    13-8-11-10-10

    Example volume 2: 53F
    13-9-10-11-10:

  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    You're overthinking. Just take the stairs. It's more activity than taking the elevator and it's good for you. 10-15 flights of stairs per day isn't a lot necessarily. People who have multi story homes likely do that and more daily. I work on the 3rd floor of my office building and always take the stairs. It's four flights to get to my office floor and I do that several times per day just doing work stuff as I rarely take the elevator to get around the building. Taking the stairs is an excellent way to improve your NEAT.

    Yeah, this. I live three flights of stairs from the street (on a hill), my porch is another flight up and getting to my second story for the kitchen and bathroom is another full flight. I come in from the car and pee I've done five.

    Doesn't matter if it's objectively a lot or not. If it's more than you've been doing it's good.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,461 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Kiyomoo wrote: »
    Hello! Previously, my exercise was slim to none, I only went on walks sporadically, once a week at most. Now, after transferring to a new school, I climb about 5-15 flights of stairs every weekday. And I'm trying to make sure I go on a walk every week, now. My question is, is 10 flights of stairs a day a lot? Will it make a difference in my overall health or impact my weight loss journey? Would there be a big difference if I aimed to walk up 15 flights of stairs per day rather than some days only doing 5-10?

    Note: I do plan on doing 15 flights per day on a regular basis eventually, but at the moment, it is hard on my legs. I'm basically wondering if I should wait for my body to adjust and get there gradually, or push myself to start doing that many every single weekday now.

    As said above, if it's a challenge for you, then it's a challenge.

    Do add flights gradually - I wouldn't want you to hurt your knees.

    When I lived in a first floor apartment I noticed some degrading of my fitness due to not doing regular stair climbing.

    This may not apply to you, but I learned in knee PT that I was doing stairs suboptimally. I was pressing (pulling?) up with the upstairs leg to climb. It reduced stress on my knees if I made it a point to primarily push up with my downstairs leg instead.

    Oh dear lord. Something else to think about.

    Must go try stairs…….
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,898 Member
    edited October 2021
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Kiyomoo wrote: »
    Hello! Previously, my exercise was slim to none, I only went on walks sporadically, once a week at most. Now, after transferring to a new school, I climb about 5-15 flights of stairs every weekday. And I'm trying to make sure I go on a walk every week, now. My question is, is 10 flights of stairs a day a lot? Will it make a difference in my overall health or impact my weight loss journey? Would there be a big difference if I aimed to walk up 15 flights of stairs per day rather than some days only doing 5-10?

    Note: I do plan on doing 15 flights per day on a regular basis eventually, but at the moment, it is hard on my legs. I'm basically wondering if I should wait for my body to adjust and get there gradually, or push myself to start doing that many every single weekday now.

    As said above, if it's a challenge for you, then it's a challenge.

    Do add flights gradually - I wouldn't want you to hurt your knees.

    When I lived in a first floor apartment I noticed some degrading of my fitness due to not doing regular stair climbing.

    This may not apply to you, but I learned in knee PT that I was doing stairs suboptimally. I was pressing (pulling?) up with the upstairs leg to climb. It reduced stress on my knees if I made it a point to primarily push up with my downstairs leg instead.
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Oh dear lord. Something else to think about.

    Must go try stairs…….

    Tried stairs. Hurt my brain. Must discuss with physical therapist next appointment. She has stairs.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,898 Member
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    I lost my FitBit One a few years back, didn't replace it, and didn't miss it until now. I have a "dumb" pedometer which is fine for steps, but now I am missing the Stairs feature from my One, which was discontinued. I just bought a refurbished one on ebay. They are crazy expensive on Amazon.
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,365 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I lost my FitBit One a few years back, didn't replace it, and didn't miss it until now. I have a "dumb" pedometer which is fine for steps, but now I am missing the Stairs feature from my One, which was discontinued. I just bought a refurbished one on ebay. They are crazy expensive on Amazon.

    I'm not a big fan of the 'stairs' feature on the FitBits... they use changes in air pressure to determine if you are going up/down stairs, so on my morning bike rides on a moderately hilly path, I get credited with anywhere from 40 to 60 flights of stairs.

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