Climbing Stairs.

rocket_ace
rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
edited October 25 in Fitness and Exercise
I just walked up 20 flights of stairs. it took me about 8 min, but taking out the brief rest breaks, I'd say a total of 5 min of walking....the entry on MFP is as follows.....seems like a lotta calories relatively...and so given a choice of power walking, jogging or stair climbing, why would you ever do anything but stair climbing? (other than they make you feel like crappo)?:

Walking, upstairs 5(min) 67 (kcal)
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Replies

  • i would get soem funny looks going up and down in the stairs in my flat lol
  • kdz526
    kdz526 Posts: 210 Member
    I have 25 stairs in my house and i probably go up and down them 100 times a day and never though to add that for excersize. I think whatever works for you and gets you moving is a good thing. plus i think stairs are supposed to help with lifting the butt and stuff like that.
  • warneg
    warneg Posts: 12 Member
    You must be in better shape than most of us...LOL. Good job.
  • footiechick82
    footiechick82 Posts: 1,203 Member
    Go go up and down stairs a lot on my commute to work, I just put it in as walking because I walk to and from the subway and to work and then back and to the gym...

    If you're doing stairs continuously up and down for a good 1/2 hour, track it. And yes, climbing stairs burns a lot of calories!
  • rocket_ace
    rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
    I have 25 stairs in my house and i probably go up and down them 100 times a day and never though to add that for excersize.

    I suppose everyone has different ways of counting calories/eating back - that's what makes it super confusing. There are 13 steps in a flight, so I did 20 flights (13 steps each). I was panting and sweaty at the end. I'm hesitant to continue to add the entry, as it was just 5 min of (admittedly intense) work, but then should I? and should I eat it back?

    You mention you have 25 stairs (basically 2 flights) that you walk up and down about 100 times....so that's 200 flights - which is alot. So are you undereating by not entering it? Or do you just add that to your initial activity assumption (I have myself as "sedentary desk job" but I suppose my walking and stairs could put me at "lightly active".
  • opalescence
    opalescence Posts: 413 Member
    There are 6 flights to my office and I walk them twice a day x 5 days a week...

    every little bit helps
  • Pedal_Pusher
    Pedal_Pusher Posts: 1,166 Member
    I have 25 stairs in my house and i probably go up and down them 100 times a day and never though to add that for excersize. I think whatever works for you and gets you moving is a good thing. plus i think stairs are supposed to help with lifting the butt and stuff like that.

    Please don't.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    ...and so given a choice of power walking, jogging or stair climbing, why would you ever do anything but stair climbing??
    Walking, upstairs 5(min) 67 (kcal)

    Why? Because I have a heart condition. But as an absented-minded mom, I am going up and down the stairs in the house all the time;I can never remember what I went downstairs for till I get back up stairs...then have to go down to the living room again.... But I can't handle a bunch in a row.

    Why? Because maybe stairs are not convenient for some people.

    Why? Maybe some love to jog or walk and would rather do twice as much time doing something they enjoy then something they don't like. I would rather spend 45 minutes on a brisk walk than 10 on stairs.
  • opalescence
    opalescence Posts: 413 Member
    I have stairs in my house too and I go up and down constantly but I dont track them because they've always been there and they didnt help me lose weight before.

    I do the stairs at work as a personal challenge and dont record it as physical exercise since its just a part of my active lifestyle now. If I was to track it, it would only be so I could see my activities add up and give myself gold stars.

    Haha but I'm a strange one and I like playing by my own rules.
  • I'm a new member. I don't know how to find exercised in the database. As an example, with the one about stairs. How many calories would be burned for walking up and down a flight of stairs? For biking 20 minutes? etc.
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    I just walked up 20 flights of stairs. it took me about 8 min, but taking out the brief rest breaks, I'd say a total of 5 min of walking....the entry on MFP is as follows.....seems like a lotta calories relatively...and so given a choice of power walking, jogging or stair climbing, why would you ever do anything but stair climbing? (other than they make you feel like crappo)?:

    Walking, upstairs 5(min) 67 (kcal)

    While walking up stairs burns quite a few calories quickly, it's hard to sustain for a long period of time. I can easily walk 4 miles in an hour w/ a slight incline, but ask me to walk stairs for 15 minutes? That's a workout! Sometimes I'll go do a quick 10 flights for a quick calorie burn at work, but for the most part I stick to walking hill intervals for my cardio calorie burns. You should check out how many calories you can burn doing various speeds at different inclines!
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    I'm a new member. I don't know how to find exercised in the database. As an example, with the one about stairs. How many calories would be burned for walking up and down a flight of stairs? For biking 20 minutes? etc.

    Click on the exercise tab and then cardiovascular and search the activity you are looking for. Enter "stairs" for the various stair climbing options or biking or walking, etc. Then, you can choose the activity that best fits what you did.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    I'm a new member. I don't know how to find exercised in the database. As an example, with the one about stairs. How many calories would be burned for walking up and down a flight of stairs? For biking 20 minutes? etc.

    Go to the exercise tab, click to ADD EXERCISE, then type in the activity done and it will spit out a few entries. Find the one closest to what you did.

    The amount of calories burned changes by person. MFP keeps track of your weight and adjusts that, I think. I noticed when I loose a couple of pounds, the exercise burns slightly less calories.
  • rocket_ace
    rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
    ...and so given a choice of power walking, jogging or stair climbing, why would you ever do anything but stair climbing??
    Walking, upstairs 5(min) 67 (kcal)

    Why? Because I have a heart condition. But as an absented-minded mom, I am going up and down the stairs in the house all the time;I can never remember what I went downstairs for till I get back up stairs...then have to go down to the living room again.... But I can't handle a bunch in a row.

    Why? Because maybe stairs are not convenient for some people.

    Why? Maybe some love to jog or walk and would rather do twice as much time doing something they enjoy then something they don't like. I would rather spend 45 minutes on a brisk walk than 10 on stairs.

    wow - you sounds a little offended - I didn't mean any slight at all, and was just thinking "out loud" in a way - obviously people have personal tastes and also health concerns. but my point was only that minute for minute, stairs seem to be very efficient for burning calories.
  • rocket_ace
    rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
    just did some research - apparently there is a big community of stair climbers that even do races and things....wow - can't imagine "running" up stairs for 30 min. imagine the size of your quads!!
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    No, I am not offended. I just read the forums too often. Too many people claiming the way they do/eat is best and why would anyone not want do things how they do it.


    Just pointing out that what is best for 1 person is totally NOT gonna work for others.

    Enjoy your stair climbing!

    Cues music : .Gonna Fly Now (rocky theme)
  • LilacSnow
    LilacSnow Posts: 238 Member
    i find stairs to be the hardest damn exercise. at the gym, i can last three minutes MAX on the stair master, and my heart is racing like no other cardio workout makes it.
  • rocket_ace
    rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
    i find stairs to be the hardest damn exercise. at the gym, i can last three minutes MAX on the stair master, and my heart is racing like no other cardio workout makes it.

    i know right!!? I see people on the stairmaster for 20-30 minutes - I am in awe of these guys (many of whom, admittedly, seem to be resting alot of their weight on the hand grips which methinks is a no-no)
  • This is my new main exercise. I did 40 min at a walking pace at my house up and down my 16 steps. This gets the heart rate up really fast. My favorite thing is my calves are burning! Legs are such a large part of our body and working them is a very important part of weight loss. This will forever be part of my weekly routine. I trained 12 weeks to complete a half marathon and never had a burn like this. I LOVE IT!
  • Thanks! I figured it out. This is a really easy tool to use. :smile:
  • Whoa! Twice a day! I have six flights and do it once a day 3x a week and I thought that was good. You are way ahead of me. Congrats.
  • creech6317
    creech6317 Posts: 869 Member
    Stairs are definitely your friend when trying to sneak in some exercise. I sit at a desk most of my day at work. there are two restrooms nearby, one up a flight of stairs and one on the ground floor. I alway go to the one upstairs, I don't count it, I just consider it a little bonus.
    When in a building I always use the stairs (seeing as how I am afraid of elevators, it just works out this way) and that is always a nice little bonus to my day's exercise. Luckily I don't live anywhere where they have really tall buildings. Lol
  • found this on line Calories burned climbing stairs – Our calculations


    The short answer: We calculate that you burn 0.15 cal per step when climbing the stairs.

    The longer answer: To accurately count calories burned when climbing the stairs you need to put on one of the contraptions in the picture and then use the stairs. Instead, our measurement of calories burned is explained below.
    1.Steps per minute: carried out a study of 50 people with diverse ages and fitness levels. We recorded how many steps of the stairs they could climb in one minute.
    2.Calories burned per minute: we utilized the MET that were formulated in the Compendium of Physical Activities . Additionally, we set our base weight at 177 lbs, the average weight of an American.

    Combining our numbers and research, we arrived at 0.15 cal per step.

    Limitations: We recognize that no calorie burning calculator is completely accurate. Our goal was to find a suitable average that would be accurate for most people.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    I go to the huge rec centre just to run all the stairs,
    a immense power workout,
    love it
  • katylil
    katylil Posts: 223 Member
    Walking to and from work, climbing stairs at the office or on the tube... I count all of those as part of my TDEE as they're nothing special, they're just movement everyday.

    I only log it if I do a specific, extra, brisk walk at lunch or run up and downstairs as my workout and I try not to eat those calories back. 70kcal? Not worth it.
  • JeffKlingberg
    JeffKlingberg Posts: 4 Member
    A flight of stairs is typically 15 steps at a 7 to 7-1/2" rise so if you have 25 steps of that rise that would be roughly 1.5 flights.
  • jesandrews91
    jesandrews91 Posts: 9 Member
    Yes! Yes! Have you ever used the stair mill at the gym? (Way diff then stair master)... The results showed in my legs just after the 1st two weeks of using this almost daily! I burn double the amount of calories on the stair mill in 10 mins than running a mile in the same amount of time. I normally do intervals of difficult to easy for 20 minutes every gym session. I recommend stair climbing over any other cardio workout. Switch things up by stepping up 2 steps instead of 1 at a time. :)
  • bluearcher23
    bluearcher23 Posts: 1 Member
    Welcome to stairs! I love the efficiency of burning calories on stairs, but my calves wont survive leg day during strength training if they are my sole cardio routine. What I like to do is after my run I'll throw on stairs at the end like 10 flights or so. This is really convenient and easy for me because I live at an apartment complex with 3 floor buildings and I can just run between all of the buildings.
  • osuzorba
    osuzorba Posts: 35 Member
    I count when I do it specifically for exercise, but I climb stairs throughout the day and don't count it. Stairs do burn a lot of calories quickly. I've found that if you do it enough, the calf pain goes down.

    BTW: I have been looking for stairs in MFP log forever, searched for climbing, bleachers, stairs, running stairs, I guess I never search "upstairs." Thanks for the heads up ;)
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