Is climbing 10 flights of stairs per day a lot?
Kiyomoo
Posts: 354 Member
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.
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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Replies
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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.4 -
I would think that anyone who lives in a house with stairs goes up and down them a lot more than 10 or 15 times a day! I know I do!
So no, I don’t think 10-15 flights is too much - nor is a single walk per week…because you mention school, you’re obviously young. Why the concern about limiting daily activity?6 -
No it's not a lot at all in a day, nor is 15.
It's very different to doing 10 or 15 in one go - I always asked my (unfit) boss for a pay rise when we got to the 4th floor (8 flights) as I knew he would be breathing too hard to say no......
Yes using the stairs is a great way to boost your activity level.
Yes building up exercise gradually and progressively whether strength or cardio makes perfect sense. Exercise doesn't have to hurt or be unpleasant to be very beneficial and cause the welcome adaptations of increased strength and fitness.
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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.0 -
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.2
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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. ❤0
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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.6
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Your basic question has no firm answer. If it's a challenge for you, then it's a challenge. You can shoot for more when you're ready. Selecting challenges that are, in fact, challenging but also achievable for you is the point. (You could work up to the point where you can climb to the Everest Basecamp, for example.)
If you're not drawn to exercise, it is important to make it as fun and engaging as possible. It doesn't need to be intense (unless you like that), it can just be walking around, using stairs, gardening, cleaning house, dancing. Basically, anything that gets you moving is better than not moving and every minute counts.6 -
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.1 -
kshama2001 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.6 -
At work, several of us do a stair climbing challenge. We work in a 11-storey building with 20 steps to get to each floor. We've done the measurements and have chosen mountains to work toward.
In September, I climbed Mt Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in Australia at 2228 metres. That equated to 619 floors of 20 steps each.
Because I had to take a few days off work in September, that meant I was climbing 32-36 flights a day.
It was a little bit heavy, but doable.
So no ... 10 flights a day is not a lot.
However, if someone wants to join our stair climbing challenge, we always advise them to spend a month building up before they tackle a "mountain". For some, it's a matter of moving past 2 flights a day or 5 flights a day and feeling more comfortable with 10 or 15 or 20.
Also ... I've found that in the beginning, going down is almost harder than going up. Oh, it's easy to go down, but the next day you'll wonder why you've got so much calf pain! So you've got to ease into going down as well.
As for knee pain, one of the things I've found is that I've got to be quite deliberate about my foot placement. If I start to get sloppy, I risk twisting my knees. And yes ... as above ... push up.
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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.2
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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.
You haven't given enough information to determine that.Will it make a difference in my overall health or impact my weight loss journey?
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:
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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.4 -
For more inspiration:
I have a bunch friends who do "stadiums" (and post to Strava, where I can see it). They go to a local college stadium and go up and down the stairs as shown. I happen to know that the person who did the track below started off hardly being able to do it AT ALL, working up to the achievement below. It's pretty darned impressive, as these are long and steep stairways:
You never know what you are capable of until you try!6 -
kshama2001 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…….2 -
kshama2001 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.1 -
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.0
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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.0 -
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.
That’s like the time my Apple Watch gave me 40,000 steps during an international flight. I was crocheting a doily. Lotsa wrist action.5 -
springlering62 wrote: »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.
That’s like the time my Apple Watch gave me 40,000 steps during an international flight. I was crocheting a doily. Lotsa wrist action.
My husband's smart watch decided, on a horse ride, to recalibrate his stride length to about four feet per step. That one took some undoing.1 -
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.
Stairs on my Garmin is cray-cray, too.
It misses most of my indoor stairs (I'm up and down a full flight in my house many times daily, as main living areas are on 2nd floor, and main door on ground floor, plus chest freezer and some other stuff I access routinely).
OTOH, it sees stairs up the wazoo on my walks - thinks I went up 83 *flights* and down 97 *flights* of stairs today, mostly on about a 3 mile walk with some gentle up and down roll to it (zero actual stairs). It *always* gets the ups and downs as out of balance, even though I pretty much always do walks in a loop, and indoors go up exactly as many flights as I've gone down, in matched sets. 🤣
OP, I'm with the "gradually increase" advisors here, with an aside to say that Chieflrg knows more about dosing exercise than the average guy, so you might want to think about the kind of approach he's suggesting, when formulating the exact type of "gradual".
Just starting with any slightly challenging but manageable (and ideally enjoyable or at least tolerable) form of exercise, then increasing slowly in frequency, duration, or intensity . . . that's pretty magical, as a path to fitness, given persistence and patience. Wishing you great success!1 -
Duplicate post - stupid network interruptions/recovery!0
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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.
What kind of fitbit were you using? The One, which is a clip on, seemed accurate. Also, this was just for walking, so possibly less confusing.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »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.
What kind of fitbit were you using? The One, which is a clip on, seemed accurate. Also, this was just for walking, so possibly less confusing.
FitBit 30 -
I've had a Garmin Vivoactive 3 for 4 years now. (Although, I did have to replace it at the 2 year mark with a re-firm unit.) The lower-end Garmins are very capable (the hardest part is picking one). I've also had FitBits, although it was a long time ago. I think FitBit is better for people who want daily monitoring with minimal hassle. Garmin is better if you are going to do any particular training in swimming, cycling, and/or running.0
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