We’ve all seen the famous scene of Rocky conquering the seventy-two steps leading to the Philadelphia Museum and it’s widely reported that professional skiers often climb stairs to keep competition-fit. Many models also do the same to keep their legs toned for the catwalk – but how about for the likes of you and I (assuming you aren’t already a Heavy Weight Champion, Professional Skier or Supermodel)? Well it turns out that stair climbing is surprisingly good for us too!
It’s a great short-burst exercise for the time poor and because you’re working against the force of gravity you use up more calories per minute than jogging as even on the way down you burn a calorie for every 20 steps! In fact, just 7 minutes stair climbing a day has been estimated to more than half the risk of a heart attack over 10 years so it’s well worth stepping up and ditching the lift.
Stair climbing firms up your glutes and quadriceps, increases your leg strength, aerobic capacity and bone density while being good for balance and coordination. So with stairs holding the potential to improve your health and wellbeing, it makes sense that we all need to be using them more and keeping them looking good.
Which leaves us thinking that you should never see an ‘Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order’ sign, instead a ‘Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience’ would be much more appropriate!
