Some people may think you’re crazy not to use the elevator. Some may think you’re a masochist and in land scarce and kiasu Singapore, the stairwell may be blocked by bicycles, flowerpots and smoking people, but it pays to look for a good building for stair climbing exercise. You actually burn twice the fat in half the time than if you run. An intense stair-climbing exercise session will produce more aerobic benefits in a shorter amount of time than running or walking. One hour of stair climbing will burn about 1.2 kcal.
There are other benefits.
1. It has a much lower impact on your joints if you climb up and take the escalator down.
2. It tones your muscle better as you are working against resistance from gravity.
3. The heavier you are, the more intense the workout. Cycling on flat ground is far less productive.
4. You can climb stairs in any weather conditions.
Some people have asked me, what about getting a stair stepper like the one shown below?
Well, this machine does work the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles. However, a equal duration on such a machine only burns half the calories that you can burn on a real staircase. How is that so? On the stairs, you are lifting your body upwards against your body weight. On the stepper, you are stepping against a resistance, assisted by your body weight. Get the picture? So that’s why unless “privacy” is really an issue, I recommend climbing up the stairs rather than stepping down on one of these machines.
Hopefully, you can help spread the word on the benefits of stair-climbing so that members of the public will stop seeing us as lunatics. Happy climbing.
© Chan Joon Yee