Updated by Tom Miller, CSCS
Calories Burned From Stairs Climbing
The average person weighing 180lbs burns 300-1029 calories per hour while stair climbing, depending on the your weight, speed on the stairs and load you are carrying.
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Climbing stairs is something that many of us do every day without even thinking about the benefits that it can provide. Read on to find out why stair climbing can be an everyday activity to effortlessly help you burn a significant amount of calories without even trying.
Whether you’re climbing the stairs to get up to your apartment building, going upstairs for bed, or climbing the stairs to get to the second level at the mall, stair climbing is an activity that can provide many benefits even when it’s not done specifically for exercise purposes.
Climbing stairs for exercise has been shown to be a very low-impact exercise, meaning it can be done for long periods of time without having a negative effect on your bones, joints, and muscles.
While many of us climb stairs just to do daily tasks, stair climbing has also developed into a competitive sport in what is called Tower running.
But is climbing stairs actually a good exercise? And how many calories does climbing stairs actually burn? Keep reading to find out the answers to these important questions.
Using the calculator to determine how many calories you’ll burn while climbing stairs is very easy to do. First, input your weight in the respective unit of measurement, such as pounds or kilograms. Then input the time that you’ll be doing stairs for and the specific activity of stairs that you’re performing. Then hit CALCULATE.
Our calculator uses MET values to give you an estimate of how many calories you can expect to burn while doing stairs and other activities. The higher the MET value is, the more calories you will burn.
MET stands for the metabolic equivalent of task, and it’s the measurement of the energy cost of physical activities for a specified period of time. MET value allows us to give you an estimated expenditure of energy for many different activities, such as climbing stairs.
The MET value is a ratio between the working metabolic rate and the resting metabolic rate [1], which is the rate of energy that is used relative to the duration of time spent doing the activity.
In fact, many common activities have MET values assigned to them. For example, there are MET values assigned to other similar activities like running, sprinting, and hiking.
A MET value of 1 is the equivalent of the amount of energy you expend while at rest, and a MET value of 5, for example, has you expending 5 times as much energy compared to being at rest.
Each different form of the stairs activity and its corresponding intensity will have different MET values assigned to it. For example, descending stairs have the lowest MET value at 3.5, while running up stairs at a fast pace has the highest MET value at 15.
The formula that our stairs calculator uses to determine the number of calories burned per minute is (MET x bodyweight in Kg x 3.5) ÷ 200.
A person weighing 150 pounds will burn approximately 252 calories per hour while descending stairs with a MET value of 3.5. This means that descending stairs burns 3.5 times more calories than your resting metabolic rate.
This is what the formula for calculating the calories burned while descending stairs will look like with a 150-pound individual:
That same person weighing 150 pounds will burn approximately 630 calories per hour while stair climbing at a fast pace. This activity has a MET value of 8.8 and burns significantly more calories than descending stairs.
This is what the formula for calculating the calories burned while stair climbing will look like with a 150-pound individual:
One of the most intense stairs exercises is running directly up the stairs. This activity has a MET value of 15 and burns the most calories of all stairs exercises.
Below is what the formula for running up stairs will look like for a 150-pound individual:
Some call stair climbing “the ultimate strength and cardio workout” that fitness enthusiasts can do today, and for good reason.
Stairs can be found in many different places, and climbing stairs of any kind will be extremely beneficial and can provide many health benefits.
There are so many different ways that you can practice stair climbing, such as on a step machine at the gym, on the bleachers at a high school football stadium, or even simply using the stairs at your own home.
Since stair climbing is such a low-impact exercise, this means that it is very uncommon to sustain an injury while climbing stairs. It’s also great for people who are recovering from injuries since stair climbing doesn’t place much of a strain on your muscles and tendons.
Since stairs are virtually everywhere, it so easy to start doing stairs for exercise. Stair climbing is also great for the development of your lower body, as the legs are the primary muscle group that is being worked.
But the lower body isn’t the only muscle group being worked on. Find out what other muscles you will work when you start stair climbing.
Whether you are running up the stairs in your home, in the mall, or using a stair climber at the gym, all these exercises will typically work the same muscle groups.
The muscles that are primarily worked through stair climbing include:
It might be a surprise that stair climbing exercises use your core, but it can actually be a very effective workout to develop strong abdominal muscles.
This is because abdominal muscles are used for the different movements of the stair climbing exercises and are also used to stabilize the body. Having a developed core also allows you to keep your balance and remain upright at all times while climbing stairs.
There are many types of benefits that you will get from doing stair climbing regularly for exercise and as a simple daily activity.
The main benefit that you will get from stair climbing is that you will burn a significant amount of calories even just climbing or descending stairs at a moderate intensity. Since you can burn a lot of calories, this means that losing weight from climbing stairs is possible and easy to do.
Other benefits include improvements in blood pressure levels from patients with hypertension [2] and the fact that stair climbing has been proven to prevent metabolic syndrome [3].
Exercise, in general, is also known to improve your mood and self-esteem [4], which shows that stair climbing has benefits that go beyond just physical effects.
Stair climbing can be great for those that don’t have access to specialized equipment because only a set of stairs is needed to do the exercise. If you’re indoors inside your own home, you may not even need shoes to start climbing stairs for exercise!
If you decide you want to do stair climbing at the gym, you will need to use a stair-climbing machine, which is very popular at most fitness centers.
Other equipment that stair climbers may use are heart rate monitors, earbuds, and even hats or sunglasses if you are stair climbing outdoors.
Try out our other calorie-based calculators below.
Yes! Climbing stairs is a great form of exercise that will help you burn calories and aid in weight loss. Since stairs are a great exercise that can be done indoors and outdoors any time of year, you can start a stair-climbing routine and stick with it very easily.
Since climbing stairs is a great exercise to develop the core muscles, it will also help you to lose belly fat. As long as you stay in a caloric deficit and adhere to a healthy diet, you can expect to lose belly fat quickly when you implement a stair-climbing routine in your daily life.
While stair climbing is a relatively low-impact exercise, we would recommend mixing different types of cardio into your routine and not doing stair climbing every day. Mixing in walks and other forms of light cardio will be ideal for an all-around healthy physique.
To see results from your stair climbing efforts, you would need to do it for at least 15-20 minutes each session. We would recommend doing stair climbing as an exercise up to five times per week. However, as a daily activity, we recommend taking the stairs whenever possible.
Climbing stairs is a form of exercise that many of us don’t even realize we do every day. Simply making it a point to take the stairs instead of the elevator can help you burn extra calories in your daily life.
Stair climbing can also be done specifically for exercise purposes, as there are stair climbing machines available at many fitness centers. You can also do sets of climbing up and down the stairs at home as a workout or just for fun.
Be sure to use our stair climbing calculator to find out how many calories you can expect to burn climbing stairs and also check out all the other calculators that we have available at FitnessVolt.com!
Scott is 25 years old and resides in Philadelphia, PA. Scott has a passion for health and fitness and lives an active lifestyle. He enjoys hiking, skiing, traveling, and playing basketball with friends as well as working out at the gym. Scott is a graduate of Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ where he was an Entrepreneurship major, scholarship recipient, and honor society member. Scott is also the founder of Interphase Marketing, LLC where he creates content for health and fitness companies as well as for the financial services industry.
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