Climbing stairs: every step, or every other step?
The age-old question: is it more efficient to climb stairs one at a time or two at a time? Fortunately, researchers at Penn State have tackled this puzzler in the current issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. They start with a helpful diagram of the two options:
Strangely, the researchers hypothesized that, left to choose their own speeds, the volunteers would take the same amount of time single-stepping and double-stepping, and use mostly about the same level of muscle activation. This isn’t what they observed (is it just me, or is this obvious?): they climbed 22% faster while double-stepping, choosing to take 83 double steps per minute, compared to 109 single steps.
It’s worth noting that these researchers aren’t the first to address this question. A team in Singapore tried a similar experiment back in 2005, but they fixed the step rate (100 per minute for single-stepping, 50 for double-stepping) so that the total time was the same. The conclusion in that case was that single-stepping under these conditions raised heart and breathing rates more, but any calorie difference was negligible.
In the new study, using “natural” stepping rates, the researchers concluded that double-stepping burns about 70 to 90 calories more per hour than single-stepping (678 vs. 592 per hour, on average, for the subjects in the study). Again, this is not surprising: bounding up stairs two a time takes more energy than going up one at a time — if you engage in the activity for the same amount of TIME. But will the time be the same? What if you’re doing a set number of staircases, so that you spend less time double-stepping than you would single-stepping? Which burns more calories that way?
Unfortunately, I can’t find those numbers in the paper. But if my back-of-the-envelope numbers are right, double-stepping burns 15% more calories per hour but takes 22% less time. So if you’re climbing a real staircase (e.g. stadium steps), you’ll get a better workout by single-stepping. But if you’re on a stair machine in the gym, working out for a set amount of time rather than distance, then big steps will burn more calories. Let’s see that diagram again, in case anyone’s confused:
double-stepping hurts my knees.
triple-stepping probably wouldn’t be cardio but strength training. (but we’ll never know until someone actually studies it
I do two sets of 36 flights 5 time a week while I’m at work. I used to do double steps but now I do single “bouncing” steps. I definitely breath harder with the bouncing singles but I added the bouncing to work the elasticity in my legs and hopefully help my running.
Wow 2 X 36 flights! I “only” do 14 flights 5 times a week at work, and people look at me like I’m crazy.
I choose single stepping, mainly because I don’t usually change my speed when I double step, so at the same speed it is much harder… plus double-stepping would probably hurt my knees too in the long run…
I run 5 stories in double steps, up and down 4 times per session. It takes about 7 to 8 minutes each time. Run up and walk down. High Intensity Interval Training. I do this 4 times a day at work. 8am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, and 4pm. 4 days a week.
That equates to 8 flights x 4 sprints = 32 flights in each session.
4 times a day x 32 = 128 flights per day.
At times i’ll increase my 4pm run to 10 sprints before i leave work to get in a good sweat.
I lost 30 lbs in 6 months and now maintain my weight easily. Along with the running i did change my eating habbits to lower carb and kept my calories around 1600 a day. And I’m 39 years old by the way
When i first started running i could only run up and down twice two times a day. Eventually i got up to 5 times up and down 4 times a day.
Now mostly i do the 4 and 4.
Awesome, Jesse — congrats on the success, and thanks for sharing the details of your program.
I walk up stairs 15 minutes a day. Would it be better to increase this to 30 minutes a day or increase the amount of steps that I do in the 15 minutes?
Hard to say without knowing how hard you’re pushing in your current 15 minutes. But my general take would be to hedge your bets: alternate between days where you focus on going longer and days where you focus on going faster. That’s exactly the pattern used by top endurance athletes to maximize their gains.
@alex
I’m doing about 650 steps in 15 minutes. I’m slow. It does get the heart rate up. Thanks for the advice.
I double and triple step on a regular basis, it’s fun makes my friends wonder how I do it. But really it doesn’t hurt or do anything to my legs anymore. That’s why I sometimes do three steps at a time. One step at a time feels like a complete waste of time to me. I could go up a whole building to the top floor two steps at a time and I’d be barely even out of breath.