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I'm planning to take the stairs ever day and was wondering if its a good exercise?

There are 9 floors, with about 180 steps of 6 inch or 15 cm, so it would be a total of 1080 inch or 27.5 meter height difference.

Would walking up these stairs once a day be a good exercise?

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  • Are you planning on doing it every day or even multiple times per day? How many steps are each stair and what's their approximate height? That way we can give you an estimation of how much energy it would cost you :-)
    – Ivo Flipse
    May 25, 2011 at 10:22
  • I plan to do it atleast once a day and the total no of stairs would be around 180 each may be 6 inches in height
    – Anand
    May 25, 2011 at 13:37
  • I know plenty of athletes run up and down the stairs around a stadium for a great workout. If, instead of just going up the stairs once, you repeated it for awhile, you've definitely got yourself a good workout. Otherwise, it is one of those things that is beneficial, yet wouldn't really constitute "good exercise".
    – bitsoflogic
    May 27, 2011 at 20:42

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There is more than one way to measure exercise. Yes the number of calories is low and to increase the number of calories would take a whole lot of climbing. The low level cardio and the psychological values of the exercise can far outdo the pure caloric count. Add to that the alternative of taking the elevator which will give you far less. What I'm saying is that you should take the stairs whenever possible, but don't use it as a primary exercise. Every little bit helps.

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  • I know my answer is just a rough estimate, but its just to show that taking the stairs once is just a little bit. But yes, compared to standing still or sitting, taking the stairs is a nice alternation. :-)
    – Ivo Flipse
    May 25, 2011 at 18:11
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I'm going to apply some really crude physics:

Gravitational Potential Energy (Joule) = Mass (kg) * Gravitational Acceleration (g) * Height difference (m)

Using some example values: 70kg * ~10m/s^2 * ~30m results in 21000 Joules. While that may seem a large number, converting it to kcal leaves you with a measly 5 kcal

So I'd have to conclude that while all small bits help, you'd have to walk the stairs more frequently for it to be a truly useful exercise.

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  • If I press a wall - work is none, however I'll fill like hard work is done. Physics is not best way to track effort - they measure CO2 production, and that lead to kcals spent during exercise. I've putted walking stairs calories - one of the results is this site...
    – Michał Zaborowski
    Jan 10, 2018 at 21:02

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