Power Workout: Stair climbing burns many calories, increases endurance & strengthens entire body’s musculature! Put on your sports clothes- we’ll show you a super-effective stair workout. If you want to lose a few pounds quickly or build muscle, you should try stair climbing because stair training burns twice as many calories as jogging: namely up to 320 kcal in just 20 minutes! If that’s not reason enough to get out your trainers and hit the next few steps.
Power Workout: Calorie Killer Number 1: Climbing Stairs
Climbing stairs is tricky but wonderfully effective. The workout improves fitness, strengthens stamina and coordination, gets our cardiovascular system up to speed, and lets the kilos melt away simultaneously. The reason: When walking upstairs, the front foot is mainly loaded, and the force is transferred upwards instead of forwards when you push off – this puts a particular strain on the buttocks, thighs, and calf muscles. The entire upper body is also trained when walking upstairs by using more arms.
Years ago, a Swiss study proved that regular stair climbing lowers the body’s fat and LDL cholesterol levels. The higher this value, the higher the risk of buttock calcification.
Stair Climbing As Practical Endurance Training
It doesn’t have to be a large staircase with several hundred steps for practical stair training – 20 to 30 steps are enough to get your pulse racing. Choose a short ascent with flat stages for the first workout. In the beginning, you should only run up at high speed. It’s best to go down slowly. This protects the joints and reduces the risk of injury.
Basically, as with any other endurance sport, you should take it easy at first when climbing stairs. Training sessions should initially not last longer than 10 minutes (five two-minute runs with a one-minute break in between). Trains two to three days a week with at least one rest day in between to allow muscles to recover.
Training Plan For The Stair Climbing Workout
You should choose a staircase with at least ten steps for your stair training. Ideally, you should be able to walk up the levels for 10 to 15 seconds at a time. Make sure that the entire foot fits on the step – this way, and you can run faster and more safely. Each exercise should be performed for at least 30 seconds at a time. To make the training even more challenging, you can also hold a water bottle or a weight in each hand while running.
You can also incorporate strength exercises into your training: squats, lunges, or jumps are great for the leg muscles.
Variant 1: Take Each Step At A Run
Walk up and down step by step at a relaxed pace. Without a break for 3 minutes. Several passages on smaller stairs. This improves endurance and coordination. Don’t forget to move your arms actively.
Variant 2: Sprints Improve Endurance
On your marks, get set, go sprint up the stairs as fast as possible, boosting your heart rate and burning fat. Make sure that you don’t land with the entire foot, but only with the front foot. This should only come into very brief contact with the ground. Once you have reached the top, you run back. Repeat for at least 30 seconds.
Interval Training: If you want, you can also combine slow and fast training units: 10 x easy running up and downstairs, 10 x sprints upstairs – walking down again normally. 2-3 repetitions. Repeat 2-3 times in total.
Variant 3: Long Steps Strengthen The Leg And Butt Muscles
It’s not just the speed that counts. To tighten your legs and buttocks optimally, you should take two degrees or more at once with significant grades. If you miss several stages, then this can happen slowly. After-action without a break and dropping, it is only essential that the next step follows immediately with the other foot.
Variant 4: Cross Legs Train The Inner And Outer Thighs
In this training session, you cross the stairs up and down. Alternately place one leg in front of the other. Don’t forget to change sides. Running crosswise trains endurance and coordination skills and strengthens the inner and outer parts of the thighs (adductors and abductors).
Variant 5: Knee Lifts For Stomach, Legs, Buttocks
An excellent strength exercise on stairs is the knee lift: Place your feet two to three steps apart in a step position. Now pull your back knee forward, roll your standing foot onto the ball of your foot. The knee is raised higher than in a regular run. Back to the starting position. At least ten repetitions per leg.
Variant 6: One-Legged Jumps
One-legged jumps are good for jumping power. You can either jump up the stairs with your left leg first (lift your right leg off the ground at a 90-degree angle), then with your right leg, or you can do two jumps with your left leg and two jumps with your right leg, etc. Another option: One-legged jump down and up a step 10 times.
If this is too easy for you, you can also come out of the one-legged squat and then jump or incorporate quick jumps into the workout.
Variant 7: Side Jumps And Runs
First, jump up the stairs with your left foot in a side position, then calmly walk down for the side jump or running step. Then do the whole thing with your right foot.
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