burning calories climbing stairs

With 2018 well underway, it’s around about the time that many people will be giving up on their new year’s resolutions (if they’ve made them!). But if one of your resolutions was to get fitter and healthier this year, don’t give up just yet! You don’t need an expensive gym membership or lots of fancy equipment – you can improve your fitness in the course of your day!

Climbing stairs may not be the most intensive form of exercise as far as burning calories or fat goes, although it burns but it still has many benefits:

  • increased heartbeat means better blood flow through your body
  • you’ll release endorphins, so you’ll feel great!
  • it’ll help lower your risk of diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis (among other things)
  • improved cardiorespiratory fitness (linked to living longer)
  • it’s quick and it’s free!

Not only that, but it’s also great for toning up those leg muscles. In fact, professional skiers and fashion models often use stair climbing as part of their fitness regimes because of this – for different reasons, of course! And you can even burn calories going downstairs too. So it’s a great way of working some exercise into your day without going out of your way.

Shoe retailer Shoe Zone decided to take stair climbing to the extreme and find out how many calories you would burn if you climbed each of the world’s tallest buildings and landmarks, from El Castillo at Chichenitza to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

Some of the results might surprise you. If you climbed the smallest building on the list, El Castillo, then you’d only burn off 15.47 calories (equivalent of one nacho chip). If you climbed the Eiffel Tower, you’d get a fantastic view of Paris, but you’d only have burned off the equivalent of one slice of Cheddar cheese (119.68 calories). At the other end of the scale, if you climbed one of the Petronas Towers, you’d burn off 368.9 calories. That’s about the equivalent of a filled doughnut.

Now we’re not suggesting you actually climb these right to the top (although some of them don’t have elevators anyway, so you’ve got no choice!), but if you’re ever visiting any of these places, why not give the elevator a miss for a few floors and take the stairs? You’ll feel better if you do!

 

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