What makes walking up stairs different from walking?

Walking is easy. It’s evolution. Humans are a species that can stand upright. When you’re walking, you have to move your body forward but you use momentum, putting one leg in front of you and then switching to the other leg (otherwise, momentum would make you fall flat on your face, haha). Then before one leg has to support your whole body, the other leg takes over.

Now, when you’re walking upstairs, you cannot use momentum, each step, you have to lift your whole body up, and the heavier you are, the harder it is since you have more weight to lift. You need strong thigh and butt muscles to achieve this without getting tired; otherwise you’ll get past your muscular strength limit very fast and feel the burn.

Even if you would have strong muscles, energy wise, walking up stairs would burn as many calories as jogging, so it’s up a notch from just walking and you need a good cardiovascular system to make it easy and efficient.

If you want to make walking up stairs as easy as a breeze, you need two things: strong muscles and good cardiovascular system. It’s the same training as when preparing for a ski trip and you want to be in top shape, going down a mountain without having to worry about feeling the burn or getting out of breath. Just worrying about not bumping into a tree or some dreadful snow making machines (if you live in the South of the US) and watching out for anybody else bumping into you, and also worrying about freezing your behind on the lift back up the mountain! (Those heat packs in your shoes and gloves are great).

I suggest than instead of walking for miles, your start improving your cardiovascular system by walking/jogging (you’ll need a sport bra). Jogging for a few seconds going downhill, then as you get fitter, jogging on flat terrain and only using walking as a warm up and a cool down and in between to get back in your THR zone (Target Heart Rate). If you use a heart monitor, you can comfortably stay in your THR zone without feeling exhausted or out of breath, plus you hear a beep when you have to slow down and walk, then another beep when you can jog again…it is fun being told what to do by your watch, that is monitoring your heart beats through your chest strap.

To strengthen your muscles, you can do calisthenics and use small weights. You won’t even feel your muscles when going upstairs, once you’re in shape.

Door squats, lunges, leg extensions, butt/hip extensions, pelvic lifts and back leg lifts are the best to make your quads (front of your thighs), your hamstrings (back of your thighs) and your gluteus (butt) toner and stronger so they can lift your whole body for hours, without you even feeling that they’re there.

Note:

Momentum: a property of a moving body that the body has by virtue of its mass and motion and that is equal to the product of the body's mass and velocity.

This is why some American football players are huge. They use their mass (weight) and their velocity (speed) to ram their opponents.

you use different muscles because you are moving forward(mainly calf muscle) and up (mostly thigh) so if you are getting tired going up stairs it mean your thigh muscles aren't getting sufficient oxygen molecules. do some leg presses tone those babies up : )

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there is a link in my sources for an article on how to make you more of an efficient stair steppER!!!

You're using more muscle when you go up stairs than when you're walking. Stairs put mor stress on your legs.

Its obvious dude,you use more muscles when walking stairs or walking up the hill,actually you can feel it!!

also you use the muscles that less use and are weaker than muscles that usually use for walking.

Possibly different with each stair?

Play Frisbee with young kids.

put much less meals available and you will acquire a lesser amount of inside

fresh fruit throughout small amounts. almost no breads as well as sweets

When collecting your kids from school, get free from the car and greet them with a hug instead of waiting inside the car curbside.

Use the junk food machine three floors up—and acquire the stairs.