I’ve been exercising three times a week since August, and am well towards the end of a couch to 5k program. I’ve lost 8 pounds and have seen gains in strength and my cardio. However, when I go up the stairs at work to the second floor I’m breathing hard when I reach the top. I have leg exercises in my routines and I’m running close to three miles three times a week, so why am I getting so tired from a single flight of stairs? What workouts can I throw into the mix that will best assist with this (and what muscles am I apparently not working hard enough)?
I was running into that a few years ago and just started climbing the stairs more often and faster as my condition allowed. I worked up to about 10 times up and down with mild heavy breathing at a crisp gate. That’s not great but better than when I started. It took a couple of months.
Unless you’re running hills, the quads don’t get that much work. Don’t forget, you’re lifting your entire bodyweight with each step.
Climbing speeds matter, also.
Try running hills and/or interval training. You might want to do squats at the gym.
I do deadlifts and lunges at the gym, also a leg press machine. Combinations of each varies depending on the day. I’ve never likes squats as I feel way too off-balance, like I’m going to fall one way or the other. I have the same stability issue with lunges, but at least for them the weight is lower and easier to control.
Sadly, where I live it’s flat.
I’ve thought about going up and down the stars at work a bunch during breaks, but we lack a locker room so I can’t shower and change if I get sweaty. I might give it a try anyway, though.
You don’t have a high school stadium near you? The bleachers are perfect for this, weather and events permitting.
Do interval training. You can do this at the HS track. Do 220 or 440 yds at a very fast clip (so fast it hurts), then slowly jog or walk another 440. Repeat 5 or 6 times. Add this into your training once/week.
I cycle a lot and find that helps with stair climbing.
Going up is drawing quite a lot of power and your leg muscles are able to take enough oxygen out of your blood to make you feel weak.
Getting your body fit just makes it EASIER for you do that… because you can ascend faster.
“Cardio” is a name … and in fact while you improved in cardio, are you up to a good level ? stair climbing is hard work at speed.
Your excercise regime may increase your blood thickness a bit, hence your improvement in “cardio” excercise … I’d be thinking you had a medical illness rather then a need for further excercise. Did you have a general blood test recently ? iron, blood cell count, hormone levels, cholesterol ? Any of the factors that affect lungs and blood circulation …
One particular limit may be the coronary arteries. When your legs reduce blood oxygen levels, its then that the blood flow to the heart , which is reduced to narrowing, isn’t supplying enough oxygen to the heart… as oxygen = concentration * flow rate… with narrowed coronary arteries, its reduced for two reasons and you can hit your power limit…
Exercise makes certain sequences of movements more efficient. While quite often leaving other ones as-is.
If you’re unhappy that X is making you winded, the best solution is to do X more.
The simple answer is specificity of exercise. Running, squats, deadlifts, lunges are all great, but stairclimbing is still using muscles in very different firing patterns.
If you do not have stairs to use then come up with something that replicates the motion, speed and intensity. Step ups and to solid box or chair at a quick pace might do. Burpees would be hit it some.
These last couple posts are the key.
Anecdote: A couple years ago I moved into a third floor condo. So two flights up. I’m lean and strong, but have never had huge cardio fitness. My VO2max has always been unimpressive. When I moved in, walking up the two flights of stairs left me breathing hard, heart pumping vigorously, but with plenty of remaining leg strength.
Fast forward through two-plus years of descending and climbing those stairs 2-4x/day. Usually unladen but sometimes carrying a bunch of groceries or whatever. Not exercising, just going about my daily business.
Now I have almost no apparent increase in heart rate or breathing by the top. If I continue up a couple more flights, e.g. to see somebody at their place, the difference matters and now I’m breathing hard again.
I’ve apparently trained myself real well on the two-flight stairclimb. Less so for the 4- or 5-flight stairclimb.
Most of the gain took place over the first 3-4 months. So for the OP it won’t take long if you just do it a couple times per day. No need to work up a sweat. Your gym routine seems enough for that.
Just take your time–go slower.
Check this out
Then I would ask you to check your form. For squats, you want your feet wide and you’re bending at the knees, like you’re going to sit on a chair and then change your mind. Keep your chest up.
For lunges, you need your legs hip-width apart and your back leg goes WAY back, so your heel is lifted.
You should not be off balance with either if your form is correct.
I work out about five hours a week and I can get a little breathless climbing stairs. It’s a bit of a work out. I would suggest wherever possible, take the stairs to give yourself a chance to build up your endurance.
Instead of walking try sprinting on a bike from zero to 30 mph as fast as you can. That’s it. It would be both cardio and use the muscles involved in climbing.
Dude, this is what the stair machine at the gym is for. You’ve finally cottoned on to the purest motivation achievable to train on one! You can be the counterpart to the folks that lean on the handrails and just let their legs flop around like spaghetti. You can’t let this opportunity go to waste.
Yup. Stairclimbing motion is closer to cycling than running with the short, elevated steps each foot takes.
A chair would be way too high & brings into things like balance issues that don’t come with climbing stairs.
The average person can’t get 30mph on a flat & would need above average bike handling skills to even get 30mph on a downhill.
That’s actually slow. Sears (Willis) Tower is just a bit longer at 412 meters up. The record for climbing the stairs is over 13 minutes.
I can attest to this for stairs. I moved from a one story to a two story house a few months ago. When we moved in I was winded by the third trip up, now I go up and down repeatedly without noticing any issues at all.
Start by adding a few extra trips at work. Take the stairs to the bathroom on another floor. Use the coffee machine on another floor. Use the copier on another floor. Those few extra trips a day will make a difference fairly quickly. As you notice a difference, you can start doing more stairs if you want to - always using the stairs instead of the elevator for example.
No, nothing like that. I’ll try what folks have suggested and try working around stairs more along with other suggestions and see how things improve. If not, then I’ll schedule a checkup.