[Closed] Getting knackered climbing stairs

How old are you? (Serious question)

Yup - legs protest climbing 2 flights of stairs when I'm training hard

Yep - always fun visiting pensioners in a 3rd/4th floor flat and having to wait a minute before ringing the doorbell....

I've always found that climbing or even walking up hill/stairs is significantly more tiring than riding in general.

I'm 45. Had some interesting health issues over last two years (PE and then AFib) but found I was like this previously and and now fit again. Other friends - cyclists and runners - also get tired climbing stairs. Why is this??

Always a joy working on Spinnaker tower when the lift is down. Carrying 200m ropes & abseil kit up 500 odd stairs gets old quickly. Did 5 trips one day. Quads were in bits.

It's [b]NOT[/b] a [i]joy[/i] and you bloody well know it!!

Mind - going down can be worse......

The lift is broken at work. Six flights of stairs between the production floor and the warehouse. 18 times up and down on last nights shift. Over 9000 steps on the pedometer too. I'm in bits.

Thankfully only been up once in the first quarter of tonight's shift. I only had 2 hours sleep today too.

Are you subconsciously holding your breath as you climb/not breathing enough?

Perhaps you need to do a bit of a warm up outside first to prepare yourself.

There must be some science behind this.. I'm 37..can ride 8 hours, and yes I'm very fatigued but not destroyed.

I can only presume it's the explosive energy required to lift my 90kg up 3 flights of stairs to my office in 20 seconds that does me in..

Something to do with fast twitch and slow twitch muscles I've read about? I don't know..

howarthp - Member
I'm 45. Had some interesting health issues over last two years (PE and then AFib)

did you get you AF sorted out mate?

In before.. Climbing stairs never gets easier, you just get faster!

Used to, the ridiculous queues for the lift in the mornings has lead to me parking my bike up, walking out through the lobby and in the south core and walking up the 14 flights of stairs to my office.

I can run the whole way up now, just got to be careful in the SPDs

Ton - yes I did thanks. Had the ablation mid August. Resting heart rate is 20 beats higher (should recover) but heart behaves exactly the same as before during exercise

Over 9000

...3 flights of stairs to my office in 20 seconds...

If each of those flights goes up one storey (say 3m) that's a VAM of over 1600 m/hr! (Yeah, I know the gradient matters, too - but still...)

Ton - yes I did thanks. Had the ablation mid August. Resting heart rate is 20 beats higher (should recover) but heart behaves exactly the same as before during exercise

nice one mate....glad you had a good outcome.

Stairs do seem to hit you differently tbh, for some reason I can motor up them but other things seem harder. Maybe just really specific muscles, or something?

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Other friends - cyclists and runners - also get tired climbing stairs. Why is this??

at it's simplest, gravity, that's why.

compare the gradient of stairs, and vertical height they climb to anything you would normally run/walk/ride up... they are steps* and not a slope for a reason!

*not to mention steps require repeated small discrete vertical lifts of your entire body weight, even a steepish slope is more gradual in nature, not the same motion even if it was the same overall amount of work required.

Depends what you're used to

We have three floors at work and I always take the stairs have done for years. No problems

*gallops up stairs on high horse*

at it's simplest, gravity, that's why.

exactly, you are lifting your body weight upwards each time you step up. Want a quick way to improve your strength... run up and down your stairs at home repeatedly. You can get a pretty good work out in a small amount of time. I do it as part of my training regime.

Rockyman earlier:

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Stairs tire me out as well.

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