The stairs are more than a means of getting from one floor to another — if you want to get fit, they could be your secret weapon.
Even without a gym membership, it’s likely you will have access to a set of stairs, whether it be in your own home, an apartment building, at work, or even outdoors. This makes this one of the cheapest and most accessible pieces of gym equipment around.
Not sold on stair workouts? I’m a personal trainer, and below, I’ve shared my 20-minute leg workout to try and convince you.
The benefits of stair climbing
There's a good reason why the Stairmaster is one of the most popular machines in the gym. Research has found that compared with not climbing stairs, walking up more than five flights of stairs at home per day has been associated with a lower risk of premature mortality.
Plus, other research has revealed that stair climbing can improve aerobic capacity, making the heart and lungs become more efficient at delivering oxygen to muscles. Even walking down stairs can help your health, with one study finding it helps to lower blood pressure by 8%.
As a personal trainer, clients often ask how to get fit without running, and I always recommend simple changes, like taking the stairs, not the elevator. Plus, stairs are always humbling. I am yet to do a stair-based workout that hasn’t left me completely out of breath. Climbing stairs is a real lower-body workout too, challenging the endurance and stamina of the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
The 20-minute stair climbing workout
For this sweaty little cardio workout, you’ll need a set of stairs, ideally about 10 steps. Follow the moves below and take 15 to 20 seconds of rest between each exercise.
Over time, as you become more comfortable with the workout, feel free to shorten the rest or lengthen the work periods.
Before you start, don’t forget to warm up with some dynamic stretches. Try bodyweight squats, leg swings, and marching on the spot. To get comfy with the stairs, walk up and down a few times, too.
Stair sprints: 60 seconds
You’ll be ascending and descending your stairs for one full minute, which, when you’re stair climbing, is a fairly lengthy amount of time.
Double step climb: 60 seconds
To work your glutes a little harder, you’re going to move up the stairs, skipping every other step, and then going down as normal.
Stair jumps: 60 seconds
Here, you’re going to test your plyometric (jumping) fitness. Stand at the bottom of your stairs and use both feet to jump up to the next step.
Once you’ve reached the top of your stairs, run back down and repeat the jumps until your minute is complete. If your stairs are shallow, or you want an extra challenge, jump two stairs at a time.
Squat to stair jump: 60 seconds
To hit the legs a little more, this time you’re going to squat on the bottom step. Stand with feet a little wider than hip-width, push your glutes back, and bend your knees into a squat position. Then, as you rise, jump to the next step. Repeat the squat and step until you’ve reached the top of your stairs. Once you hit the top, walk or run back down and repeat until your minute is complete.
Want to make this workout even harder? If you have a weighted vest, you could wear that during the exercises for extra resistance. Or, if you have a set of the best adjustable dumbbells, you could hold a dumbbell during the squat and jumps. Just be careful not to lose your balance.
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