An In Depth Look at the Stair Climbing Culture

The History of Stair Climbing

History

**Taken From stairclimbingsport.com**

In October 2004, archaeologists in Austria found a stair case that is believed to be at least 7,000 years old. Stair cases have been around almost from the beginnings of civilization.

Numerous religious leaders liked to climb mountains for prayer, meditation, and to give teachings and the climbing at many of these places is virtually identical to stair climbing.  Jesus taught at The Sermon on the Mount;  Moses climbed Mt. Sinai, Mohammed went to the mountains surrounding Mecca to a cave, and the Buddhaclimbed Vulture Peak in India to meditate and give instruction on The Dhamma.

StairClimbing Definition:

Stair climbing is the climbing of a flight of stairs. It is often described as a "low-impact" exercise, often for people who have recently started trying to get in shape.

StairClimbing as a Competitive sport

Stair climbing has developed into an organized sport. There are many stair climbing events in Canada and worldwide!(e.g., the Empire State Building, CN Tower, Gran Hotel Bali). World class athletes and fitness enthusiasts regularly compete in such events. The Canada StairClimbing Association puts on the Canadian Competitive Climb Series geared towards athletes competing at regional events across Canada and competing for a chance to be a part of Team Canada. stair climbing competitions are one of the most grueling competitions because it demands great explosive movemements and great aerobic capacity from the whole body.

Benefits Of StairClimbing

• Stair climbing burns about twice as many calories than any other sport or activity. 
• Because it is a grueling sport, stair climbing requires less time to do the same intensity of a workout. For example, if you run 30 minutes per day, the same workout intensity could be achieved with 15 minutes of stair climbing.
• Stair climbing is a total body workout. It makes the arms stronger with the use of the arms pulling you up with the use of the rails (or banister) which is allowed and encouraged.
• Stair climbing especially builds muscle mass in the legs, including the quadriceps and calfs.
• It is an aerobic sport as it works the cardio-vascular lung package.
• Stair climbing becomes an aerobic event after about 10 to 20 flights of stairs as it strains your aerobic capacity to hold an intense load on the cardio-vascular package to the top of a very tall building.
• Since Stair Climbing requires you to carry your entire body vertically it requires endurance, muscular strength, and muscular endurance, the entire fitness package. 
• Stair climbing is excellent for cross-training. Runners, swimmers, cyclists, rowers, soccer (or football), and others find stair climbing to be helpful with its total workout. Cyclists, skiers, and rowers are especially attracted to the muscle mass in the legs which can be developed with stair climbing.