Nowadays, whether in urban gyms and basketball courts or in parks and streets, you can always spot groups of fitness enthusiasts. Over the 12 years that Meng Bo has lived and worked in Beijing, he has pursued health in a different way—climbing stairs—and, in his own words, he’s been “climbing higher on the path to wellness.”
“Climbing stairs wasn’t my idea—it started with my parents. When I first began working in Beijing, the long hours and high stress wore down the good physical condition I had built up in college. I got a gym membership, but couldn’t stick with it and eventually even gave the membership away. My fitness routine was on and off like that for several years,” Meng Bo recalled. “My parents, who were retired, had a habit of morning exercises and evening walks. Back in our hometown, not far from the city, there’s a low-altitude mountain called South Mountain. No matter the season, they would hike it every morning and sometimes in the evenings during summer. When they moved to Beijing, their fitness routine was limited by the surrounding ‘concrete jungle,’ and they felt their daily activities weren’t enough. Since we lived on the 22nd floor, they turned their mountain hiking into stair climbing—and kept it up for years. Since I had to go up and down those stairs every day for work, it wasn’t something I could do off and on—I had to stick with it!”
“Climbing stairs isn’t as simple as it seems—you have to know your limits and progress step by step. I started with just seven floors, then gradually increased. Now I can just climb straight home,” Meng Bo said, gesturing to show how strenuous the climb can be.
“I looked up some research on the fitness benefits of stair climbing. The data shows that climbing stairs burns five times more calories than walking for the same amount of time, 2.5 times more than swimming, twice as much as playing table tennis, and 0.25 times more than running. There’s even a figure that says for every floor you climb, you can gain an extra 10 seconds of life. So for me, height equals health—I’m climbing higher on the path to wellness.”
Of course, stair climbing as a fitness method isn’t suitable for everyone. People with serious organic illnesses, difficulty with daily living, or very weak constitutions generally shouldn’t try it. Middle-aged and elderly people living above the fifth or sixth floor should climb stairs within their limits and avoid going all the way to the top in one go. For office workers who usually lack exercise and are in suboptimal health, sudden intense activity can do more harm than good. Building up fitness must be gradual and consistent.