How To Win At Stair Runs

See also: how to DIY Rocky montage and not be out of breath.

There are some songs that are a must-include on any run playlist. And, Gonna Fly Now is right up there. It's the ultimate get-you-going and non pressing play, it's easy to visualise ourselves as Rocky Balboa – in grey sweats – showing every one of the 72 stairs of Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Museum of Art who's boss.

Sadly though, life doesn't always imitate art. So, how can we up our stair game?

We checked in with Jace Brown, a strength and conditioning specialist, with over a decade of experience in the fields of professional sport and expert coaching.

"I loved Rocky as a kid," he tells us. "Growing up with three brothers, between Rocky and Rambo, we had Sly on repeat."

He's put us through our paces here and now we're hoping he can help us out with this goal of a Rocky montage.

Stair runs - talk us into them - what are the benefits?
"Running stairs hits some of the largest muscles in the body, including the glutes, quads, hammies and calves; the same muscles targeted during lunge/squatting type movements.

"The vertical movement plane forces you to oppose gravity, placing a great deal of mechanical tension on the legs, translating to increased muscle tone, strength, speed and explosive power.

"Powering up the stairs also increases your heart and breath rate, stimulating greater oxygen uptake. This improves your VO2max, cardiovascular fitness and overall metabolic efficiency."

Is there anything we need to know from a technique perspective?
"Honing movement patterns is at the forefront of all training modalities. So, before scaling up intensities, it’s important to ensure you’re moving efficiently and with consistency.

"Regarding technique, one of the most common issues are the knees collapsing inward on the pushing phase, or up phase of the stair climb (this can be due to a multitude of reasons; lack of strength, poor hip coordination, excessive pronation of the feet or internal rotation of the tibia, to name a few).

"This being the case, it’s important to maintain good alignment of the knees over the toes throughout the driving phase of your climb, and engaging the lateral hip/glute compartment. Poor biomechanics over time can lead to injury. If you find yourself in this boat, seek professional advice."

How can we get better, faster?
"Sometimes in order to go fast, it’s best to go slow. What I mean by this is establishing strong movement foundations, then building upon these. This is particularly the case if you’re new to training, or introducing stair running for the first time (or first time in a long time).

"Much like being in the sun, too much exposure too soon can have adverse effects. It’s important to understand your capacity and set relative targets, with the goal of increasing thresholds week to week, known as progressive overload.

"A good DIY system for gauging intensities is the RPE scale (rate of perceived exertion), consistently asking yourself how hard a workout is relative to your capacity, from one to 10; 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest. For week one of your training, you may choose to operate at a six out of 10 in intensity, or 60 per cent of your max potential, then increasing this to a 6.5 - 7 out of 10 the following week, provided the body is feeling good and you’re recovering well, and so on and so forth.

"For those more advanced trainers, mixed modal training is an extremely efficient way to get better, FAST! This could mean applying a block of speed, power and endurance work all within the one session (or over the course of a week). As the human body is incredibly adaptable, varied training modalities will target different energy systems, keeping the body guessing, leading to fast-tracked results and positive compositional changes."

What sort of goals should we be setting here?
"When setting goals, it’s important these are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Aim to build a little upon previous efforts from session to session. This could be an increased training intensity for improved times of a given block, greater overall training duration or more applied load/total volume accrued over the course of a workout. Be kind to yourself here, embrace the journey and celebrate the little wins."

Look like Rocky

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Cool-Lite™ Mo...

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Cool-Lite™ Mo...

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Hoodie - Men's

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3-Stripes Jog...

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RA USA Appliq...

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Club Fleece J...

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What other exercises should you be mixing them up with?
"If you are looking to increase your speed, agility, strength and power, accessory work is your go. These are secondary movements to your primary training stimulus, that will assist you reaching your goal. Some examples of this are flat ground sprints, broad jumps, walking lunges, split jumps, wall holds, jump squats and reverse glue bridges.

"Core work is also extremely important. When climbing stairs (particularly if you’re skipping two or three stairs at a time), there’s major contraction/recruitment of the core during the knee lift. Strengthening the core with exercises such as planks, hollow body holds, leg raises and bicycles for example, will increase your strength, resilience and lead to an enhanced result."

And, the warm-down you need to do post stairs?
"The goal here is to return to a resting state over a five to 10 minute period. Depending on the intensity of your session, you may decrease intensities directly to a walk, or from a warm-down jog to walking pacing. A tougher session requires a longer warm-down than a steady state workout.

"Once you’ve reached a resting state, it’s a good idea to incorporate some stretching. While a full body stretch is recommended, if time is short, focus on the muscles that are particularly tight (holding each position for at least 30 seconds, twice over).

"By gradually slowing your pace toward the backend of a workout, you’ll allow your heart rate to return to normal, preventing blood pooling and speeding up the removal of lactic acid from the system (lessening the likelihood of cramping and muscle spasm)."

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