Surprise finding: Going downstairs is a better exercise than going up the stairs

There are “cheat” in training is the way to get good results in the shortest time and easiest to do. And one of the surprising “cheat” ways is walk go down the stair.

It’s called an eccentric exercise – meaning an “off-center” movement – which is an extension of the muscle, not a contraction (a muscle contraction is a “concentric” movement).

For example, when lifting a heavy suitcase, you contract the muscles in your arm, but when you slowly lower it to the floor, you are stretching the muscle – that’s an eccentric movement.

Turns out it’s the people who go down the stairs that reap the best results shutterstock

As with taking the stairs, everyone thinks that these moves help build the most muscle and bring the most benefits. But it turns out that the opposite is true. A recent trial by researchers from the School of Medicine and Science Health Edith Cowan University (Australia), proved this.

The study, published in the journal Medicine journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exerciseasked 30 overweight women, over the age of 60, to take the stairs for 12 weeks.

Half were asked to take the elevator to the sixth floor, then walk down to the first floor, while the other group had to walk to the sixth floor, and then take the elevator down.

They started doing this 2 times a week, then gradually increased the frequency.

The results were astonishing!

The results were amazing, it turned out that it was the people who went down the stairs that reaped the best results: They lost the most weight, they made the biggest improvements in their health. blood pressureblood lipids and blood sugar levels – and there were also major improvements in bone balance and strength, according to Daily Mail.

Everyone thinks that climbing stairs builds the most muscle and provides the most benefits shutterstock

Why did this happen?

As for blood pressure, Dr. Mosley sought expert explanation from Professor Tony Kay, Professor of Biomechanics at the University of Northampton (UK), who has done a lot of research on the benefits of blood pressure. do exercise eccentric.

Professor Tony Kay said that when walking down stairs, the body uses muscle fibers that are larger and stronger than those used to go up. This also causes more damage to the muscle fibers, which strangely makes the muscles stronger.

“Eccentric exercise causes microscopic damage, which in turn, stimulates a hormonal response, combined with nutrition, rest, you will rebuild muscle to a new, stronger level ”, explained Mr. Tony Kay, according to Daily Mail.