why is going up the stairs (or up a hill) so much more physically intensive?

Question

I am not very fit, but I do walk a lot. However when I go up 3 flights of stairs I am out of breath. How come?

In: 0

Answer 1

In a word: gravity. It is a strong force and the reason why we don’t have flying cars yet. Yeah, F—- you too, gravity.

In order to go up an incline, it requires our muscles to generate force to overcome gravity, which just doesn’t want to let go of us. Generating more force requires more energy, which builds up more fatigue quicker.

If you want to improve your body’s resistance to fatigue, you should do this more. You will feel better for it.