Stair climbing challenges work the body while benefiting a cause

Do you know that feeling when you realize that you are running late to something important so you rush up the stairs, only to find yourself gasping for breath? Well, imagine increasing that workout to 1,643 steps.

That's how many steps participants will climb at the Step Up for Kids challenge on Sunday, Jan. 25 at the Aon Building in Chicago, benefiting Children's Memorial Hospital. Even though step challenges have been around in Chicago for a long time, they seem to be getting increasingly popular as more participants join events like Hustle Up the Hancock at the John Hancock Building and Go Vertical at the Sears Tower.

"You burn a lot more calories climbing up steps because you are lifting your own body weight up each step," says Michael Swisher, the Training Program Manager at the Chicago Area Runners Association who is helping with the Step Up for Kids training program. "Stair climbing works out your core, your lower body and your abdominal muscles."

According to Swisher, a 150-pound person puts 300 pounds of pressure on his or her body when running up stairs, which is actually less impact than running. You get the extra burn from lifting your body up steps, while you may just be running on flat terrain. Even walking up steps is a lot different then walking down the street.

"Stair climbing is a fantastic workout, and you can find a lot of benefits and value to it," Swisher says. "You are using muscles a lot differently then you would in running and you are burning your energy differently."

If you want to try a stair challenge, you need to train, Swisher says. Some ways of doing that are running up the stairs of an apartment building or high rise or doing the stair master at a gym for longer than a few minutes.

"It is hard to train for something like this because it is not the same as actually doing it for the first time," Swisher says. "A stair challenge is good for someone who has any sort of desire to be a stair climber. It's an unusual feeling when you finish and find yourself on the top of a large building. People of all ages compete in the challenge, but you should be in pretty good shape."

As the saying goes, if it is so easy that you don't have to push yourself, then you aren't doing it right. Stair climbing definitely is one of those activities that isn't easy, but it does feel good when you are done. Take it from Palatine resident Michael Parenti, who works at Allstate and has participated in every Hustle up the Hancock Challenge since 1999 and has climbed in the Step Up for Kids Challenge as well as the Go Vertical climb six times each. This year he will be climbing up the Aon building for "Beat Back! Childhood Illness," and he will be climbing it backward.

His inspiration comes from Mark Martin, founder of "It's All About Kids" (hatmixer.com).

"I will not try to go up the steps fast and will just try to get into a routine with my feet," Parenti says. "What will be interesting is having other people in the stairwell with me going forward. I start training for the stair climbs early, and one way is by doing a circuit on a hill that is 100 feet high and I run every other circuit backward."

You can register for the event through noon Monday, Jan. 19, at childrensmemorial.org/step-up, which also contains info on where you can register in person after that deadline. If you wish to sponsor Parenti's backward climb, go to heroesforlife.org/site/TR/StepUp/General/1375833227?pg=pfind&fr_id=1100.