I do 2700 steps, 2k elevation gain every friday (for the last 6 months) + hiking. My cardio has improved drastically but I am still terrible at running. No drawback really - maybe too much upper leg muscle eventually?

I live on the 4th floor, my breathing doesnt even noticably increase after climbing up, which is great.

Btw exercise is for building muscle and improving heart health. Dont delude yourself into thinking you’re burning a notable amount of calories, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. You lose weight by dieting.

If you can’t go anywhere, another option is jumping rope. 10 minutes of jumping rope is about equivalent to jogging for 30 min.

I personally prefer a slightly weighted (.8lb) rope with the mass concentrated in the rope portion rather than the handles.

Variety is always welcome in my book.

Any drawback doing too much stair climbing?

If you do it before running, your muscles can be over-stressed at the start of a run, increasing risk of impact injuries. So make sure to give yourself recovery time after stairs before you do a hard run again.

Done in this way, you can build up your support muscles which will actually decrease the risk of running injuries.

I use the stair machine regularly after a workout. Not all the time, but often. It’s very exhausting. I have a fitness watch and my heart rate is in the 170s for the majority of it.

I find it really helped my leg muscles develop better. Especially my thighs and the muscles connecting to the knee.

What about running up the stairs?