Stair walking has always been one of my favourite forms of exercise. It’s simple, free, and wonderfully effective. For women in our 50s, stair climbing is more than just a cardio workout — it counts as a natural form of resistance training. Every step helps build muscle strength, improve balance, and most importantly, support better bone density. With age, our bones naturally lose minerals, and weight-bearing exercises like stair climbing help slow that process down. Even 10–15 minutes of climbing stairs can elevate the heart rate, burn calories, strengthen the legs and glutes, and boost overall fitness.
But as beneficial as stair walking is, our midlife bodies also send us signals when something isn’t right. After a few weeks of doing five flights down and five flights up daily, my knees began to protest. The dull ache lingered until I decided to take a break for a week — and just like that, the pain disappeared. That’s when I realised that while stair climbing is good, doing it too aggressively or too frequently can cause overuse on the knee joints.
Pain is not something we should ignore, especially at this age. It’s our body’s way of asking us to pause and make adjustments. Instead of stopping stair walking entirely, we can continue reaping the benefits by taking a few corrective actions.
1. Reduce the frequency — alternate days instead of daily.
Our joints need time to recover. Doing stair walking three to four times a week gives the knees a chance to rest while still maintaining the exercise benefits.
2. Avoid or minimise descending stairs.
Most people don’t realise this, but going down the stairs puts more stress on the knees than climbing up. A good modification is to climb up the flights and take the lift down. You’ll get the bone-strengthening, heart-pumping benefits without the unnecessary strain on your joints.
3. Cut down the number of flights temporarily.
If five flights feel too much, start with two or three flights and build up again slowly. Gradual progression is key, especially when your knees have already shown signs of overuse.
4. Strengthen the supporting muscles.
Knee pain often appears when the surrounding muscles, especially the quads and glutes, are weak. Simple home exercises like wall sits, glute bridges, and even slow squats can help support the knees and improve stair-walking comfort.
5. Warm up before climbing.
A short warm-up — marching in place, knee lifts, or a few minutes of brisk walking — gets blood flowing to the joints and reduces stiffness.
The takeaway? Stair walking remains a highly beneficial exercise for women in their 50s, but like everything else in midlife, it needs to be done mindfully. When our knees speak, we must listen. With a few simple adjustments, we can continue enjoying this powerful, bone-friendly workout without putting unnecessary strain on our joints. After all, fitness at this age is about sustainability — moving smarter, not harder.
