Were you walking really fast? I find that walking down isn't too bad since you have gravity assisting you. Now if it were 40 levels up that would be a whole different storey.
The gravity assist has to be countered by the musles at the top of your thigh for every step on the way down.
Walking down is harder than walking upstairs after a leg workout, since walking upstairs your muscles are accelerating with less force than the force of deceleration applied every step walking downstairs.
Once you get good at it you use very little energy to go down stairs or downhill. On the other hand, going uphill or up the stairs will always use a lot of energy.
You didn't do enough at once. Controlling your decent is very muscle intensive.
I only descend stairs seven at once. Any fewer is disgraceful and should be criminally punishable.
I also ascend stairs 7 at a time- 5 if I'm wearing tighter fitting jeans.
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