I have walked down 40 stories of stairs. Not that one, but in a condo during a fire alarm. Let me tell you, there are muscles you have no idea existed that will want to have a talk for a few days with you once you reach the bottom.
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.
I’ve gone down 20 flights of stairs. It turns into one of those movies where you’re not sure you actually got locked in infinity. Then some time eons later it ends and muscles are confused etc.
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