More on StepJockey

StepJockey‘s part of the active design movement. We see the world as a gym and we make sedentary buildings active by promoting and gamifying stair use.

Our smart signs give the calorie burn data for office stairs and increase stair use in office buildings by 20%-40%. Our stair climbing Challenges can increase stair use by up to 800%. Unlike pedometers and other personal fitness devices, StepJockey impacts and engages the vast majority of people within a building.

It is this ability to involve all (not just the already fit minority) that is the key to designing and implementing a cost effective and impactful corporate wellness initiative.

Stair climbing facts:

• Stair climbing burns 8-9 times more energy than sitting and about 7 times more energy than taking a lift. Per minute, stair climbing burns more calories than jogging
  
• A Harvard Alumni Study found that men who average at least eight flights a day enjoy a 33% lower mortality rate than men who are sedentary
  
• You also burn calories going down stairs but perhaps more important, descending stairs builds bone strength and density – vital to reducing your osteoporosis risk
  
• Just 7 minutes stair climbing a day has been estimated to more than half the risk of a heart attack over 10 years
  
• Climbing stairs two at a time burns more calories per second but you get there quicker. Research shows you burn more calories on average climbing stairs one at a time

Holly’s story:

Holly, 24, an office-based marketing assistant from London, climbed the stairs to lose weight for her wedding. Here’s her story.

“I’ve always struggled with diets, I start well but seem to break after only a few days. I needed that motivation to lose weight. I was getting married and I really wanted to lose some weight and tone up for my big day. Stair climbing proved to be an easy exercise to lose weight, it fitted in with my day, didn’t feel like exercise and I didn’t feel at all self-conscious. I downloaded the StepJockey tracker App at work and by climbing up and down the 100 stairs to my fifth floor office three times a day, I was burning 481.8 calories a week. It wasn’t long before I was looking for more stairs to climb. I started climbing the stairs rather than taking the escalator at either end of my commute and clocked up an extra 814 steps a week (and escaped the overcrowded lifts).”

Holly burnt an extra 195 calories a day on the stairs, this added up to 44,905 calories over the year, which is the equivalent to 22 days of food or 4.99kg of fat!  

She sums up by saying, “I was amazed by the results, my BMI dropped and I went from being overweight to a healthy weight. Better still, I had an amazing wedding day!”