A fitness fanatic has managed to climb the height of Mount Snowdon, having managed to work around the coronavirus lockdown by scaling a single step in his back garden more than 7,000 times.

Yup, while most of us are proud of ourselves for doing a couple of YouTube workouts or weightlifting tins of beans in our bedrooms, long-distance runner and mountain climber Rory Southworth has managed to put us all to shame with his ambitious feat.

Rory, 27, set himself a challenge to stay active, despite not being able to leave the grounds of his house following the government’s strict lockdown rules.

Not letting the new measures hold him back, he decided to get creative – starting on Sunday 22 March he managed to run 1,345m on the seven steps in his garden that lead up to his back door in under two hours, which works out as the equivalent of climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland.

His back steps are 1.6m high, so in total Rory ran up and down the steps 841 times.

The following day, on Monday 23 March, Rory then used just the bottom step, making sure he got both feet on and off 7,223 times to run the equivalent of the height on Mount Snowdon in Wales.

He said: “I normally run and swim every week quite a lot.

“I just felt like there’s no excuse to not go out and exercise with what we’ve got available to us.

“On Saturday, I ran 29 times up the hill outside my garden to run the height of Scaffell Pike.

“On Sunday, I ran up and down the stairs 841 times to reach the height of Ben Nevis and on Monday I ran just the bottom step 7,223 times – both feet and both feet off.”

Rory, a business development officer who lives in Lancaster with girlfriend Bee James, 28, has kept active every day during the lockdown, despite working from home.

He usually starts work at 9am but wakes up at around 5am or 6am to complete the impressive challenges.

Rory recently also completed a half marathon inside the house by running the 8.25m from his front door to his back door 2,546 times – in turn smashing 21km before breakfast.

In a bid to inspire others, Rory has been documenting his clever keep-fit methods on social media, and now has 11,000 Instagram followers.

He said: “I tried to use my influence on social media to spread a positive message.

“I do a lot of stuff after work, that’s my key message – just make time for it.

“I want people to do sport in whatever way they can and realise what they’ve got in their house and garden to make use of.”

Rory has even documented Bee’s response to some of his tasks, having snapped her looking less-than-impressed while he runs around the house as she tries to enjoy her morning coffee.

Rory added: “I don’t always tell her what I’m going to be doing, just that I’m going out for some exercise.

“Then four hours later she comes down and sees me running up and down the stairs.”