Practical Use of Stairs to Assess Fitness, Prescribe and Perform Physical Activity Training

Abstract

Aim: Evaluating climbing stairs for prescription and implementation of physical activity regimes. Methods: Healthy females (F, n = 14), and males (M, n = 15) participated. By climbing 100 steps of stairs with 0.173 m height, Heart rate (HR) and oxygen uptake were measured throughout the floors; Blood pressure (BP) was measured at ground and the 5th floors only. Results: Energy increased from 2 to 7.6 was metabolic equivalents (METs = 3.5 ml O 2 /min•kg) at 17.3 m elevation in 2 min. at the 5th floor, and percent Heart Rate Reserve (%HRR) was 66.17% in F and 48.7% in M, proportional to their aerobic efforts. Average climbing efficiency was 15.8 ± 2.3% (n = 29). Aerobic capacity estimated dividing the highest work rate (17.3 Kg•m/ 2 min•Kg × 0.00239 = 0.0207 Kcal/min•Kg), by fractional effort (F = 0.6617, M = 0.487) and fractional efficiency (0.158), at 5 Kcal/L O 2 was 0.040 in F and 0.054 L O 2 /Kg•min in M. Minimum training intensity reached at the 3rd floor by F. In M the highest %HRR reached was 48.7% at the 5th floor, insufficient for training. Conclusions: Stairs used for submaximal evaluation of aerobic capacity and for target intensity prescription. Training, levels climbed, repetitions per day (if 5, 100 Kcal per day, ascending) and number of days/week are adjusted. Full regime requires up to 7.6 METs, a total of 532 and 140 MET.min/week ascending and descending, respectively. Intensities >7.6 MET, climbing rate should be >8.65 m/min. Limiting ascent to 1 (3.5 METs) or 2 (5.5 METs) floors or only descents (2-3 METs) may be used for unfit subjects. This method is useful for those with no access to sophisticated facilities.

Assessment of Intuitiveness and Comfort of Wearable Haptic Feedback Strategies for Assisting Level and Stair Walking

“…Several studies involving young intact subjects, such as the ones recruited for the present work, reported that the subjects experienced an increased energy expenditure when ascending the stairs with respect to descending phases [39][40][41][42][43]. Furthermore, as stair walking is more cognitively demanding than level walking [44], also the specific task of ascending or descending the stairs may require different attentional resources.…”

“…The energy cost of ascending stairs is considerably higher than descending stairs and walking overground [39][40][41][42][43] and requires a greater demand of attentional resources, even in unimpaired subjects [44]. The different physical and cognitive effort associated with the specific motor task performed might affect the perceived intuitiveness and comfort of the haptic feedback, biasing the rating of the stimulation strategies assessed by the subjects.…”

The Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Increasing Physical Fitness of Baitul Jannah Islamic Boarding School Male Malang Students

“…For men or athletes, exercising up and down stairs should be adjusted to the conditions, to maintain health recommended 600 MET.min/week with an average exercise intensity of 6 MET, 100 minutes/week divided by 20 minutes/day. By adjusting the floor height, speed, repetition and controlling the pulse, going up and down the stairs will be safely used as a model of physical activity and exercise training [8].…”

Presión arterial media: ¿importa el uso de escaleras?

“…Es una opción económica que provee entrenamiento aeróbico y de resistencia sin la necesidad de equipos especializados (4,17). Aunque ninguno de los participantes tenía hipertensión arterial diagnosticada y tampoco mostraron valores de PAM patológicos, se deben monitorizar la presión arterial, ya que elevaciones de la presión arterial sistólica durante la escalada por encima de 140 mmHg, que disminuyan la presión arterial diastólica o que la aumenten a valores más altos que en reposo pueden indicar una patología (18).…”