Author(s)

Jasem Ramadan Al Kandari^1*, Salman Mohammad², Ruqayyah Al-Hashem¹, Girma Telahoun¹, Mario Barac-Nieto¹

¹Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Al-Khaldiya, Kuwait.
²Department of Physical Education, College of Basic Education, The Public Authority of Applied Education and Training, Adailiyah, Kuwait.

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 O₂/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/2min.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 O2 was 0.040 in F and 0.054 L O2/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.

Stair Climbing, Descent, Heart Rate Reserve, Aerobic Effort, Oxygen Cost, Work Output, Efficiency, Aerobic Capacity, Exercise Prescription, Training

Al Kandari, J. , Mohammad, S. , Al-Hashem, R. , Telahoun, G. and Barac-Nieto, M. (2016) Practical Use of Stairs to Assess Fitness, Prescribe and Perform Physical Activity Training. Health, 8, 1402-1410. doi: 10.4236/health.2016.813141.