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EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF A LOW VOLUME STAIRCLIMBING PROGRAMME ON
MEASURES OF HEALTH-RELATED FITNESS IN SEDENTARY OFFICE WORKERS
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Rodney
A. Kennedy1 ,
Colin A.G. Boreham2, Marie H. Murphy1, Ian S. Young3 and Nanette Mutrie4
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1School of Sports Studies, University of Ulster, Jordanstown, County Antrim,
UK, 2Institute for Sport and Health, University College Dublin, Belfield,
Dublin, Ireland, 3Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Institute of Clinical
Science, Queen's University, Belfast, UK, 4Department of Sport, Culture
and Arts, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK.
| Received |
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10 May 2007 |
| Accepted |
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18
July 2007 |
| Published |
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01
December 2007 |
©
Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2007) 6, 448- 454
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| ABSTRACT |
| Despite its obvious advantages, few studies have examined health
outcomes of regular stariclimbing. In this study, we investigated
the training effects of eight weeks of stairclimbing on recognised
measures of health-related fitness in an occupational setting. Forty-five
public sector employees (22 male, 23 female) aged 42.3 ± 9.0 years
were randomly assigned to control (n = 16) or stairclimbing (n = 29)
groups. Stairclimbing training began with 1 bout 5d·wk-1 in week 1,
increasing by one climb per day every two weeks until week 5, where
a maintenance level of 3 climbs per day was reached. Participants
climbed on staircases located within an 8 storey office block, consisting
of 145 steps. The prescribed exercise intensity involved climbing
the 8 flights of stairs at a rate of 75 steps·min-1. All
participants agreed not to change their diet or lifestyle over the
experimental period. Relative to controls, the stairclimbing group
showed a significant increase of 9.4% in predicted VO2max
(p < 0. 05). No significant changes in blood pressure, blood lipid
concentrations or body composition were noted. These findings provide
evidence that stairclimbing can enhance an important component of
health-related fitness, namely cardiovascular fitness. Given that
such improvement resulted from less than 30 minutes per week of moderate
exercise, stairclimbing in the workplace should be promoted as a health-enhancing
physical activity.
KEY
WORDS: Exercise
therapy, physical fitness, dyslipidemias, occupational health.
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