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Research has found the quickest, least painful way to improve your cardio
What are your most common reasons for missing your workout? Too busy? No money for a gym? No equipment? Too complicated? Too heavy? We have good news—and not only do you not have to buy something from an infomercial, but there's also solid science that shows it really works. What is this miracle training? It's as easy as climbing stairs. According to a new study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vigorous stair climbing for just a few minutes a day provides many of the same heart-healthy benefits as a gym class or...
Research has found the quickest, least painful way to improve your cardio
What are your most common reasons for missing your workout? Too busy? No money for a gym? No equipment? Too complicated? Too heavy? We have good news—and not only do you not have to buy something from an infomercial, but there's also solid science that shows it really works. What is this miracle training? It's as easy as climbing stairs.
According to a new study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vigorous stair climbing for just a few minutes a day provides many of the same heart-healthy benefits as a class at the gym or a jog around the block. And you don’t even need a fancy stair climbing machine – any old staircase will do.
The researchers recruited healthy but sedentary women to run up and down a flight of stairs for short bursts - the first group did three sets of 20 seconds of stair climbing and a second group ran up and down the stairs for 60 seconds. Including a brief warm-up and cool-down, the women spent less than 10 minutes per day (a total of about 30 minutes per week) exercising. But even though they exercised very little, they still experienced significant cardiovascular and respiratory improvements, the researchers found.
It may sound too good to be true, but there is plenty of science to support this type of short but intense training. The secret? Climbing stairs is a particularly effective form of interval training. High-intensity interval training has been a fitness favorite for decades and offers a variety of health benefits. But previous research has tested interval training on equipment like treadmills or stationary bikes—which is great if you have them. However, this new study proves that the ordinary staircase that leads to your basement or behind your office is just as good, not to mention much cheaper and easier to access.
Finding an hour to go to the gym, change, wait for equipment, work out, shower, and drive home is daunting for many people. But who doesn't have two minutes to spare to make a quick dash up the stairs between laundry runs?
"Stair climbing is a form of exercise that anyone can do at home, after work or during their lunch break," said Martin Gibala, Ph.D., lead author and professor of kinesiology at McMaster University, in a press release. “Interval training provides a convenient way to incorporate exercise into your life, rather than having to structure your life around exercise.”