ONTARIO — Is too much time at home or work keeping you away from your local gym? Good news: a new study finds that all you need is a staircase and 30 minutes a week to give your body a great workout.
The findings are published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, and conducted by researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. The study shows that intense bursts of exercise for short periods of time can be critically beneficial for one’s heart health.
In the study, stair sprints were used as an example of sprint interval training, or SIT. The researchers recognized that such exercises can improve cardiorespitory health. Lead author Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at the university, has dedicated an abundance of research into high-intensity interval training over the years. He wrote a book regarding the topic, titled “The One Minute Workout.“
Gibala and his team conducted their study on 31 individuals. The participants were all women who were fairly inactive, but otherwise healthy. The participants were divided into two separate groups, and each group committed to an exercise routine. Both groups were also required to participate in 10 minute sessions that included warm-ups, cool-downs, and recovery periods. The groups were devoted to their exercising for a total of a month-and-a-half. They performed their workouts three times a week, totaling nearly 20 sessions.
The first protocol required three sessions of 20-second stair climbing, in an “all-out” type of method. These exercises were compared to participants who practiced the same protocol, but instead using an exercise bike.
During the second part of the observation, participants climbed intensely up and down a flight of stairs for 60 seconds each.
Both protocols required the participants to exercise for 30 minutes each week that they were involved in the study. The research showed that the participants experienced a significant improvement in cardiorespitory fitness. The study noted that this is a key point that is linked to life longevity.
“Stair climbing is a form of exercise anyone can do in their own home, after work or during the lunch hour,” Gibala says in a release. “This research takes interval training out of the lab and makes it accessible to everyone.”
Of course, when making any significant change to your workout routine, it’s always a good bet to consult a doctor first.
This article was first published in February 2017.
Yes 30 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training) is the same as 3 hours of cardio with out the muscle damaging effects. old news. But you still have to go to the gym for resistance training.
Try 8 hr/day of SHIT (Super High Intensity Training).. My office offers it free of charge.
Working in an office is not work. It for women.
I eat a large fries a double cheeseburger OR a whole pizza plus 2 rice krispy treats and 2 bowls of cinnamon toast crunch everyday (all in one meal), i’m 215lbs @ 12% body fat 😀
Yes I did consult my doctor…she said when the last time you had a colonoscopy..
What? I can’t hear you!? I’m running up and down my stairs!
I said, “It looks like the stairs are collapsing.”
Just when working out gets shorter, my knees die on me. Dang can’t win for losing.
You know what’s funny. After years and years of working as a personal trainer at health clubs and competing (and winning) in fitness contests…. all I do now is watch what I eat, do a few reps here and there will little 10 pound weights… and walk stairs for 30 minutes about 2 times a week. And I stay in great shape. So I think this article is one of the first health related articles on the internet that I’ve read in a long time that actually contains some good advice. When I don’t have access to stairs, I use one of those plastic steps that people use to step up and reach things.
I just hate going to places like planet fitness where the personal trainers look like the couch potatoes. If only they would practice what they learned.
The best exercise is the one you will do.
Don’t have time for the gym or just not getting enough exercise? Don’t worry, pretty soon you’ll have to be cutting your own grass, our president is going to do his job and throw the Mexicans out. It really amazes me all the people going to the gym to “work out” when they could be doing a little manual labor. I guarantee you, it is more satisfying than working out since you’re doing something productive. Do your own work and you can actually say, “I did that.” And how many times have you seen some of those who pay to “work out” drive around a parking lot trying to find a spot at the front so they don’t have to walk? Park out back and walk. You won’t have to spend so much time and money working out and you will probably have fewer door dings in your foreign SUV.
Gasp! I do both. You aren’t going to get a full body workout doing household chores. You may not want to spend the money for the gym, but I look sexy as hell for my time there. Mowing, gardening and home maintenance are bonus.
Damn straight. I put a gym together at home and go at it religiously. Why stop doing all the yard work and maintenance? About to go pull some crabgrass right now bah haha
I agree I raise a big garden and though we have a roto tiller, I use a shovel to clear the ground and kill the weeds. I also pick our fruit and mow weeds and grass on our farm. Eating the fruits of your labor is more satisfying than using the gym.
Good point, but….the purpose of “gym exercise” or exercise in a controlled environment is to gain strength while limiting injury risk. So you can do the things you just mentioned. Maybe when you get a little older and have back surgery or any injury you will see a)not all labor activities are easy or good for your body b)you shouldn’t base your opinion of something based on the lowest denomination. Most people ago to gym to exercise in a social environment. ITs not so bad.
I’ll be 67 next month and still work daily; in my shop, on my land and now personally remodeling my house. For several years up to 4 years ago I contracted overseas with the military. I saw injuries by soldiers working out in the gym in that controlled environment but I never got hurt despite (properly) lifting armor off trucks so I could work on them. Yes, I saw a need for soldiers to vigorously work out to build their stamina and body strength but for the average Joe doing physical labor is more than enough exercise to keep healthy. Now if you work out to socialize and you enjoy that then do it. But I’d rather go drink a beer. .
They are training wrong. I would argue that humans have exercised in groups and have tried to master their bodies for 1000s of years. just because some go about it in a counterproductive way that doesn’t mean the other 80% aren’t getting a great benefit. I do agree the “stressful” training and damaging your body, like in crossfit or heavy weight lifting is not good for the body. I hear what your saying..my uncle is 75 years old and 140 pounds and can bail hay faster than an 18 year old husky boy. There is gym strength and real functional “man”strength. Just remember not everyone is lucky like you. you may be the exception, not the rule.
Even if he did, which won’t be the case, there’s millions of people waiting in line to legally enter the country. They will gladly do any job that opens up after the hiring of U.S. citizens has pretty much ended.
Sounds even worse than the people who do the “weekend warrior” type workout. Just going to end up hurting themselves. So many of these kinds of studies can be damaging to people that listen to them.
Truth is this.
Get into nutrition, educate yourself, and start to feed your body good food instead of processed trash. Then get into a basic workout routine that you can do around 3 to 4 times a week and never EVER stop doing it. For most people, don’t even bother with a gym. Between the time it takes to drive there, do your workout, and drive home, you’ll end up burning out on it. I’ve seen it happen far too many times. Get a basic set of free weights and do workouts at home. They’ll pay for themselves in no time at all, and it saves even more time just for the fact that you’re at home.
In the end, your arteries will thank you, along with your joints, bones, and muscles. If you start at a young age, and keep this up, you’ll end up still feeling younger even when you’re 60.
The real problem most all people run into, is becoming stagnant. Our bodies were meant to be used. Not over fed with our butts being sat on all day. Stay active throughout your life.
Yeah, I’m no expert. Just a guy who did all of this many years ago, lost almost 100 pounds of fat (and continuously kept it off), and have been in the greatest shape of my life ever since.
Amen!! God I hate these “studies”. As a fitness trainer I consider them terribly damaging to people wanting to get back into shape. All these 10-30 min a week workouts do is release a huge amount of cortisol into the joints causing inflammation and injury. You need a balanced routine of cardio 3-4 days a week 30-60 min sessions, plus strength training and a diet light on carbs and sugar and heavy on protein, fiber, fruits and vegetables. Honestly the diet is probably 60-70% of the battle in terms of losing weight, and for god sakes avoid crash diets – the intent is a lifelong change in how you eat vs the yo-yo effect.
What if you trip and break your back running down the stairs?
““Stair climbing is a form of exercise anyone can do in their own home . . .” Not if you live in a one-story home.
Take your old newspapers and junk mail, phone books, dismantled cardboard sheets. pile it into Walmart’s 60-egg container, tape it and you have a 12x12x5 inch^3 step. Over the years you can accumulate enough to have a decent jungle gym.
I’ve done every type of exercise routine known to humanity. This article is another load of crap where you isolate any one thing and say it’s the universal exercise cure.
What a bunch of crock. “Health Study” on basic minimal cardiovascular maintenance to boost the confidence of those who live a sedentary lifestyle.
As is the rule these days, the headline of the story and the content of the story are two different points. The headline implies that 30 minutes of stairs per week for any individual is equal to a full exercise regimen at the gym. Intuitively, we readers click on because the premise is nonsensical, but, we are curious to find a surprise.
The article then shows that the premise is about a specific segment of society: “Inactive” women. The conclusion then is as obvious as the Sun is round at that point: Lazy people will benefit immediately from simply getting off their fat arses and moving their bodies against some resistance in order to strengthen bones and get the blood flowing. Since they are incapable of lifting heavy weights for an hour and running 3-miles at an 8-minute pace, for example, it is intuitively obvious that lazy people who never exercise will benefit from taking the initial steps to becoming physically active because making the first step is the hardest step.
In sum, for all out there who were hoping to skip out on your 5-day 1-hour sessions at the gym to simply climb steps for 5-minutes per day…no luck, Charlie.
.wait *scratches noggin* ..you’re telling me the something for nothing pill is a scam?
That was my point too. of coarse you are going to see amazing benefits from a stair climb even for just 10 minutes a week if your a couch potato, this is the same type of study that Those as seen on tv workouts claiming they can get you to lose 10 lbs in a month, its because anyone going from 0 to something is going to see those type of gains then plateau after that.
I am 74 and helping care for our three year old grand daughter four days a week. I walk to and from a park 1/4 mile from the house in about seven minutes. I have cross country skied 32 times this season. Weight lifting comes with carrying our grand daughter during chases. My only medication is for glaucoma in one eye, and I don’t even have arthritis, just aches from when I was in the service. Thanks to this article, I don’t have to feel guilty for being lazy in not doing more.
30 minutes of exercise a week. Yeah, okay. I’ve seen people with that workout routine riding around in Walmart on a scooter.
Different workouts will invariably produce different results. Your workout should target whatever your objectives are. If cardiovascular fitness and weight control is your thing then stairclimbing is an option. But it’s not a panacea for your ideally envisioned body.