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Jose Luis Arredondo

Instructor McCann

English 1302 – 201

9 February 2024

Stepping Back and Researching Stairs

Introduction

Studies relating to physical activity suggest greatly that continuous bouts of exercise can

help to increase health and decrease the physical needs that many tasks can take throughout the

day. According to the American Heart Association, the average adult needs at least 150 minutes

of moderate to vigorous intense physical activity per week. The intensity of the workout depends

on factors like heart rate, breathability, and speech. When physical activity becomes moderate a

person’s heart rate will increase and so will the person’s breath rate, but they still should be able

to talk. When physical activity becomes intense a person’s heart rate will greatly increase along

with breathing rate and in turn the person will likely not be able to talk. On a similar note, the

article “Daily stair climbing is associated with decreased risk for the metabolic syndrome”

describes stair climbing as “a vigorous lifestyle physical activity” (Anna C. Whittaker et al. 2).

The author then goes on to describe the difficulty of stair climbing by explicating “The raising of

one’s weight against gravity when climbing is an energetically costly behavior which has been

objectively characterized as light to vigorous activity depending on intensity and duration”

(Anna C. Whittaker 2). Like the article by Anna C. Whittaker et al., the article “Do stair

climbing exercise ‘snacks’ improve cardiorespiratory fitness?” say stair climbing as vigorous

saying “Vigorous stair climbing is a practical and accessible form of sprint interval training that

can increase cardiorespiratory fitness” (Jenkins et al. 681). Given the findings from these
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research articles on how difficult stair climbing can be, the background behind this experiment

originates largely from a common complaint most people have had, that going up the stairs is

tiring. This experiment will address a question, that is whether going up the stairs can be easier.

All things considered; the experiment conducted in this study will help to show how moderate to

vigorous exercise can help to possibly decrease the physical needs for a person to go up a flight

of stairs.

Methods Used for Research

In this experiment, the researcher will be exercising for a period of five days. During

each concurrent day the researcher will then go up five flights of stairs and document the

experience, heart rate, and possible experimental variables which may have influenced the

results. This also includes an extra day to check the participants’ heart rate when climbing stairs

before any exercise has been done or what will be known as the pre-workout day. For the

physical activity for days 1, 3, and 5 the participant will run 3 miles in a park, and afterward will

engage in a cool down of walking for five minutes. For days 2 and 4 the participant will engage

in a calisthenics routine consisting of 4 sets which contain 2-minute planks, 10 pushups, 30

crunches, and 25 lunges for each leg. After the workout session for the day the participant will

wait 8 hours before going and walking up five flights of stairs at their local library. After the

participant walks up the flights of stairs their heart rate will be measured using a bpm tapping

website, wherein the participant will calculate their heart rate by tapping the rhythm of their heart

beats into the site. The expectation for this experiment is that as the researcher, who is the

participant, exercises the physical needs for going up the stairs will become less and less as the

experiment progresses. The participant has knowledge of and has been engaged in physical

fitness before the experiment was conducted. While the experiment will be conducted over a
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short period of time, and will present results gained from unprofessional tools, the researcher

believes that the experiment will still produce reliable results.

Results of the Experiment

For the pre-workout day the participant completed the stair climbing routine and went up

five flights of stairs and marked a heart rate of 142 bpm for the day. After running the 3 miles for

day 1 the participant went along with their day until 8 hours had passed. Afterwards, the stair

climbing routine was completed for day 1 and the participants heart rate read slightly lower than

the heart rate for the pre-workout day, marked at 130 bpm. After the calisthenics session for day

2 the participant continued with their day until 8 hours had passed. The participant then

completed the stair climbing routine for day 2 and the participants’ heart rate read slightly lower

than the heart rate for the day before at 128 bpm. After running the 3 miles for day 3 the

particpant continued with their day and waited 8 hours. After the stair climbing routine for day 3

the participants’ heart rate read slightly lower than the heart rate for day 2 at 126 bpm. After the

participant completed the calisthenics routine for day 4 they went along and continued with their

day. After the stair climbing routine for day 4 the participants’ heart rate read slightly lower than

the heart rate for the day before at 125 bpm. After running the 3 miles for day 5 the participants

again continued with their day. After the stair climbing routine for day 5 the participants’ heart

rate read slightly lower than the heart rate for day 4 at 125 bpm.

Analysis of the Research

After the stair-climbing routine for the pre-workout day the participant’s heart rate read

142 bpm. On the first day when the participant engaged in the stair-climbing routine the

participants heart rate read lower than the heart rate read for the pre-workout day at 130 bpm.

This trend would continue on for the rest of the experiment and the participants’ heart rate would
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consistently decrease from 130 to 128 to 126 to 125. According to the Nation Library of

Medicine, as one becomes fitter and fitter the physical needs required for various day to day

tasks should naturally decrease because of consistent physical activity. Usually, the measurement

for this natural decrease in physical needs comes from observing whether the heart rates of those

who are exercising are decreasing (Reimers 1). This shows that the physical need for climbing

stairs is starting to lower because of regular fitness as the participant’s heart rate slightly

decreases from each day to the next. Comparing the results found in this research study to other

studies helps to show the strong correlation between performing regular physical activity and

overall physical fitness. In her article, Anna C. Whittaker et al. explains that “brief bursts of

physical activity, such as stair climbing, may be important in maintaining health and wellbeing”

(1). In addition, Madison Jenkins et al. support the same ideas saying, “The improvements in

cycling oxygen peak occurred despite the training being performed as stair climbing, suggesting

that overall exercise tolerance and capacity was improved” (683). In turn, this helps to show the

strong relationship between regular exercise and an increase in physical activity.

Conclusion

As a result of this experiment, it could be determined that the decrease in the participants

heart rate during the stair climbing routines from each day to the other marks a decrease in

physical needs because of regular physical activity according to Madison Jenkins et al. (683).

This is important because it helps to show that while stair-climbing can be a difficult task, which

may made even more difficult by external factors, the difficulty of stair-climbing can be lowered

with regular physical activity (Whittaker et al. 2). In this experiment there were many variables

which may have influenced the results of the experiment, such as the website used to find the

participant’s heart rate, and the lack of multiple participants. Given these variables, the results
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should not be interpreted as accurate. As a result, a more accurate and professionally produced

experiment should be employed here in order to actually help to prove the main clause of this

experiment, that is whether or not stair-climbing can be made easier. With these results, it is

important that more is done with this experiment, as with the words from Whittaker et al. and

Jenkins et al. it can be shown that stair-climbing can be an extremely difficult task for certain

people with certain disorders and diseases. So, in turn, a more professional experiment should be

conducted as it can help encourage further discussion and help to show whether or not a solution

can be found for these people, in order to make stair-climbing a less difficult and labor-intensive

task for them.

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Works Cited

American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity in Adults and Kids.

American Heart Association, 19 Jan 2024, https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-

living/fitness/fitness-basics/aha-recs-for-physical-activity-in-adults. Accessed 30 Jan

2024.

Anna C. Whittaker et al. “Daily stair climbing is associated with decreased risk for the metabolic

syndrome” BMC Public Health, vol. 21, no. 923, May 2021, pp. 1-2,

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10965-9.

Anne K. Reimers et al. “Effects of Exercise on the Resting Heart Rate: A Systematic Review and

Meta-Analysis of Interventional Studies” Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol. 7, no. 12,

December 2018, pp. 1-1, https://www.mdpi.com/374102.

E. Madison Jenkins et al. “Do stair climbing exercise “snacks” improve cardiorespiratory

fitness?” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, vol. 44, no. 2, February 2024,

pp. 681-682, https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/apnm-2018-0675.