Physiologic comparison and validation of Stairobic stepping with bench stepping.

To compare the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise on the Stairobic stepping (SS) machine with bench stepping (BS), 12 healthy men and women (mean age 23 years) underwent six different five minute exercise bouts that were randomly assigned. Tests were conducted using standard open circuit calorimetry. SS at 40 and 60 st/min was equal to BS at 20 st/min and SS at 80 st/min was equal to BS at 30 st/min for VE and RER. VO2 was equal at 20 st/min (BS) and 60 st/min (SS), and 30 st/min (BS) and 80 st/min (SS). Stairobic MET (SM) displayed values over-estimated actual MET (AM) values at the two lowest SS rates and under-estimated the AM value at the highest SS rate. Forty-eight observations of the MET response of SS were conducted and analyzed (BMDP2R) in a forward stepping solution. The multiple regression equation calculated for AM was: AM = -0.567 + -0.012 (WT) + 0.063 (rate) + 0.612 (SM) with an adjusted R2 of 0.82 and a SEE of 0.90. The physiologic cost of BS was approximately equal to SS at two to three times the BS rate of stepping.