•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology Volume 6: Issue 1, Article 8, 2025. The Stairmaster 10G ergometer allows users to perform non-traditional movements such as the sled push and farmer’s carry, which involve substantial upper and lower body contributions. Standard MET calculations for stair stepping do not account for this increase upper-body workload, so there is potential for error when aiming to determine exercise intensity based exclusively on estimated METs. The primary purpose of this study is to compare the metabolic and physiological effects of two training modes on the Stairmaster 10G ergometer, specifically evaluating the accuracy of MET values provided by the machine compared to laboratory-grade metabolic measurements. Eleven (n = 6 females; age: 20.3 ± 1.03; Ht: 166.3 ± 5 cm; BM: 62.26 ± 8 kg; n = 5 males; age: 24.5 ± 3; Ht: 182 ± 7 cm; BM: 92.86 ± 7 kg) recreationally active college students volunteered to participate in this study. Participants visited the laboratory in which this study occurred twice. Each visit, participants randomly performed either the sled push or farmer’s carry exercise on the Stairmaster 10G ergometer while in Overdrive mode. Participants completed an exercise protocol consisting of 20 seconds of work followed by 40 seconds of recovery repeating every minute, on the minute, for a total duration of 6 minutes. METs were calculated using direct measurements of breath-by-breath gas exchange via a metabolic cart. Basic descriptive statistics followed by a two-way repeated measure analysis of variance was run to determine if significant differences existed between estimated and measured METs. Significant interaction effects were followed by simple effect analyses using paired samples t-tests. Following a Bonferroni correction for multiple tests, the alpha was set at p < 0.05 to determine significant effects in the analyses. There was a significant interaction effect for METs x time for the farmer’s carry (F(5, 50)=13.287, p2= 0.57) and for the sled push (F(5, 48) = 12.440, p2 = 0.609). Follow up paired-samples t-tests indicated that METs reported by the Stairmaster 10 were significantly greater than those reported by the metabolic cart during both the farmer’s carry exercise (pd = 1.7962-2.9062) and sled push exercise (pd = 0.9968-2.3441) across all timepoints. The METs reported by the Stairmaster 10G were consistently higher than those measured using gold-standard laboratory-grade equipment across all stages of both exercise protocols. While the Stairmaster 10G provides a convenient way to monitor exercise intensity, reliance on its MET estimations may result in exercising at lower intensities than desired

Download


Share

COinS