Adherence and effectiveness of worksite stair-climbing exercise program on health and physical fitness in white-collar workers

To develop a worksite exercise program, adherence and effectiveness of a stair-climbing exercise program were examined in the intervention study. All employees of 73 white-collar workers were asked to climb 9 flats (180 stairs) everyday on site on company time for 7 months. The participation rate at the begining and adherence rate at the end of intervention and the 7th month in follow-up period were calculated. The measurements of body-fat, blood pressure, blood chemicals, isometric lower leg extention muscle strength, VO₂max, PWC_120,130,170, peak and integrated HR during stair- climbing, and blood pressure at 1 min after the stair-climbing were made before and after the intervention. The results of these measurements were compared among three experimental groups divided with the frequency of stair- climbing during intervention period; non-participant control (C), low frequency participants (L), and high frequency participants (H) groups, respectively. Participant rate of the program was 68.5%, and adherence rate was 48.0% at the end of intervention and 34.0% at the 7th month in follow-up period. Significant increases in body-fat in C group and HDL-cholesterol in L group were observed after the intervention, and L group also showed a significant decrease in γ-GTP. In physical fitness measurements, significant increase in isometric lower leg extention muscle strength was observed in both L and H groups, significant increases in PWC₁₂₀ and PWC₁₅₀ in H group, significant decrease in peak HR during stair-climbing in both L and H groups, and significant decrease in integrated HR in H group. Results of analysis of covariance showed significant independent relationships between the frequency of stair-climbing and change in % body-fat, γ-GTP, isometric lower leg extention muscle strength, or peak HR during stair-climbing. These results indicate that the worksite stair-climbing exercise program is available and effective for the improvement of health and physical fitness in sedentary white-collar workers.