Stair Climbing & an experiment of science.
On 3rd February 2026, while travelling, I found myself staying on the 22nd floor of a building. At 51 years and 8 months of age, it felt like a perfect chance to play with the heart… something I enjoy doing with my body. This time was the time for heart.
I decided to climb the stairs and observe how my heart, breath, and overall system responded. The idea was simple: expose the body to a clear stress, observe the response, and study recovery
This was not about chasing numbers. It was about watching how the system behaves.
First Climb: The System Gets Surprised
I climbed 22 floors at a steady pace. Based on breathing speed and my ability to speak, I roughly estimated intensity zones and fuel use. This is a hypothesis, not a lab measurement.
First climb observations:
- Floors 1–5: Comfortable breathing, steady pace
Heart rate around 90–100 bpm
Mostly fat-based effort - Floors 6–9: Breathing deeper but controlled
Heart rate around 105–110 bpm
Mixed fuel use - Floors 10–14: Breathing faster, speaking harder
Heart rate around 130 bpm
Glucose becoming dominant - Floors 15–22: Strong effort, focused breathing
Heart rate around 132–138 bpm
Mostly glucose-driven
After the 14th floor, both my breathing and heart rate seemed to plateau. I had found a steady rhythm with increased breath speed – demanding.
Heart Rate Recovery:
It took about 90 seconds for my breathing to return to normal. My watch showed a heart rate of 72 bpm after that if this matters.
This is how the science can be explained of the first climb:
- Sudden load
- CO₂ rises
- Heart rate shoots up
- The system is surprised
- Recovery takes around 90 seconds
I was not fatigued. So, I decided to repeat the experiment.
Second Climb: Same Load, Different Response
After a gap of about 7/8 minutes, I climbed the same 22 floors again.
I expected fatigue. I expected a higher heart rate and more time spent in higher zones. Its not that I run everyday or walk these many stairs everyday. So I was expecting both my musculature and thereby cardiovascular system to get tired from the effort.
Instead, the opposite happened.
- Peak heart rate barely crossed 132 bpm
- Breathing felt smoother and more controlled
- Legs felt easier
- Recovery time dropped to around 60 seconds
Same stairs. Same pace. Same body. Different response.
What Changed?
This was not fitness improving in 5 minutes. Fitness does not work that way. Instead what may have changed was readiness.
The system was already prepared:
- Blood vessels were open
- Stroke volume was likely higher
- Breathing rhythm was already tuned
- The brain knew what was coming
Most importantly, the system was no longer surprised. The body had learned.
Beyond Priming and Performance Enhancement
Physiology already has names for parts of this response.
- Exercise priming explains why a second effort often feels easier shortly after the first.
- Post-Activation Performance Enhancement (PAPE) explains why muscles and nerves work more efficiently after being activated.
Both are real, and both explain part of what happened. But this experiment felt bigger than just performance. What stood out was:
- Faster learning
- Lower heart rate rise
- Faster recovery
- Easier movement
- Better coordination across systems
- Importantly the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, metabolic, and brains systems health allowed this happen.
For me, this was not just about doing better. It was about adapting faster.
Heart Rate Adaptability: This led me to think about a higher-level trait, which I call Heart Rate Adaptability.I would define it simply as:
The ability of the heart and nervous system to adjust quickly to repeated stress, showing a lower rise in heart rate and faster recovery.
It reflects:
- Anticipation by the brain – Brain health
- Better vascular readiness – heart health
- Smoother breathing–heart coordination – neural health
- More efficient use of energy – musculoskeletal & metabolic health
Therefore, in my point of view, , instead of asking “How high did your heart rate go”… a better question may be, “How quickly did your system learn and recover?”
A Whole-System Test in One Short Effort
In just two repeated stair climbs, multiple systems revealed their health and coordination:
- Cardiovascular: Lower peak heart rate and faster recovery
- Metabolic: Clear shift in fuel use with better efficiency on repeat effort
- Musculoskeletal: Legs felt easier, less pump, less fatigue
- Joints and tendons: Movement felt smoother with less stiffness
- Mind and nervous system: Less stress, better anticipation, calmer response
One repeated effort quietly tested the whole system.
A Note on Overall Health
This single experiment cannot prove overall health on its own, and many markers would need to be checked before making a full conclusion. However, my hypothesis is that this kind of response does reflect overall health. Systems work in coherence and not in isolation and when all systems respond for the same outcome then speaks to our overall health in my view.
From a holistic point of view, it already touches, what I would describe, all four major pillars at the same time – cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, and the mind. When one short repeated stress can engage and coordinate all four so smoothly, it strongly suggests that the system as a whole is functioning well.
Takeaway: The most powerful insight from this experiment is that adaptability is not just physical. It is also:
• The brain updating its expectations
What felt threatening or demanding the first time is no longer perceived the same way. The brain learns the load and reduces overreaction.
• Reduced stress response
Because the brain expects the effort, it sends a calmer signal to the body, limiting unnecessary alarm and excessive heart rate spike.
• Faster shift from effort to recovery from sympathetic to parasympathetic
Once the task ends, the nervous system exits effort mode quicker, allowing heart rate and breathing to normalize faster.
• The ability to handle stress showing good hormonal balance
This reflects smoother transitions from noradrenaline to adrenaline, better cortisol and dopamine balance, and eventually an easier access to endorphins.
Good health is not about avoiding stress. It is about how well and how quickly we respond to it. At 51+, completing the same hard climb twice with a lower heart rate, faster recovery, and smoother effort is not about ego or performance. It is a quiet sign of resilience and a holistic dance of our systems. This is what I found fascinating more than the climb itself.
Maybe the true marker of vitality is not how hard we can push once, but how gracefully the body learns, adjusts, and comes back again.
Keep observing. Keep experimenting. That awareness itself is a form of training.
For Heart Rate Recovery (HRR) Vs Heart Rate Variability – which is a better marker of heart health:
Umesh Chhikara 