To get the most out of a workout when you’re short on time, many active adults turn to interval training. Doing sprint intervals is an efficient way to support cardio fitness, and a study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise tests a novel approach that involves climbing stars in intervals.

In the first phase, researchers had 31 inactive women in their 20s climb stairs in 3 bouts of 20-second all-out effort. These workouts took place 3 days a week for 6 weeks. During the next 6 weeks, the 3 intervals were extended to 60 seconds of all out stair climbing. Compared to measurements taken before the interval training program began, subjects increased maximal oxygen capacity by about 7%.