Required Resources To undertake this test, you will require: • A 15-30cm high bench or step • Stopwatch • Metronome or cadence tape • Heart rate monitor • • An assistant The box height is determined as follows: • 15cm - is generally suitable for those over 40 years of age who take little or no regular physical exercise and for those under-40's who are moderately overweight. • 20cm - is generally suitable for those under 40 years of age who take little or no regular physical exercise and for those under-40's who are moderately overweight. • 25cm - is generally suitable for those over 40 years of age who regularly take physical exercise with moderately vigorous exertion. • 30cm - generally suitable for those under 40 years of age who regularly take physical exercise with moderately vigorous exertion How to conduct the test Before starting the test, the assistance needs to record: • The athlete's Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) - use 220-age • The athlete's 80% of Maximum Heart Rate (MHR80) - use MHR x 0.8 The Chester Step Test is conducted as follows: • The assistance explains to the athlete the test requirements: • You will step up and down onto the box in time with the metronome. • Every 2-minutes the metronome will be increased by 5 steps/minute. • At each 2-minute period I will record your heart rate and ask you to tell me the Borg rating for your perceived exertion and if your heart rate is greater than your MHR80 or your perceived exertion level is above a certain value then the test will end.
• The test will end after 10 minutes of stepping • Continue stepping whilst I record your heart rate and ask for your perceived exertion level • The assistance checks the athlete's understanding of the test requirements. (1998) 'The Chester Step Test: ASSIST Physiological Measurement Resources Manual Version 3.'
Liverpool: ASSIST Creative Resources Ltd. & ROBERTS, A. (2004) The Chester step test—a simple yet effective tool for the prediction of aerobic capacity.
Physiotherapy, 90(4), 183-188 Related References The following references provide additional information on this topic: • BUCKLEY, J. (2004) Reliability and validity of measures taken during the Chester step test to predict aerobic power and to prescribe aerobic exercise. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(2), 197-205.
Feb 11, 2015 - The purpose of the Chester step test is to measure a wide group of people effectively, without necessarily pushing them to the breaking point.
• ELLIOTT, D. (2008) The effect of an active arm action on heart rate and predicted VO 2max during the Chester step test. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 11(2), 112-115.
(2013) Chester step test: assessment of functional capacity and magnitude of cardiorespiratory response in patients with COPD and healthy subjects. Brazilian journal of physical therapy, 17(3), 227-235. (2014) Estimating VO2max using a personalized step test.
Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 18(3), 184-197. Page Reference If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is: • MACKENZIE, B.
(2016) Chester Step Test [WWW] Available from: [Accessed Related Pages The following Sports Coach pages provide additional information on this topic: • •.
RESULTS: Thirty-one patients performed stage 1 of the Chester step test. Nineteen patients performed stage 2 of the Chester step test.
The number of steps was highly reproducible: 66 ± 41 steps vs 68 ± 41 steps. There was no difference in heart rate or S pO 2 between the 2 Chester step tests at the peak of exercise or at the end of each stage. There was a significant correlation between number of steps and FEV 1 (r = 0.43, P =.02), and 6-min walk distance (r = 0.60, P =.001). Heart rate increased according to advanced stages of the Chester step test, up to 81 ± 13% of predicted.
There was a significant correlation between number of steps and peak heart rate (r = 0.55, P =.001). In the 11 patients who performed the incremental cycling test there was a significant correlation between number of steps and peak work load (r = 0.69, P =.02). In the 6 patients in whom oxygen uptake could be estimated from the Chester step test, oxygen uptake was higher than that measured at the peak of the cycling test (30.8 ± 5.1 mL/kg/min vs 17.4 ± 4.5 mL/kg/min, respectively, P =.001). Introduction Apart from pulmonary impairment, COPD leads to peripheral muscle dysfunction. The combination of pulmonary and muscular disturbances contributes to reduced exercise capacity. The 6-min walk test and shuttle test are commonly used to assess functional capacity in patients with COPD. The step test is widely used in healthy subjects, and several step test protocols have been adapted to study various outcomes in cardiopulmonary diseases.
– The advantage of the step test over the 6-min walk test or shuttle test is that the step test requires less space and therefore can be conducted in settings such as an intensive care unit, a physician's office, or at a home-based or in-patient rehabilitation program. A wide variety of step tests have been described, with different cadences (self-paced or externally paced), step heights, and test durations. Because of the huge possibilities for adaptation, step tests can be used to assess physical capacity in patients with varied health status. The Chester step test was originally designed to assess aerobic capacity in healthy subjects, and was recently used to predict maximum oxygen uptake (V̇ O 2) and to evaluate the effectiveness of an exercise training program in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome,, but it has not been tested in COPD patients.