The VersaClimber, a brand-new piece of exercise equipment which allows exercisers to simulate hill-climbing while using both the arms and legs, is becoming increasingly popular at high-tech gyms around the world. VersaClimber advocates claim that the device works more major muscle groups during a training session, compared to other popular activities like running, rowing, or cycling, and that the VersaClimber stimulates higher-than-normal rates of oxygen consumption during workouts (oxygen consumption rate is an important determinant of workout quality). But does the VersaClimber really cut the mustard?

To determine VersaClimber value, researchers at Washington State University recently asked 11 collegiate oarswomen and a coxswain to work out several times nearly maximal levels on a treadmill, a rowing machine, and a VersaClimber. The study was especially interesting, because running (either on a treadmill or regular ground) is normally considered to be the activity which produces the highest rates of oxygen consumption. On the other hand, pro-oxygen arguments could also be made for rowing and VersaClimbing, since they involve not only lower- but also upper-body muscles and might therefore produce peak demands for oxygen.

The workouts carried out by the oarswomen were designed to be maximal efforts. On the VersaClimber, the athletes positioned the handles of the climber at just below shoulder height, used maximal step heights (about a half-metre per step), avoided supporting their bodies with their arms, and increased their rate of movement by about six metres per minute every two minutes. The beginning velocity was about 31 metres per minute, and after the fifth two-minute increment (at about 54 metres per minute), subjects climbed on the VersaClimbers at a maximal rate for as long as possible. V02max was usually reached at a climbing rate of about 55-61 metres per minute.

The rowing workouts, completed on a Concept ll rowing ergometer, consisted of continuous, two-minute work stages at 100,136,194, 220, 250, and then 290 Watts, followed by exercise at an even higher intensity which was sustained until V02max was actually reached. Treadmill efforts involved running at a fairly steady pace while treadmill grade was increased, until maximal aerobic capacity was attained.

VersaClimbing turned out to be exceptionally good exercise. Ventilation rate (the amount of air rushing into the lungs per minute) was about 10-per cent higher on the VersaClimber, compared to maximal running and rowing. Maximal heart rate was significantly higher - by about three beats per minute - during VersaClimbing, compared to rowing (but not compared to running). Both running and climbing pushed max heart rate up to about 195-196 beats per minute.

And what about our final arbiter of aerobic workout quality - oxygen consumption? That was also highest during VersaClimbing - about 5-per cent higher than the oxygen use of running and a full 10-per cent higher than 02 use during rowing. The Washington State researchers were so impressed with the high rates of oxygen use on the VersaClimber that they developed an equation which allows you to determine your actual oxygen consumption during VersaClimbing. Here's the formula: VersaClimber Oxygen Consumption = (.9086) X (Meters climbed per minute) + 5.3245.

So does all this mean, as many popular publications will no doubt proclaim, that a bout of climbing on a VersaClimbing machine is a better workout, compared to a running or rowing effort? Not at all! For one thing, the subjects used in the study - oarswomen and that heroic coxswain - were skilled at upper-body efforts and not-so-great at running. Using experienced runners in the study might have yielded quite different results. In fact, a separate study carried out with different subjects found that oxygen use was actually greater on the treadmill, not the VersaClimber.

Also, it's important to bear in mind that simply attaining a high rate of oxygen consumption during a workout does not automatically mean that that workout is the best one for you. The lofty 02 guzzling with VersaClimbing, compared to running, was partially because the arms were more involved during VersaClimbing, adding in an additional amount of muscle mass which could utilize oxygen. In fact, during the VersaClimbing workout the LEG MUSCLES were using oxygen at LOWER rates, compared to running; VersaClimber V02max was probably only higher when you added in the arms. Since runners don't give a hoot about oxygen use in their arms during running (in fact, they'd prefer that they didn't use too much oxygen), a running workout is still a better, more specific workout if you're a runner (it does a better job of 'teaching' your leg muscles to increase their oxygen-utilization capacity).

That doesn't mean that VersaClimbing sessions are nothing special, however. In fact, they're great as a total-body workout, stressing many more muscles than are forcefully used during running. VersaClimbing efforts also provide a break from the hard-impact pounding of running, and the act of climbing may bolster runners' quadriceps and hip muscles, improving running economy. Also, VersaClimbing exertions don't require any special skills. You simply get on the machine and start climbing, making VC exertions perhaps easier than other cross-training activities like swimming. The bottom line is that VersaClimbing sessions are nice - but not necessarily better - than specific running efforts.

(VersaClimbing Elicits Higher W2max than Does Treadmill Running or Rowing Ergometry, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 27(2), pp. 24254, 1995)