There’s no denying the amazing benefits of walking on a treadmill before you activate the incline feature. Incline training is a safe and enjoyable approach to attain your fitness objectives faster and more efficiently without placing additional strain on your joints. If you want to burn more calories, tone your glutes and hamstrings, and lose weight, add an incline to your walking routine on a treadmill.
In this article, I compiled a list of 5 amazing benefits of incline treadmill walking, but I believe I could have included more. Continue reading to learn about the five most significant advantages of incline treadmill walking.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Incline Treadmill Walking
Walking up an incline provides many of the same benefits as walking on a flat surface but at a higher intensity because it is more challenging than walking on a flat surface. We’ll explore the specific benefits of adding an inclination to your walking routine here.
Weight Loss
There’s one burning question in many people’s thoughts: Is walking on an incline good for weight loss?
In brief, the answer is Yes; incline walking burns more calories than walking on a non-inclined treadmill track. So, by incorporating an incline into your walk, you can lose the weight of your body significantly.
The table below demonstrates how many more calories you can burn simply by walking at a higher inclination level. I averaged two statistics I found online to get more accurate results.
The main aim is to show how much more calories you can burn by increasing the slope by 10-degrees.
Incline | Calories (Stats-1) | Calories (Stats-2) | Avg. Cal. |
40% | 381 | 398 | 389 |
30% | 321 | 317 | 319 |
20% | 232 | 236 | 234 |
10% | 157 | _____ | 157 |
0% | 87 | 74 | 80 |
*Calories burned walking at 2mph for 20 minutes.
The calculations indicate that you may burn nearly 5 times as many calories at a 40 percent slope as you would at a 0 percent incline.
Cardiovascular Fitness
During aerobic workouts, your heart rate should be between 60 and 80 percent of your maximum heart rate to get the most benefit. Maintaining this level of heart rate throughout exercise has numerous health benefits. Walking on an inclined treadmill is a great technique to keep your heart rate in the desired range.
Treadmill users with joint issues or injuries may find it challenging to improve their heart rate by simply speeding up. Incline walking increases the workload, which raises the heart rate without the risk of aggravating an injury that would occur if you run.
Finally, your heart will develop strength. When you exercise on an inclination, your heart rate will be significantly higher than when you exercise on a flat surface. As your heart rate increases, it gets stronger. This is also an excellent strategy to lower your blood pressure, as your heart will become stronger over time, requiring less effort to pump blood throughout the body.
Fat Burning
Incline treadmill walking is a great way to shed body fat when paired with the right weight loss supplement and diet plan. When walking on an incline, the body burns more calories than walking on a flat surface. As a result, the body uses a more significant percentage of fat for supplying fuel.
As a general rule, the more an exercise leads to muscle activation, the more energy it will consume, and therefore the more it will burn fat. Treadmill walking engages a variety of muscle groups in the lower and upper body.
According to Freemotion Fitness, walking at 3 mph on a super-incline trainer set to between 16 and 18 percent incline burns 70 percent more fat than running at no incline.
Muscle Building
Inclined treadmill walking is a great approach to enhance muscle recovery after doing high-intensity upper body workouts like bench presses or a leg day at the gym. The secret to muscular growth is to repair the damage caused by a high-intensity workout.
The activation of leg muscles is increased when walking on an inclination. Walking on an inclination engages more muscles in the calves, hamstrings, and glutes than walking on a flat treadmill. Inclines more than 15% provide significant benefits to leg strength training.
Reduced Injury Risk
Running on a treadmill is already less stressful on the body’s joints than running outdoors, so adding a modest incline to the treadmill decreases the stress on the body’s joints. An inclined treadmill boosts intensity levels without placing stress on the body’s joints.
According to a study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, increasing the treadmill inclination by 3% lowers the effect on the legs by roughly 24% if your treadmill have proper shock absorbers/cushions.
When you walk up an incline, you stretch your Achilles tendons and calves, which might be beneficial for people with foot problems like plantar fasciitis.
Those suffering from back pain should lessen the incline and increase the intensity gradually as the back muscles strengthen.
Safety Issues of Incline Treadmill Walking
Incline treadmill walking is one of the most effective low-impact exercises available. If you have existing joint pain or conditions in your knees or lower back, it’s still a good idea to start slowly. If you start to feel back pain at a certain point during your incline workout, lower the incline percentage till you can continue without pain. The same is true for any type of pain, including knee pain.
The good news is that walking at a lower incline will aid in the development of muscle in the areas where you are experiencing pain. If you suffer from back pain, regular incline treadmill walking at a level that is suitable for you can help to alleviate the discomfort. To be safe, it’s best to consult with a doctor who knows about your condition first.
Final Words: Benefits of Incline Treadmill Walking
As you can see, there are several health benefits of incline treadmill walking, including calorie burn, cardiovascular fitness, fat burning, muscle building, and many more.
We strongly advise you to add your treadmill’s inclination function into your workout if you haven’t already to get some excellent health benefits. Begin slowly and see how far you can push yourself without injuring yourself.
Incline Treadmill Walking (FAQs)
What is the ideal treadmill inclination angle?
When it comes to treadmill inclination angles, it’s best to begin slowly and gradually increase as you get used to it. Many people are astonished at how much tougher walking uphill is. I recommend starting with the lowest setting and progressively increasing to a maximum of 15%. Always listen to your body!
Is incline treadmill walking good for weight loss?
Incline treadmill walking is a wonderful method to improve the intensity of your activity, which can help you lose weight. When you walk or run up an incline, your body has to work harder, which results in more calories burned than if you were doing the same thing on a level surface. Walking or running on a Incline treadmill is a faster technique to achieve your fitness goals.
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