Do you run on treadmill with incline?

quartknee11

I was doing running/sprinting/walking intervals the other day with my boyfriend and he told me I need to increase the incline because his brother (who is not an expert but he still treats his word like it's the word of god) said that running on a treadmill without incline is pointless and you're not getting a workout. But I'm sweating and breathing hard and have my heart rate every time.


Do I need to have the incline up?

Commander_Keen

quartknee11 wrote: »

I was doing running/sprinting/walking intervals the other day with my boyfriend and he told me I need to increase the incline because his brother (who is not an expert but he still treats his word like it's the word of god) said that running on a treadmill without incline is pointless and you're not getting a workout. But I'm sweating and breathing hard and have my heart rate every time.


Do I need to have the incline up?

Sooooo.. there is the scoop as I understand it.
You should set the incline to level 3, as I believe it will match to running outside on a track.
But as long as you are burning calories and as long as you can see improvement with every session, that is all that counts.

kd_mazur

the idea that you are not getting a workout is ridiculous. However, I have found increasing the incline slightly gives me the similar feel to outdoor running and makes the transition from treadmill to outside running easier.

__TMac__

I usually run with it at 1%, just to get closer to the perceived effort of running outside. If you transition to running outside, you may find that you're a little slower than you expect if you haven't increased your incline while on the treadmill. But just to get a good workout, it doesn't matter.

As an aside: For fun, I do "playlist intervals": I change the incline and speed to match each song -- from 0 to 15% and from 2.5 to 6 mph. Helps the time pass more quickly.

NorthCascades

No, but sometimes I run outside.

quartknee11 wrote: »

I was doing running/sprinting/walking intervals the other day with my boyfriend and he told me I need to increase the incline because his brother (who is not an expert but he still treats his word like it's the word of god) said that running on a treadmill without incline is pointless and you're not getting a workout. But I'm sweating and breathing hard and have my heart rate every time.


Do I need to have the incline up?

Idiocy. Record a treadmill session with an HRM, look at how much time you spend in each zone, and then never listen to his advice again.

Charlene_1985

My stride changes on the treadmill and I find adding an incline only serves to cause pain to a hip injury I suffered. I personally leave it at 0 but do only about 10% of my running on the treadmill.

Philtex

I have trained for half marathons on the treadmill and have never used any incline.

CMNVA

I heard a long time ago that to replicate outdoor running as much as you can, you should set an incline to 1%. I have done that and definitely notice a difference in the feel in my legs. However, I am finding that doing my C25K program on the treadmill really gives me a lot of hip and knee pain for days after that I don't get outside.

janejellyroll

I do increase the incline -- because I'm training for races outside that do have hills and because it lends a nice variety to the workout.

But running without an incline isn't pointless -- it isn't like your body isn't using energy unless you're at an incline. If someone told me that running without an incline wasn't a workout, I'd assume they'd never run on a treadmill without an incline. It's a position that doesn't make any sense at all. What exactly do they think is happening when you're running on a flat surface? Magic?

dewd2

Unless you run uphill when you are outside and never down, you are not replicating anything. It may be closer to the effort you would give if you were outside, but the constant incline is not natural and could end up causing issues with hips, knees, etc.

When I am forced to run on the dreadmill, I never use an incline.

Zarka_91

i first started of with running on an incline, now i dont bother, i still sweat running without an incline. incline is just for running on a hill rather than a flat surface lol. i guess everyone has there own preferences .

AigreDoux

My home treadmill is really old and for some reason doesn't go below a 1.5 incline. So yes, I always have it at an incline.

However, I hate it. It feels so much harder to me than running outside at the same pace. There is likely some mental/boredom affect contributing to that though.

spiriteagle99

Your friend seems to imply that running on a track isn't really a good workout? Or running in Florida or Texas or Kansas isn't really running? There are a lot of people running on flat streets or tracks who are definitely getting a good workout.

I vary the incline on my TM simply to give variety to my runs, but I also don't do more than 3%. I get a very good workout without it, but since all the local races are hilly, I think it's good practice to do some incline training if I'm running indoors.

The idea that you have to run at 1% to be closer to running outdoors with wind resistance only applies if you are a very very fast runner. Most of us don't run fast enough to have a lot of wind resistance, except on a windy day.

As to you - most of your running should be at an easy pace. The easier it is, the farther you can run and the better you will build up the capillaries and mitochondria that will allow you to run well.

cwolfman13

That doesn't even make sense...

MonkeyMel21

I do all of my weekday running on a treadmill and any weekend running is outside. I had a knee injury in 2012 and since then am very careful of it so I do not use any incline on the treadmill at all. I still get a great work out.

MeanderingMammal

quartknee11 wrote: »

Do I need to have the incline up?

No

The received wisdom around inclined to simulate the real have some grounding in truth, but only really when you're running at. 4.5min/ km or faster.

In many ways it increases the stress on your achilles and raises your risk of tendonopathy.

MelanieCN77

I vary it.

Glossberg

The only time I use an incline when on the treadmill is "hill" workout days. Other than that I keep at 0 and feel I get a similar workout as I do a flat tracks outside.

MagBird1103

I train on a treadmill for 5ks and never run with an incline. And guess what....I'm actually FASTER when I run outside vs. on the treadmill. I find that running at an incline doesn't feel right and hurts. As long as your heart rate is up and you are sweating, it's a good work.

On non running days though, I do WALK on a high incline at a slow pace, but this is mostly to vary the leg muscle groups I use and it's a different kind of workout.

divcara

I keep the treadmill on 1.0. It's funny, I've been doing that for so long, when it is at 0, it actually feels really flat!

Need2Exerc1se

I imagine you burn more calories with an increased incline but I don't do it because it makes my calves super sore. Oddly enough, running on hills outside doesn't do this.