True or false

Fat4Fuel2

I head somewhere that running on a treadmill at an incline of 1 is equivalent to running outside. Right or wrong?

BerryH

Only in terms of a vaguely similar calorie burn to running on a totally flat surface (which never happens outside of a running track). Outside you get a variety of inclines, surfaces, wind and weather conditions, not to mention you are using energy to actually project yourself forwards rather than stay in one place. Plus the "dreadmill" is pure tedium and outside is full of distractions!

bcattoes

Only in terms of a vaguely similar calorie burn to running on a totally flat surface (which never happens outside of a running track). Outside you get a variety of inclines, surfaces, wind and weather conditions, not to mention you are using energy to actually project yourself forwards rather than stay in one place. Plus the "dreadmill" is pure tedium and outside is full of distractions!

I agree completely!!

Tara4boys

A little of both - Including a slight incline on TM helps to simulate things like wind resistance and slight elevation changes you would experience running outdoors. But make no mistake, running outdoors is waaay harder than running on a TM.

CarsonRuns

Scientific studies show that the 1% incline simulating wind resistance does not actually come into play until you reach somewhere around a 6:00 minute per mile pace (going from memory, this was in Running Times about 3 issues back).

If it feels good at 1%, then run at 1%. If it doesn't, don't. The important thing is to just do something.

keegannati

I thought it was more like an incline of 3, but yes I've done it and it seems similar to running outside. Running on a flat treadmill makes me feel like I'm running downhill the whole time.