Walking with an Incline

guwisti

Just starting out with my fitness, so I'm at very basic levels. I have a question about walking on a treadmill using an incline? I live in the Ozarks part of Arkansas and we have some wonderful trails here. At my current fitness level, I'm probably not ready for them, so I've been trying to train on the treadmill. When you walk using various inclines is there any way to log that differently on MFP or do you just log walking at the speed you're going? Thank you

jmeyer925

There's an "walking 3.5 uphill" It's pretty accurate

And good luck with the training for the trails! Im sure there are some shorter ones that you can go on to test the waters.

semperfit1823

your treadmill should tell you the amount your burn and you can adjust that to the calculator.

BrianSharpe

Or, even better, invest in a heart rate monitor that way you can use it on the treadmill and, when you're ready, out on the trails and you'll get a much more accurate estimate of the calories burned. (and, over time, tangible proof that your fitness is improving as you see your average heart rate dropping......)

guwisti

There's an "walking 3.5 uphill" It's pretty accurate

And good luck with the training for the trails! Im sure there are some shorter ones that you can go on to test the waters.

ha! If i was walking 3.5 mph that would be a good option. *laughing* one day!


And those are some great ideas. I haven't figured out how to program my treadmill yet so it knows my weight, etc. So right now i don't think the calculations it's giving me are accurate. And I'd like to get some sort of monitor...maybe one of those FitBits I keep seeing advertised.

helengetshealthy

I know this isn't 100% accurate BUT maybe you could log it as walking uphill 3.5mph and only log half or two thirds of the time you actually walked for? To sort of compensate for the fact that you're not going at 3.5mph? Just a thought. I LOVE walking uphill, I really feel the burn and you'll get some great results, you really will.

cmcollins001

I have a heart rate monitor that I use to check the accuracy of the treadmills I use at the gym and for the most part, they're accurate enough. I'm not going to complain about 20-30 calories here and there. I always take the lower of the two which is always the treadmills.

Anyway, having said all that, I'm going to say that when I do speeds and inclines that aren't listed MFP, I'll just add my own exercise and use it. For instance, I got tired of all of the "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, walking dog" that I saw everyone logging, including myself, that I changed it to "Walking, 3.3-3.5, 3% incline, Walking Ostrich" No, I don't have an Ostrich, but I don't have a dog either. On some days it's, "Walking, 2%-3% incline, 3 mph average, Following herd of 3 Toed Sloths"

If your treadmill doesn't allow you to enter age and weight, then use this online calculator, it seems to be decent: http://nutritionfirstfitness.com/tools.php?tool=running

Make your own, and have fun with it.

possibri

There are definitely uphill variations of the different walking speeds in MFP, but I highly recommend getting an HRM, it takes the guesswork out of it!

michaelsgirl1210

There's going to be a huge difference (for me at 3.5 mph, 0 incline is about 130 calories and 12 incline is 400 in 30 minutes). There are several calculators online that are pretty accurate because you can put in your age and weight and other variables. I usually don't trust MFP on my exercise because there are just too many situational factors.

guwisti

I have a heart rate monitor that I use to check the accuracy of the treadmills I use at the gym and for the most part, they're accurate enough. I'm not going to complain about 20-30 calories here and there. I always take the lower of the two which is always the treadmills.

Anyway, having said all that, I'm going to say that when I do speeds and inclines that aren't listed MFP, I'll just add my own exercise and use it. For instance, I got tired of all of the "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, walking dog" that I saw everyone logging, including myself, that I changed it to "Walking, 3.3-3.5, 3% incline, Walking Ostrich" No, I don't have an Ostrich, but I don't have a dog either. On some days it's, "Walking, 2%-3% incline, 3 mph average, Following herd of 3 Toed Sloths"

If your treadmill doesn't allow you to enter age and weight, then use this online calculator, it seems to be decent: http://nutritionfirstfitness.com/tools.php?tool=running

Make your own, and have fun with it.

I LOVE It! I have chickens so maybe I'll change it to walking my hens. LOL. Great idea and thanks for the calculator link.