Walking with Incline

I usually walk on a treadmill for my cardio as well. My incline generally goes up to 8.0 with a speed of 3.3 to 3.8 mph. Onthe tradmill that I go on, you can set it for "Rolling Hills". I've never done it, but I'm sure itwould be more challenging than a straight "Manual" trek...


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when you put it on such a high incline are you grasping onto the treadmill for dear life? (I see ladies at my gym doing this!). I think if a high incline means you have to hold tightly onto the machine, you're probably not getting the full benefits of the incline because it's not as hard as if you weren't holding on and propelling yourself with your own arm swings instead.... wow i hope that made sense

my balance is terrible. try as I might, inclined or level makes no difference to the fact that I cannot use the treadmill without holding on. I can do short bits with one hand, but I hang on because I will fall. I have done it so many times. My friends say I could never be a sailor! and um, my MFP nick name pretty much says it all. "over she goes, like a tippy canoe!"

You do get a better burn with an incline than with none. However, if you do the same incline every time, your body gets used to it, just like if you did no incline at all every time, you would start burning less and less calories over time.


It's best to change it up. Do 8% for 15 minutes, then 5%, then 6%, and so on. And keep it different every time you work out.

Interval Incline Treadmill is one of my favorite cardio workouts. Vary speed and incline every 1 or 2 minutes, it will build up your endurance and speed much faster than just doing the same thing the whole time. Same holds true for other cardio equipment, vary the resistance and speed and angles...basically, anything that you can change on the machine, change it several times during the same workout. IMO, 20 minutes of that is better than 40 minutes of doing the same thing the entire time.

Incline treadmill walking can be a good calorie burner for people who either can't or don't want to run. Holding on to the handrails, for whatever reason, will negate a portion of that effort (and calorie burn). How much depends on the steepness of the incline and how much you hold on, but it can be as high as 60% less. I understand if some people have balance issues--just be aware that you cannot rely on the calorie count you see if you do hold on.

Since holding on makes that big a difference, there is little additional benefit to be gained from a treadmill that inclines up to 30 percent--unless you have a very high fitness level and, for some reason, cannot walk faster than 2.0 or 2.5 miles per hour. For most people, the higher elevations will be beyond their fitness capacity--unless they hold on.