These mistakes could make or break your incline treadmill workout.
Thanks in part to trending workouts like the 12-3-30 protocol, incline walking is becoming increasingly popular among Equinox members. I’ve even had several clients ask to pick my brain about these routines and if they’re truly effective.
My take? Incline walking on the treadmill can be a beneficial workout — if you’re doing it properly.
Why Add Incline to Your Treadmills Walks
Oftentimes, people will step on the treadmill and set their incline to a flat-road feel, but the outside world isn’t perfectly level. You encounter gentle hills while walking your dog in your neighborhood, steep, uneven terrain on the hiking trail, and moderate inclines up stairs on a daily basis.
Incorporating those hills into your in-Club training regimen can build up your cardiovascular system and muscles so that those real-life climbs feel less strenuous. This is because, as the incline goes up on the treadmill, your gait changes. You’ll bend your knees a bit more than usual to step forward, which leads to more muscle engagement in the quads and shins. You’ll also have to work against gravity to climb up the hill, which increases activation of the posterior chain (the muscles on the backside of your body), particularly the glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
What’s more, you’re able to get your heart rate higher than you would while walking on a flat road. A 2013 study, published in PLoS One, found that bumping the incline up from 2 percent to 7 percent resulted in a nearly 10 percent increase in heart rate while running. In other words, you can train at more vigorous intensities even if you’re not able to pick up your speed.
Incline walking is also beneficial cross-training for runners or athletes who participate in other sports, especially if they’re dealing with an overuse injury but still want to keep their cardiovascular health strong. The steeper you go, the more challenging it is for your cardiovascular system, as well as your respiratory system and lung capacity. Plus, you’ll simultaneously challenge muscular strength and endurance.
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How to Get the Most Out of Your Incline Walks
Incline walking is a full-body workout, and just like any movement practice, you don’t want to go from zero to 100. Spend a few minutes performing bodyweight lunges, knee hugs, calf raises, and hip and ankle mobility movements before stepping on the treadmill to warm up your muscles and joints. (Walking at an incline requires more dorsiflexion in the ankles than strolling at a flat-road slope.) Then, give yourself a couple of minutes at a lower incline to ease your way into the main event.
Don’t crank the incline up to 10 percent on your very first go. Beginners should build up slowly, getting themselves comfortable with the incline; start with a 1 to 5 percent incline and build from there. You might do intervals, spending one or two minutes at a higher incline, then bringing it back down to your “base” incline. As your fitness and comfort progress, you can start bumping it up more frequently or for longer periods.
As the incline increases, your speed will need to go down. This will reduce your risk of falling and prevent your heart rate from climbing higher than you’d like. Sometimes, when people are walking too fast and holding on, they can start to see some minor injuries, such as shin splints. (FYI, you might also experience discomfort in your feet or ankles if your sneakers are too flat, as incline walking causes more heel strike; dial down your speed and incline until you can invest in a pair that offers more support.)
On a flat road, most people walk at a two- to four-mile-per-hour pace. Anything over that speed tends to become a jog. So if you’re walking at a 10 percent incline, you’ll probably bring your speed down to about three miles per hour.
If you need to gently hold onto the treadmill handlebar for balance, that’s okay — but you shouldn’t grip onto it for dear life. I usually see this when members are walking at an incline that’s too steep for their current abilities. The problem: When you cling onto the handlebar, you rotate more through the hips and place more stress on the shoulders, neck, and surrounding muscles. You’re also not able to pump your arms at your sides, which helps improve walking efficiency, and your core isn’t working as hard to keep you balanced and stable.
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Holding onto the treadmill also defeats the purpose of the steeper incline. With the added support, you’re able to lean back, which means you won’t need to bend your knees as much nor “step into” the incline, firing up your leg muscles and core.
This impact was backed up in a small 2014 study, which found that holding onto the handrails and leaning backward significantly reduced metabolic cost (aka calorie burn) compared to walking at the same incline without any hand support. What’s more, walking while leaning backward at a 10 percent incline burned about the same number of calories per minute as walking at a 5 percent incline without holding onto the handrails, according to the findings.
One of the worst mistakes you could make is holding onto the top of the monitor. Your arms are positioned up high and you’re leaning back, which places more stress on your lower back. And if you stumble over your feet or your fingers slip off the equipment, you’re definitely tumbling down the treadmill.
The bottom line: Treat your incline walk on the treadmill just like you would your endurance-building jogs or speed-building sprints. So long as you warm up well, choose an intensity that syncs with your fitness level and goals, and practice good technique, you’ll reap the benefits.
Lynn Pesce Vita, MS, CSCS, NBC-HWC, has been working in the health and fitness industry for more than 35 years. She is a board-certified health and wellness coach and barefoot training specialist and has been working at Equinox for the past 10 years. Vita currently serves as a personal training educator and regional coordinator for the education department in New York City and is a COACH X at Hudson Yards.