Exercise: Incline Walk

The incline walk on a treadmill mimics the action of walking up hills and hiking mountains (to an extent) inside a gym. Of course, you miss out on all that nature has to offer but the exercise is an excellent low impact fat burner. Its also a fantastic way to break up your training if you have hit a plateau, suffered a minor lower leg injury or are simply bored.

Lets look a the pro’s and cons of the incline walk.

PROS

Good heart rate Manipulator

Any type of physical activity causes an increase in your heart rate. At rest, your heart rate is typically the lowest. This is called your resting heart rate.

When you begin to exercise, this number climbs in relation to the intensity of the activity until you reach the maximum level you can sustain — also known as your maximum heart rate (2).

Somewhere between your resting heart rate and maximum heart rate is a range that’s ideal for aerobic exercise.

Walking or running on a flat surface will raise your heart rate. When you increase the incline on a treadmill or start walking or running up a hill, your heart rate will climb, even if your speed slows. Studies show that running uphill increases your heart rate with each bump in incline.

Researchers analyzed the heart rate increases of 18 well-conditioned male runners. They started running for 5 minutes at a 0% incline, which resulted in an average heart rate of 148 beats per minute (bpm).

After a 5-minute active recovery, they increased the incline to 2% for 5 minutes of running, which raised the average heart rate to 155 bpm.

Finally, the incline was increased to a 15% incline for 5 minutes of running, which resulted in a heart rate of 180 bpm. The speed was kept the same the entire time (3Trusted Source).

One of the benefits of incline walking workouts is that they are a great way to meet the physical activity guidelines for adults set forth by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the UK Government, which are to get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week.

Depending on your fitness level, the incline, and your walking speed, incline walking workouts will count towards your weekly minutes for either moderate-intensity or vigorous-intensity exercise.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, the moderate-intensity cardio zone falls between 64-76% of your maximum heart range, while vigorous cardio would be at an effort level at or above 77% of your maximum heart rate.

If your treadmill incline walking workouts increase your heart rate into the moderate-intensity physical activity zone, doing 30 minutes of incline walking five days per week will help you reach the guidelines for physical activity, whereas you will only need to walk 25 minutes three times per week if you push up into the vigorous activity zone.

Increases calorie burning

The number of calories you burn while exercising is based on a variety of factors, including your weight and the activity you’re performing. It can also change when you increase the intensity, such as when you walk or run on an incline.

Data from 16 participants showed that compared to flat ground, metabolic cost increased by 17% at 5% incline, and 32% at 10% incline (7Trusted Source).

In general, a 155-pound (70-kg) person who walks at 3.5 mph (5.6 kph) on a flat surface for 1 hour can burn approximately 267 calories. If they keep the same speed but walk uphill, they could burn up to 422 calories (8).

“Walking on flat ground is an incredibly energy efficient activity,” explains Jordan Duncan, DC, MDT, a chiropractor and expert in pain science at Washington’s Silverdale Sport and Spine. “Our bodies have a unique ability to store energy during gait, for example in our tendons and myofascial slings, and then use that energy to help propel us forward. While this allows us to walk great distances with relatively minimal effort, we only burn about 100 calories per mile on average when walking on flat ground.”

Safer for those with lower joint injuries and/or disease

Incline walking can be a more comfortable and safer form of exercise than running for those with osteoarthritis, joint injuries, and low bone density.

It’s a low-impact exercise while still being relatively high intensity.

Compared to something like running or jumping rope, incline walking is much easier on the joints, while still being a great cardio workout.

Another one of the excellent benefits of incline walking is that metabolic cost is significantly higher than walking on level ground, meaning that you will burn calories much more efficiently.

For example, studies suggest that compared to walking on flat land, walking at a 5% grade increases the energy cost of walking by 17% at 5% incline, while a 10% incline boosts the caloric expenditure by a whopping 32%.

The more calories you burn during your workout, the easier it becomes to generate the caloric deficit needed to lose weight.

With upwards of 30 incline levels on most standard treadmills (0-15% grade in 0.5% increments) and an endless range of speed options, you can tailor the incline walking workout to your level of fitness.

Additionally, you can vary your workouts by adjusting the incline and speed, doing intervals of faster walking or up steeper gradients to further boost the intensity of the workout.

Now that we know the great benefits of incline walking, let’s look at some tips to get your started.

Any form of walking recruits the muscles in the lower body and core (as long as you’re not holding onto the treadmill handrails).

The steeper the incline, the greater the muscular demand on the muscles of the posterior chain (glutes, calves, and hamstrings).

Therefore, any type of incline walking—but especially at higher incline levels—can strengthen the muscles in your legs.

Walking uphill is particularly beneficial for people to strengthen the glutes, which is one primary muscle groups targeted by walking uphill.

Having strong glutes reduces the reliance of the hamstrings and low-back muscles, which decreases the risk of low-back pain.

The glutes should be one of the strongest and most powerful muscles in the entire body, and the primary drivers of hip extension (pulling your hip and leg backwards) when you walk, run, and jump.

Any type of exercise or physical activity increases your heart rate because moving the body increases the muscles’ oxygen demand.

The higher the intensity of the activity, the higher your heart rate will climb above your resting heart rate.

All-out exercise will elevate your heart rate to your maximum heart rate, which is the highest number of beats per minute your heart can contract.

Targets the posterior chain muscles

Regular walking or running on a flat surface relies more on the quadriceps and less on the hamstrings and glutes, which are part of your posterior chain. Yet, when you shift to incline mode, you’ll feel the posterior chain muscles working with each step.

That’s why it’s common to hear people say their glutes and hamstrings are “on fire” after walking up a hill. Strong posterior chain muscles can prevent injuries, improve posture, boost athletic performance, and help counteract sudden forces (4).

Increases activation of lower leg muscles

Your lower leg, which comprises your calves and shins, is home to several muscles, including the tibialis anterior, peroneals, gastrocnemius, and soleus. When you change from a flat surface to an incline, these muscles are activated.

Research shows that walking on a medial incline ramp activates the peroneal muscles significantly more than walking on a normal or flat surface.

These findings support the use of incline walking to strengthen the peroneals and help people with weak ankles (5Trusted Source).

Another smaller study showed that muscle activity in the medial gastrocnemius muscles in the calves increased as participants changed inclines levels from 0° to 3° to 6° when walking on a treadmill (6Trusted Source).

CONS

Monotonous Exercise

Incline places additional stress on the Anterior and Posterior Calf

Switching from a flat surface to an incline puts additional stress on your anterior and posterior calf muscles. If you have any issues here, it is best to avoid uphill walking. Plus, the higher incline put more stress on your hips and lower back. If you have lower back pain best to avoid uphill walking.