I’m a certified personal trainer and often have my clients walking an incline on the treadmill. The beauty of this is that an incline offers a poorly conditioned or obese person — who cannot run or move swiftly — a great, safe way to challenge the cardiovascular system. Incline walking is also good for people who can’t move fast for other reasons, such as injury or rehabbing some kind of problem. So in the meantime, they must walk, but the incline allows them to be really challenged.
Here are all the benefits of incline walking on a treadmill.
– Mimics walking real hills outdoors, which you may have to do sooner or later
– Challenges the cardiovascular system without requiring speed; ideal for people, as mentioned above, either not in the mood for speed workouts, or people who cannot ambulate swiftly due to orthopedic conditions or obesity.
– Because an incline challenges the heart at a slower walking pace, this means less impact on knees and hips. Incline walking is far superior to the elliptical trainer, because incline walking is actual walking, something that you do in real life. Whereas, the elliptical trainer provides a motion that does not relate to real-life movements of the human body.
– The slow nature is good for people either just getting back into exercise after injury, or for people new to exercise who don’t want to pull a muscle at faster speeds.
– Recruits lower back muscles to keep your body erect
– Provides a stretch to the calves and Achilles tendons
– A great alternative for people suffering from heel pain (plantar fasciitis) because of the minimized heel-strike impact, and the stretching of the foot with each step
– An alternative for people who are getting bored with the same ‘ol flat walking or jogging
Drawbacks of incline walking
For all practical purposes, there aren’t any. The injury risk is very low. Even if you briskly walk an incline, the slope will limit how fast you can walk. In fact, people with knee pain may find that walking an incline produces less discomfort than walking level.
A very important note: You will not reap benefits of incline walking if you hold onto the treadmill. I can’t say this enough. Do not place your hands on any part of the treadmill. To do so will cancel out the effect of the slope, even at faster speeds. So be sure you swing your arms naturally at your sides, as you would if you were walking up a hill outside. If you cannot keep up with the tread without holding on, then 1) lower the incline, or 2) slow the speed.
Some people with lower back issues may feel aching at that location, upon walking an incline without holding onto the treadmill. But rather than hold on, these walkers should slow down and/or lower the incline. If their back is still killing them, they should 1) Use a very low incline and/or a really slow speed; 2) If discomfort persists, make sure that an orthopedic specialist says it’s okay to just stick it out. Some injuries need to be worked through in order to be worked out of the body; 3) Avoid the incline until the injury heals.
