"What can I do to make my treadmill walks more exciting but also increase its benefits?"
Simple answer: Keep walking and running at the same pace but with an incline, which will help you burn fat quicker and build muscles. Now, if you are looking for explanations, this article has you sorted.
Over 42% of American adults are overweight, and 30.7% of them are obese. If the percentage doesn't raise your eyebrows, the number will. American population was recorded at 335 million in 2023 by the World Bank. 30.7% of this population is 182,845,000 people. These people are at an increased risk of all diseases, particularly heart attack, type II diabetes, and Cancer. However, while the problem exists, we are closer to the solution when we acknowledge its necessity.
The solution to weight loss is exercise, and when we think of exercise, the simplest exercise is to walk and the machine designed to help you lose weight by walking is the Treadmill. Treadmills go a long way back. They have had numerous variations before coming into the shape we know them today. But, let's not focus on Treadmill's history, but on a more specific function within a treadmill, which is the 'incline' feature.
Walks can sometimes become boring, and trainers would want to spice up their workout. An easy way is to use the incline feature. However, trainers are often interested in finding out how the feature would help them in workout goals, and it is justified given benefits drive motivation, which dictates results.
So, inclined walks have been proven to derive multiple benefits, and lucky for us, burning fat and building muscles are a part of it. In this article, we will take you through a comprehensive understanding of the incline feature, its benefits, how it helps build muscle and burn calories, and which common mistakes you can avoid to make the most of it. Let's go!
What Is Incline Walking?
If you are afraid of a complicated answer, you don't need to be because incline walking is as simple as the words "Incline" & "Walking." Inclined walking is a fancier name for an uphill walk. It engages your posterior chain muscles, including glutes and hamstrings. The "incline" feature is available in most electronic treadmills today, allowing automatic adjustments during a workout. Manual treadmills require the trainer to adjust the incline manually.
How is Incline Walking Different from Flat Walking?
It's essential to clear this question right at the start before we go further into the article. There are two simple differences: calorie burn and muscle engagement.
In incline walking, you are simply walking upwards. It requires more energy as gravity acts on you. Think about how driving up a hill requires more fuel and throttle from your car.
Now, because the walk is at an incline, the muscle engagement is also different. Regular walking mainly requires effort from the quadriceps. But, in inclined walking, your posterior chain bears the heat, developing your glutes maximus, hamstrings, and calf muscles.
If you are looking for the answer to the question in the title, it might be a little more complex than a simple yes or No. We have already established how inclined walking will affect your muscles and fat burn, but let's understand the complexities involved before reaching a final verdict.
How Incline Walking Burns Fat?
Image alt: How incline walking burns fat?
So, let's talk about the first part of our first part of our question, "Does incline walking burn fat?" The answer is "Yes".
Does it burn more fat than flat walking? The answer is again a "Yes," given you work out at identical speeds and time intervals at both machines. The difference comes for various reasons, which are listed below.
Increased Calorie Burn
Incline walking burns more calories because it increases the intensity of your workout, where you are engaging more muscles and countering gravitational resistance. In a report at Health Line, a person flat walking for an hour will burn approximately 267 calories, while a person walking at an incline can burn up to 422 calories at the same time; we consider a constant speed of 3.5 mph during the workout with average 155 lbs male body weight.
Similarly, another study by Nordictrack showed the metabolic cost of walking inclined was significantly higher than flat walking; as per the article, an incline of 10% had a 113% higher metabolic cost than walking on a flat treadmill.
Boosts Fat Oxidation
Fat oxidation might sound technical, but it isn't. It considers how our body utilizes fat for energy during a moderate-intensity workout. When you are walking on an inclined treadmill, your body will use energy from carbohydrates and fat stored in the body. If you are walking at moderate intensities, considering you are between 40- 60% of your maximum heart rate, your body will use its fat stores to drive energy, as per Frontiersin, which will help you lose weight in the long run.
Enhances Metabolic Rate
As an extension of fat oxidation, metabolic rate also considers the relation of the workout's intensity to the fat burn. Your metabolism is highest when your heart rate is in the fat-burning zone, which, as per most experts, lies between 40% and 70% of your heart rate. With inclined walking, your body has to exert more energy than flat walking, which eventually means your heart rate will rise into the fat-burning zone, increasing your metabolic rate.
Multiple studies have analyzed the impact of inclined walking on heart rate, and they found heart rates to grow in the fat-burning zone within 5 minutes of 2% incline walking for an average of 150 lbs male. An incline of higher than 10% might lead to excess efforts, increasing your heart rate more than the required fat zone, and it's recommended to ensure your heart rate stays below 80% of the maximum.
How Incline Walking Build Muscles?
Now, we are in the second part of our question, which is "Does incline walking build muscles?". This question is slightly trickier than the last one because a treadmill isn't essentially designed to build your leg muscle; instead, it focuses on reducing muscle fat and toning it. However, for specific muscles, inclined walking can help you build them. Let's see how inclined walking enables you to build and tone muscles.
Focused More On Lower-Body Muscles
Unlike flat walking, which targets more on your quadriceps and lower muscles, inclined walking is more targeted on your posterior chain muscles, including hamstrings and glutes. Inclined walking involves uphill resistance, which stresses your tibialis anterior, personals, gastrocnemius, and soleus, more broadly, your lower body muscles.
Promotes Strength Development
As inclined walking involves higher resistance, it helps you build endurance in the long run and develop muscle strength. Research has also proven that a 5 to 10% incline is well suited to strengthen your knee joints and enhance your overall lower body strength. Some trainers even recommend high-speed inclined running for strength training.
Enhances Your Core Muscles
We have talked about muscles earlier in this article, focusing more on the posterior chain. But, incline walking also helps you reduce fat across your body, including your abdomen. It engages all of your core muscles, with a special focus on abs, hips, and back. Inclined walking helps you enhance your balance and helps with posture and spine alignment.
How to Use Incline Walking for Fat Loss?
So far, we have established that incline walking can help with weight loss. But, a little guidance can go a long way in your weight loss journey.
When using the treadmill, you have to set the incline to 6-12%. Maintain a steady pace of 3-5 mph. You need to make sure the walking intervals are long. You can distribute them in 45-minute to 1-hour sessions, as your heart rate will stay in the fat-burning zone during this period and will increase your metabolic rate, leading to higher weight loss. You should also couple the workout with a more calorie-deficit diet to enjoy the best results.
How to Use Incline Walking for Muscle Building?
Muscle building through an incline treadmill will take more than just brisk walking at mild incline levels. So, you should start by setting a high incline, i.e., between 12%-15% or the maximum your treadmill offers. The pace should be around 3-4 mph, and make sure you are stretching your muscles in a natural stride during the walk. You can create intervals of 2 minutes and repeat the set five times per workout session for the best results. Of course, it is only general advice, and you can change the times and reps based on how your body receives the workout routine. A slight sourness in the beginning is typical and expected.
What are Some Common Mistakes to Avoid While Incline Walking?
Before we walk into the conclusion of our article, it's only fair to take you through the common mistakes trainers make while walking on an inclined path and how you can avoid them to maximize the efficacy of the workout.
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Don't hold on to the treadmill handles as they take off the load for your lower body muscles, resulting in poor muscle toning results.
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Create a balance between inclined and flat walking sessions to ensure your muscles feel resistance during the incline intervals, helping their growth.
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Position your strides and back upright and engage your core to avoid any spinal injuries or soreness in leg muscles
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Progress is gradual, so you should focus on increasing the intensity of the workouts sequentially, starting at 2% or higher.
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If your muscles experience irregular soreness or don't heal automatically after workouts, ice the sore muscle and reduce the intensity of the workout to adapt your muscles before setting it to a higher intensity.
Why Are Treadmills with Adjustable Incline Perfect for Incline Walking?
Now, we have discussed treadmills as synonymous with incline walking, and it's because no other method of incline walking is practical for all of our readers. In the ideal scenario, where a hill is near your residence, you can't change its gradient to suit your workout goals, meaning the exercise walking won't derive the desired results. On the contrary, treadmill incline walking is just 'perfect.'
If you are looking to get a treadmill, FEIER Star 100 is an excellent option. It is foldable, which means you can fold it to save space in your room. The Star 100 comes with 36 pre-installed programs, 12 incline levels, and a top speed of 11.4 mph.
Conclusion: Does Incline Walking Burn Fat or Build Muscle?
Choosing to work out is a positive step towards a healthier and happier life. Real progress in exercise happens when it becomes a regular part of your routine. A great way to make exercising more convenient is to invest in a treadmill for your home, eliminating the excuses that come with going to the gym.
Now, it is time for our final verdict on whether incline walking burns fat and builds muscle, and if you hadn't guessed it, our answer is 'Yes, incline walking can help you lose weight and tone your lower body muscles.' Incline walking is an additional feature that makes your exercise fun; if you are bored with regular flat walks and jogs or are trying for ways to increase the efficiency of your workout, incline walking is a good answer. It requires higher intensity, which leads to burning more calories, and it focuses on your posterior chain muscles, helping them improve.
