Treadmills are a great tool for implementing running training. They are especially useful when it is icy or dark outside and difficult to run outside. However, as soon as you step on the treadmill, the first thing that comes to mind are the buttons. The two main buttons are the speed button and the incline button. The speed button is easier to understand, but what is the incline button used for?
Once you start an incline workout, your body is really challenged. The muscles in your legs and hips must work twice as hard to resist gravity uphill.
Speed is not the goal when you are working out at an incline of 3-4% or higher. Work on maintaining a strong, consistent driving speed while building muscle and improving heart health.
For advanced athletes, try interval training where the incline varies between 4 and 10 percent, moving up and down the entire time. The higher you go, the harder you'll work your glutes.
The ideal incline depends greatly on the level of your workout. In particular, beginning walkers should start with a 1% or 2% incline on the exercise equipment. It will better represent the small changes in height as well as the wind resistance you may encounter outdoors.
Once the novice has mastered balance on the machine, they should walk without the use of handrails. The muscles will have to work harder in order to stabilize the body.
After a while, you have become accustomed to walking on the equipment and have a basic level of fitness that allows you to walk for 20-30 minutes at a time.
At this point, it would be beneficial to increase the incline from 2% to 4%. It will make you feel like you are walking or running through a park or a low hillside neighborhood.
You can set up manual or pre-programmed hill climbing sessions on most treadmills to experience interval training, including higher speeds and greater gradients followed by slower and flatter stretches. Or, you can combine different tendencies within the workout time. For example, for the first 5 minutes, run or walk at an incline of 1% or 2%, then increase to 3% or 4% over 3 minutes, and finally return to 1% or 2% for 2 minutes.
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