Running and walking on a treadmill is one of the best ways to keep a tight physique and work your heart and lungs.
The incline option is underrated and is usually passed up for a fast, flat run or interval training.
The benefits of an incline run include:
-Easier on the knee, hip and ankle joints.
-Strengthens and tones glutes and quads
-A more challenging lung workout
-Adds variety to any running routine. This is crucial to progression and success
-Trains for outdoor hill runs. Remember that when you run to the top of a hill, you want to soar over and pick up your pace. Not have to crawl home!
-It’s a more natural and functional way to train. Not many places are completely flat.
-Improves race time. If you run flat on your treadmill and then run outside at the same pace, your outdoor time will be slower due to natural inclines outdoors.
-Walking inclines are very challenging. It turns a moderate exercise in to an intense and challenging routine.
If you are used to running flat surfaces raise your incline gradually and drop your speed. Work your way up to running your flat surface speed on the incline and then either raise the incline, or increase the speed.
If you do run/walk intervals a great tip is to run flat and walk on a heavy incline. If you think the walking part of your intervals is the easy part, be prepared for a challenge!
If you are a walker, I find that a great incline workout is a speed of about 4.0 and max incline. You will feel like Spiderman walking up the walls! You will feel the workout in your butt and thighs the next day.
Running and walking inclines adds a whole new level of challenge to your cardiovascular program. It gives you something new and exciting to work on and is extremely effective for weight loss and conditioning goals.
Raise that incline!
Kaleena Lawless
Personal Training Specialist
[http://www.kalisthenixfitnessblog.com]
