Incline walking is an excellent cardio workout.
Good for all fitness levels because you can start out on a lower incline and build up as you improve.
Benefits of Incline Walking:
- Increased HR
- Strengthens the posterior Leg muscles (the hamstrings, glutes, and calves)
- Improved cardiovascular health and endurance
- Easy on the joints (less impact than running)
Research on Incline Walking
Incline walking has been shown to be good for fat loss, even better than walking on a flat surface. I say fat loss because that is the goal, not weight loss! Check out my blog post here about the difference.
The research article here shows that walking at an incline helped to reduce fat in women of different ages.
How to Start Incline Walking
The eventual goal will be to reach the 12-3-30 method, which is 12% incline, 3 miles per hour, for 30 minutes.
A great way to start out with incline walking is at a lower gradient and slower speed. If I was just starting out, I would start at a 5% incline at 2 miles per hour for 20-30 minutes.
When that gets easy increase the incline to 8% then 10% until you get to 12%. Once you reach the incline goal increase the speed to 2.5 then 3 miles per hour.
Do the same for the time until you reach 30 minutes.
I recommend it being done on a treadmill because you can stay at a consistent incline and speed. You can do incline outside, but you would need to find an adequate incline or hill.
My Experience with Incline Walking
A few weeks ago, I had a cold that led to a sinus infection. For the week after my symptoms were mostly gone, I did the incline walking. Admittedly, it was harder than I expected!
I was able to build up to doing a 12 percent incline but only for about 10 minutes before going back down to 8 percent. If I kept going with it, I would eventually get to the 30 minutes.
I noticed a difference in soreness compared to jogging or flat surface walking. My hamstrings were the unlucky victim.
What I also noticed was my average heart rate being much higher even compared to lifting weights or hiking. This was the biggest surprise for me, it usually takes a lot for my heart rate to get as high as it was.
If you can incorporate this into your routine, I definitely recommend it because incline walking is an excellent cardio workout.