Most treadmills offer an incline feature that raises the height of the deck to simulate climbing hills. The incline represents the relationship of vertical height traveled to movement forward. An incline of 5 percent means that for every 100 feet you travel forward, you gain 5 feet of elevation. The incline feature increases the challenge of your workout, and offers specific training applications.
Treadmill Inclines
Commercial treadmills in fitness centers usually range in incline from .5 percent to 15 percent. Some facilities offer super incline trainers that reach heights of 30 percent. A typical home treadmill will usually go up to about 10 percent, depending on the quality and price.
Training Function
Using the incline feature helps you increase intensity without having to increase speed. This is especially valuable for walkers who seek to work harder, but cannot take the impact involved in running. Runners who live in a flat area can use a treadmill to simulate hills they might encounter in an upcoming out-of-town race. Incline training also helps add variety to your workout, and emphasizes different muscles of the legs. Runners may also train on simulations of rolling hills ranging from 3 percent to 5 percent grades. Highly trained athletes sometimes perform high intensity sprints up inclines as steep as 10 percent.
Considerations
Training on a slight incline makes your treadmill workout better replicate an outdoor experience. Treadmills offer no wind resistance or terrain changes, but setting the incline at 1 percent helps make up for these deficiencies. In the August 1996 edition of the "Journal of Sports Science," researchers compared running on a flat road outdoors with various incline levels ranging from zero to 3 percent. They concluded that a 1 percent grade best matches the energy a person expends during outdoor conditions on a flat course.
Benefits
Running on inclines improves your overall running skills, according to Rob Morris, author of "Treadmill Training for Runners." Runners who perform regular hill training experience improved running technique, endurance, strength and power. Walking and running up inclines increases your calorie burn. For example, a 150-lb. person can increase his calorie expenditure to 1,000 calories from 680 calories in a one-hour, 6-mile-per-hour run by raising the incline to 10 percent from zero.
Form
When running or walking up steep hills, avoid holding the hand rails or console. This decreases your overall energy output and compromises your form. Morris recommends that when you run on a treadmill, you should lean slightly forward from the ankles rather than the waist to help you propel forward. When running hills, this technique helps propel you forward and upward more efficiently.
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