Speed walking on treadmills provides an excellent cardiovascular workout. Depending upon your weight, your fitness level, your pace and the incline level, you burn anywhere from 118 to 745 calories per hour walking on a treadmill. To properly speed walk on a treadmill, you must have aerobic endurance as well as balance. Engage your core muscles and breathe deeply to maintain good form and a brisk pace. Consult your doctor with any medical concerns before implementing a treadmill speed-walking regimen.
Step 1
Warm up for your speed-walking workout. March in place or walk at a moderate speed for up to 10 minutes. Lubricate your ankle and knee joints by gently rotating them.
Step 2
Increase your pace. Either set your treadmill for a speed-walking program or manually change the miles per hour. You want a challenging yet sustainable pace for speed walking. Strolling at a 30-minute mile only burns 118 to 186 calories, while speed walking at a 12-minute mile burns between 472 and 745 calories.
Step 3
Intensify your treadmill workout by setting your treadmill at a grade. You can aim for a slow burn workout by keeping your treadmill at a minimal incline for the duration of your workout. Build more strength by setting your treadmill at a sharper grade for at least 25 percent of your workout. Steeper grades work your calf, thigh and gluteal muscles harder.
Step 4
Vary your pace. Most treadmills feature an interval setting that automatically shifts you from a warm-up pace to a vigorous pace. Then, it increases to a sprint pace, holding it for up to 30 seconds. An immediate slow-down helps you recover before starting the cycle again. Create your own interval workout on the treadmill by increasing the speed for a sprint every five minutes. This speed-walking strategy increases your fitness level and endurance as well as calories burned.
Step 5
Do resistance exercises to complement your treadmill workout. You can pump your arms while walking on the treadmill to build your upper body strength but, for a more intense cross-training workout, alternate your treadmill walking with pushups, pullups, triceps dips, bicep curls, bench presses and situps.
Tips and Warnings
- Cool down from your workout by walking at a slow pace and doing overhead stretches.
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