Most treadmills have an “incline” setting on them for a reason, to USE IT! The incline adjustment on treadmills adds great variations to any cardio program and will challenge the majority of your posterior chain (backside) muscles, which are minimally recruited when going at a flat level on a treadmill.  An important point to remember whenever you’re on a treadmill is to always set the incline to at least a level of 1.0.  A level of 1.0 is going to replicate a more natural gait pattern as if you were walking or running on a flat surface outside.  You must realize that when you’re on a treadmill, the belt is moving for you, and all you have to do is keep up with the belt moving underneath your feet.  The ground doesn’t move for you when you’re outside, so your leg muscles and mechanics will be different when running outside versus running or walking on a treadmill.

If you leave the incline on a treadmill to a level of 0.0, it’s going to replicate a downhill running pattern even though the treadmill is still at 0.  This is great for variations of speed training, but many people posses underactive posterior-chain muscles, which is only worsened by flat treadmill walking and running.

I’ve given you an example of an awesome treadmill interval program that utilizes the incline settings to give you an extra kick in the ass!  It’s very simple to perform and can be done on any treadmill that has an incline adjustment (which I’m pretty sure is every treadmill that’s been produced in the last 15 years).

 

INCLINE TREADMILL INTERVAL PROTOCOL:

0-30 Seconds…………………………….3.0% Incline

30-60 Seconds…………………………..6.0% Incline

60-90 Seconds…………………………..9.0% Incline

90-120 Seconds………………………..12.0% Incline

*Rest 1-2 minutes (Repeat 6-8X)

The speed does NOT change throughout the entire 2-minute interval, only the incline.  The first two incline settings (3.0 & 6.0) may feel a bit easy, but I guarantee you that you’ll notice a big difference when you hit that 9.0 and 12.0 incline setting.  You still must challenge yourself to the point of maximum effort at the end of each 2-minute round to get the full benefits of the program.  If you start at 7.0 mph and feel that at the end of 2 minutes you can still go another 20 seconds, it NEEDS to be more challenging.  Go up to either 7.5 or 8.0 mph and then reassess from there.

With the help of my good friend Jessica Karp, of jessicakarpfitness.com, I’ve shown you what one round of this interval program should look like. You’ll see Jessica running at a speed of 7.0 mph, and every 30 seconds the incline increases by an additional 3.0%.  It’s definitely challenging and a great way to change up your treadmill routine and burn some stored up body fat.