Incline walking- how much should I be doing?

[godsgraceisenough2013]

I am a super beginner at the gym. Like I just started less than a month ago. So far I am only doing incline walking. I do incline 9 (MAYYYBEE 10) speed 2.8, 30 mins and then incline 6 speed 3.2 15 mins, then incline 4 speed 3.2 5-15 mins.

The 9/10 incline kills me by the end of the 30 mins. I’m dripping in sweat. But I’ve seen people reccomend incline 12-15 for walking. How!? Am I just extremely out of shape? Should I be starting at a lower incline at the beginning of the workout instead?

I’m 24, 5’5, 150. I have a 3.5 year old daughter so I’ve been going to the gym 5 days a week, but I’m not sure how I’ll keep it up once she’s out of school for the summer.

 

[guest66503]

@godsgraceisenough2013 I hated the incline so much I decided to try 30 minutes on the stairmaster instead and preferred it.

 

[heavenlymoney]

@guest66503 I hate incline walking I'm going to try the stairs tomorrow!

 

[marylouise]

@godsgraceisenough2013 I do maybe a 7-8 incline at 2.8-3.0 for short periods when I’m warming up for leg day it that’s about it.

 

[embarrassedgirl]

@godsgraceisenough2013 First off OP, congratulations for trying to do the higher inclines. I remember when I first started I couldn't do anything beyond an incline of 7 percent. Speed was like 2.6 to 2.8 ?

It takes time to build up the endurance. I think with low impact treadmill work, you want to vary between working on incline and working on speed increases so that you can slowly tolerate more. I've been doing treadmill workouts for about a year and I still do incline 12.5 as max.

I usually use the Peloton app to guide me through the workout. Be careful with very high inclines because it can hurt the muscle in the front of your ankle.

But you are not very out of shape for struggling with it. You are just tackling something hard. Choose consistency to build your capacity in this domain.

 

[eshaun92]

@godsgraceisenough2013 10 is aggressive. 6 is usually my max, and that is rare.

Your workout sounds challenging - just maybe mix it up? The Peloton app has walking workouts - hiking, hills, power walk, walk/run, etc

 

[pastordcs]

@godsgraceisenough2013 I never do a super high incline on the treadmill. I stick between 6-8 incline with a speed of 3.5 mostly. This gives me chance to increase the speed if I want to, therefore upping the intensity. I don’t think the 12, 3, 30 workout is much to shout about tbh. It’s just a lot of effort for an incline walk!

 

[privatewoman]

@godsgraceisenough2013 How does one not get nauseous when the treadmill stops?

 

[tiomergaru1989]

@privatewoman Do a “cool down” where you gradually slow to a stop for a couple minutes!

 

[embarrassedgirl]

@privatewoman I always reduce the incline before ending the workout
You don't want to end your workout at your highest incline but rather at a lower one. And then of course, do a gentle walking recovery at a low speed and flat road.

Stretch at the end.

 

[jster009]

@privatewoman I have this problem too. I've tried every suggestion I can find. Complete failure every time. I always feel like I just got off a tippy boat.

Happy to hear any answers from you smart folks. In the meantime, I'll stick with bikes, rowers, stairs, and gliders.

 

[pastordcs]

@jster009 You can prevent this by making sure you do a proper cool down, so slowly decreasing the speed of the treadmill once you’ve done your main workout for at least 1 minute in each speed until you get down to zero speed. This also prevents blood pooling in your legs. Blood pooling is when you stop exercise too quickly and not enough oxygen is supplied to your brain quickly enough to prevent the nausea effects! Don’t know if this will help as it may be purely motion but it’s worth a try

 

[jster009]

@pastordcs Thanks. I'll try that. I've done similar, but maybe not slow enough. It's very hard to walk at speed 1 or 2. Fortunately, I never had circulation issues, so no blood pooling in my legs.

 

[robinlynn1976]

@godsgraceisenough2013 As someone who has used walking to lose weight (have lost 30lbs over several months), I prefer to vary my inclines during the workout. I honestly rarely go to 10. I like the 4-8 range. It gets my heart rate in the zone I want it and keeps it there. I don’t feel the need to go above a 3.3 speed. But I also do this for an hour. If I’m going for cardio, I’ll stay closer to 8 and maybe a 3.1 speed. If I’m trying to stay in the fat burn zone, I’ll stay closer to 4 with a 3.3 speed.

I want to add, I am in excellent cardio shape. Maybe the best of my life. I can run for longer periods of time (first time in years) and doing a constant 10 incline at a 3 speed kills me. It’s very challenging and while it’s great to push yourself, I just don’t think it’s necessary for you to feel awful while doing a walking workout.

 

[kenfeyl]

@robinlynn1976 So weird that you say that. Im trying to look up the answers to why im good at incline walking but bad at running. I can do 11 percent incline 3mph without touching the bar for an hour but can barely run 3 miles under 30 minutes. My heart rate is about 175 on the incline and about 190-195 at a 10 minute mile pace running. Just weird to me

 

[robinlynn1976]

@kenfeyl See, that is odd because I’m the opposite of you. I can run at a 10/11 minute mile pace and keep my heart rate around 160-170, but if I did an 11% incline at 3mph, I’m probably up around 180-185+. I haven’t tried that much of an incline in a while, but I’m even pushing it at a 9%, so I can only guess what I would be at 11%. Personally, I feel like doing that for an hour is much more cardio intensive than the running for 30 mins.

Maybe there is something stressing you in your run stride. Do you have any nagging injuries that flare up when you run? Even something minor that doesn’t prevent you from running, but causes you to over compensate in another area may shoot your heart rate up a bit. That’s all I can think of. Maybe walking is just your thing!

 

[conandew]

@robinlynn1976 Hello! How often did you do the walking per week?

 

[robinlynn1976]

@conandew I walked once a day,3-4 times a week. Mostly 3 times, but 4 if I had time. Got easier as the weeks went on and it became something I really looked forward to! Hope this helps!

 

[conandew]

@robinlynn1976 Thank you, super useful as I’m also just incorporating some incline walks to start with. Was it just walking that you did or did you also include some other exercises?

 

[robinlynn1976]

@conandew You’re welcome! My main workout was always walking. It still is. When the weather is nice, I will also do outdoor walking. I think the varying surfaces and inclines outdoors give a nice variety and help things not to be so monotonous. Eventually I started running after almost a year of doing this. I was never a runner, but the walking made me have much better stamina, so I experimented with some light running. I was really enjoying it, but I injured my hamstring (doing something else), so I have unfortunately had to stop running while that heals.

I did add some weight training after a few months in hopes to tone my arms a bit. I started using just 10lb dumbbells doing simple bicep and shoulder exercises I found online. Nothing complicated, just about 20 minutes 3x a week. I noticed it really shaped the area around my armpits that used to bulge out when I wore tank tops or sleeveless dresses.