A treadmill with incline lets you burn up to 2x as many calories as walking on a flat surface, because more and larger muscle groups have to work harder. This makes walking with incline even more effective than running for fat burning.
Treadmill with or without incline
One of the biggest differences between treadmills is – besides the maximum speed – whether they have an incline function. A simple treadmill often has no incline, or at most a manual incline you adjust with small fold-down feet. More extensive and professional treadmills (such as the SportsHero RunningPad Pro) often do have an incline. The height of this incline is another important factor when choosing a treadmill. Further down you'll read what the difference in incline percentage means for your results.
Manual or automatic incline
Few treadmills have an incline. Especially in the lower price segment, it's often missing. You will occasionally find a treadmill with a manual incline here. If you look a bit further, you'll also come across treadmills with automatic incline. This not only provides more convenience, but also allows the incline percentage to be adjusted. With a manual incline, you often only have two choices: no incline, or incline.
Treadmill with manual incline
With a manual incline, small feet are placed under the treadmill. These can be folded in or out. Keep the feet folded in, and you have no incline. Fold the feet out, and you can walk with incline. The advantage is that no extra motor is needed, making the treadmill lighter. The downside is that you only have two settings, and you can't adjust this during your workout either. In addition, the height of a manual incline is often limited.
Treadmill with automatic incline
If the treadmill has an automatic incline, a second motor is built into the treadmill. The first motor controls the speed, and the second controls the incline. This means the incline can also be adjusted during your session. An added benefit is that the motor can often work across multiple settings. For example, the Pro series of SportsHero treadmills has 6 different incline settings. These settings can be adjusted with the remote control (and on the RunningPad Pro, also with the buttons on the handle). This way you can build up a walking or running session at your own pace. It's also possible to use a more intense setting than with a manual incline, since the maximum incline percentage is often (much) higher.
Higher fat burning with incline
Fat burning is higher with an incline because it changes which muscles you use and how hard they work. Your muscles have to work a lot harder "uphill," and your body also engages other muscles, especially your glutes, hamstrings and calves, to power the climb. That's also why walking with an incline is great for training these muscle groups.
Better still, these muscle groups stay active for a while after your workout, so you keep burning calories even then.
Tip
Stay in the fat-burning zone: Keep your heart rate around 60–75% of your maximum.
So choose a treadmill with incline!
Check out the RunningPad Pro with 13% automatic incline
