Treadmill Incline – How to Calculate

Almost all of the machines on the market today that have a treadmill incline motor, also offer some sort of incline exercise routine that has been pre-programmed in to the assortment of exercises that are available. These exercises allow the incline to happen as part of the natural progression through the routine which helps provide you with the greatest calorie and fat burn, while toning and shaping your muscles in the process.

How to Intensify Your Workout

There’s one extremely simple thing you can do to dramatically intensify your workout: incline it.

Treadmill incline is a measure of the slope of the treadmill and is typically expressed as a percentage. An incline of 0 percent means that the treadmill is completely horizontal and an incline of infinity means that the treadmill is completely vertical. You may wish to calculate a treadmill incline for a course with a known distance and elevation. You can also convert a treadmill incline to an angular measure.

Multiple Treadmill Incline Settings

Many treadmills come with multiple incline settings, but these can be confusing and unclear. A treadmill may have 10 settings, but that does not mean that each one corresponds to a 10 percent grade of incline. Knowing the treadmill incline percentage will help a person understand how hard she is working and will make it easier to enter workout information on online training tracker websites.

• Firstly, Convert rise and run to incline with the equation I = 100 (rise/run). I is the treadmill incline and is expressed as a percentage. Rise is the increase in elevation that you achieved. Run is the distance you ran. Ensure that you express the rise and run in the same units of length.
• Secondly, Change the treadmill angle to the treadmill incline. This is given by the equation I = 100 (tan A) where I is the treadmill incline and A is the treadmill angle in degrees.
• Thirdly, Calculate the treadmill angle from the treadmill incline. This is given by the equation A = arctan (I/100) where A is the treadmill angle in degrees and I is the treadmill incline.
• Fourthly, Derive the angular measurement for an incline of 100 percent. This is given by the equation arctan (100/100) = arctan (1) = 45 degrees.
• Fifthly, Obtain the treadmill angle for common treadmill inclines. Treadmills can typically incline up to 10 percent. An incline of 1 percent is arctan (I/100) = arctan (1/100) = 0.57 degrees. An incline of 10 percent is arctan (10/100) = arctan (0.1) = 5.7 degrees.

The incline of a hill is measured as a percentage and so are treadmills. When you increase the level on the incline on the treadmill it is based on percentage not a level. So if you raise the treadmill to 2, it means you are running at a 2% incline (not a level two). Most treadmills can increase incline from 0.5 to 12%. Research has shown that when you set the treadmill at a 1-2% incline, it will simulate the “intensity” of outdoor running (make up for the lack of wind resistance in outdoor running).

You’ll often hear recommendations to run at a 2% incline if you run faster. While this is true, and it is important to train to specificity, I believe running at a constant 1-2% incline on the treadmill isn’t the best way to go. One, it’s a mental nightmare. Two, the hills on the half marathon course in Central Park will vary in length and incline. And C, it can really mess with your biomechanics if you aren’t used to running at a constant incline.