While many people have taken up running as their go-to exercise to stay fit, running outdoors poses a number of challenges.
First, you can hardly run outside in bad weather, so basically your exercise schedule is determined by the weather.
Secondly, you cannot run in the dark and thirdly, the risk of injury is heightened when running outdoors.
Thus, if you prefer indoor to outdoor workout, you must be familiar with the treadmill.
An even better option than sprinting on the treadmill using regular settings is to set it on incline.
There are incredible benefits of incline treadmill sprints, and you do not even need a trainer to show you how to attain them.
Benefits of Incline Treadmill Sprints
1. Mimics the Outdoors
One of the key benefits of incline treadmill sprints is they let you mimic running outdoors. When you run outside, you experience resistance from the wind and this makes you use much more effort when running.
This effect is reduced when you are running on a flat treadmill indoors. Once you incline it, the steepness makes you engage more muscles when running.
2. Burns More Calories
The more intense your training is, the more calories you are bound to burn, and as such, the more weight you stand to lose.
Running on an inclined treadmill surface makes your sprints more intense, thus graduating it from a low-intense to a pretty high-intense kind of workout.
3. Reduces the Risk of Injury
Most people fear taking up running because most runners almost always end up with injuries on the shin, knees, and ankle. This can be attributed to running on flat surfaces which, unfortunately, is not very different from running on a flat treadmill.
Avoiding such injury is yet another of the many benefits of inclined treadmill sprints. As you sprint this way, the Achilles tendon gets stretched and your weight get distributed evenly.
In this study, which features in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, a 3% incline of the treadmill results in a 24% decrease of pressure the feet absorb upon contact with the surface.
4. You Determine the Incline Level
You don’t have any control over the terrain outdoors but you can determine the incline of the treadmill, as well as the speed.
This means sprinters of all levels, from the beginners to professional sprinters, can settle for the speed and intensity that works out for them.
5. You Feel Less Boredom
Running on a flat treadmill indoors can quickly become boring and mundane. Some people do not like treadmills simply because of the monotony of it all.
By varying the speed and intensity, you make your sprints less boring and more engaging. It adds variety and spices up your sprints.
6. Builds Leg Muscles
Strong, lean legs is one of the benefits of incline treadmill sprints that make them popular. Sprinting on the treadmill while it is inclined gives your legs a good workout. It engages your calves, quads, hamstrings, and even glutes.
It builds stronger ankles and calves on top of stretching your tendons. If you love how lean leg muscles look on other people, inclining your treadmill is the secret to makes yours lean.
7. Helps Build Endurance
Also top among the many benefits of incline treadmill sprints is the fact that it is good cardio. It increases your heart rate much more than running on a flat surface would. The more you do the incline treadmill sprints, the more endurance you’ll gain.
Better still, it helps your heart pump blood more efficiently to your body, thus distributing the oxygen you need to sustain your workout.
8. Lowers Blood Pressure
Sprinting on an inclined treadmill brings your pressure down to normal levels. Being an intense exercise, your heart tends to pump the blood much harder and faster.
This elevated heart rate steadily makes your heart stronger, which allows it to pump blood efficiently even after you have stopped working out.
9. Shortens Your Workout Time
Most people live busy lives, with hardly any time left for long workouts. This is where the incline treadmill comes in. With a flat treadmill, you may have to sprint for longer to break a sweat and burn enough calories.
The incline treadmill, on the other hand, increases the intensity of your sprints. It thus doubles the gains while halving the time taken to make those gains. You can enjoy most of these benefits by exercising for only 10 minutes.
10. Improves Overall Stamina
Perhaps the most important among the many benefits of incline treadmill sprints is the fact that your whole-body gains from this workout. From the feet all the way to the thighs, the heart, and the lungs which have to work much harder.
More so, it builds your endurance and sharpens your focus and mind. It helps you build stronger knees and joints by taking away the pressure and impact from them and distributing it evenly through your body.
11. Recommended for Hikers
If you plan to go hiking in the new future, then you must know you shouldn’t go unprepared.
You have to prepare your body for it for the intensive task. And what better way to prepare than to practice on an incline treadmill that recreates an uphill climb?
12. You Do Not Have to Lift Weights
Often, you have to set time apart for a weight-lifting session for the legs. Unless you really want to, you do not have to lift weights to tone your leg muscles if you incline your treadmill.
The more inclined it is, the better the gains you will make on your legs and glutes.
The Bottom Line
The benefits of incline treadmill sprinting go on and on. For even better results, resist the urge to hold on to the treadmill as you do work out.
You can manually incline your treadmill, but most of them come with built-in incline systems. The built-in programs can also automatically vary the incline as you just focus on working out.
If you want to build a lean and strong body fast, inline treadmill sprints with short fat-blasting home workouts.
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