Although it’s good to walk outdoors, treadmill walking has several advantages for a weight loss program (see below). If you’re you’re thinking about doing a treadmill walking workout to lose weight, you should be looking for one that get’s your heart rate up a bit. Increasing your heart rate will burn more calories and improve your cardio fitness. As your fitness improves, you’ll be able to increase the intensity of your workouts and burn even more calories. This workout plan uses incline intervals for calorie burning and cardio fitness improvement. It’s a 6 week program, with the intensity increasing each week.
Advantages of treadmill walking
- Incline walking: most treadmills allow you to set an incline, which is a very effective way of adding aerobic intensity to the workout. It also has more of a toning effect on your leg and core muscles.
- Not affected by weather: if the weather’s bad you might be tempted to miss an outdoor walking session, but treadmill walks are the same whatever the weather.
- No route planning needed: if you’re walking outdoors you need a route that is safe and ideally not polluted by traffic. You also need to plan the route to be the right length. With treadmill walking there’s no need to worry about any of this.
- Easy to set speed: on a treadmill, you just select a speed to walk/run at. This is easier than trying to judge your speed from your breathing rate, or using a fitness watch to monitor your speed.
Treadmill walking workout to lose weight
This 6 week plan is based on walking at your normal walking pace, with incline walking intervals. You should do the workout 3 times a week and the printable chart includes a schedule for your to plan and track your workouts.
Walking is a safe and natural activity, but please read these general exercise instructions before you start.
All the walking in this workout is at your normal walking pace. The intensity changes with the incline.
Week 1
In the first week, you alternate 0 incline with a 3% incline in 5 minute intervals:
Week 2
For week 2, it’s still alternating 0 and 3% incline, but the time increases for the 3% incline:
Week 3
You should be getting used to the incline now, so in week 3 there’s a full 15 minutes of incline walking:
Week 4
We’re increasing the challenge in week 4, with 5 minutes at a 5% incline:
Week 5
The time walking on the 5% incline goes up a bit this week:
Week 6
For the final week, you’re doing 10 minutes at 5% and a total of 8 minutes at 3%:
Full schedule
Buying a treadmill for home use
Now that folding treadmills are widely available, having a home treadmill doesn’t mean you need a dedicated workout space. You can fold your treadmill up and store it out of the way between workouts. If you’re thinking of buying a home treadmill, here are some points you should consider:
- Are you likely to run on it? If so, you should avoid very lightweight models. Also, a cushioned running/walking deck will help to absorb impact.
- Dimensions: there’s a slight variation in dimensions between models. If you’re tall, you might prefer a longer walking/running deck to allow for a longer stride. Obviously, the treadmill needs to fit in your chosen storage place when it is folded away.
- What sort of a console do you want? Is it important to you to have a multi-feature console with a choice of preset programs, or will you be happy with something simple that just lets you set speed and incline? Extra functions add to the cost of the treadmill, so think about whether you really need them.
- What is the incline range? Some treadmills only have a limited incline range. Models that offer up to 12% give you more options to vary your workouts and to challenge yourself more as your fitness improves.
- Maximum speed – if you run fast, or plan to do sprint intervals, you should bear the maximum speed in mind. For walking, or average speed running, any treadmill will be fine.
See a treadmill buying guide here.
Get the treadmill walking workout printable
Sign up for My Fitness Planner updates and get the free printable download link e-mailed to you:
After you sign up, you’ll get 2 e-mails, one will have a link to your printable download and the other will be a welcome e-mail.
If the e-mails haven’t turned up within a few minutes, please check your junk folder, as some service providers have very strict filters.
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