Love to walk or go for a run? Whether inside on the treadmill or outdoors, mix it up and boost your calorie burn & muscle strength in the same amount of time you normally walk/run on flat surface.

Here are a few benefits of  increasing your incline on your walk or run:

Recruit More muscles (Tone your Core, Gluts and Legs) - Walking/Running on a flat surfaces uses approximately 20% of lower body tissue. At an incline of 15% or more, total muscle activation exceeds 75%!

Burn More Calories -at 0% incline, a 130 lb woman walking at 4 mph burns about 120 calories/hour. At 5% incline, calorie burn increases to 190 calories and at 10% calorie burn jumps to 280! For runners, calorie burn on flat surface is about 295, 360 calories at 5% incline and about 420 at 10% incline!

Burn More Calories From Fat (even better!) - Incline walking/running requires more energy and as we run out of glycogen and blood sugar, our body taps into our fat stores. Studies show that at an incline,  you can almost triple the amount of calories per minute burned from fat!

Adds Variety and Challenges Your Body to Change - I love a good 2-3 mile jog or long walk outdoors or inside on the treadmill when weather restricts, but it can get boring! When we challenge our body and change up our workouts, our body responds and can help get us out of weight loss plateaus, increase muscle tone and keep it fresh.