Do You Burn Muscle When Incline Treadmill Walking?

The goal of most exercise programs is to lose weight and increase muscle tissue. Your exercise selections include workout options such as incline treadmill walking that preserve -- not burn -- your lean muscle mass. Release your fear that you will lose muscle tissue when walking; it would take severe starvation or trauma to burn muscle.

  1. Aerobic Advantages

    • One of the benefits of treadmill walking is that it is an aerobic activity. Aerobic exercise is sustainable, repetitious and uses large muscle groups. When you walk on an incline, you set the speed and grade at a level that you are able to maintain a steady pace for at least 10 minutes. This pace ensures that your body uses fat and carbohydrates as fuel sources.

    Use Not Lose

    • The muscles in your legs contract as you walk up a simulated hill. Your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, glutes and core contract to move your legs forward and to keep you upright. However, the muscle tissue is not burned as fuel for this endurance activity. According to the book, "Exercise Physiology," muscle tissue is spared during low-impact aerobic exercises such as walking. So, this activity helps preserve your lower-body muscles, while at the same time burning fat for fuel -- so you can see the muscles easier.

    Muscle Breakdown

    • Sometimes it takes damage for muscle tissue to break down and eliminate. High stress situations such as burns, surgery or infections, can cause the muscles to atrophy since the production of proteins slows down. Incline treadmill walking is not associated with these high-stress situations. The walking is an enjoyable activity that does not overtax your muscles, since you are able to sustain the movement.

    In the Wilderness

    • The only way muscle is used as a fuel source is if you are in a state of extreme calorie-restriction. For example, if you are starving and stranded in the wilderness and have limited access to food, your body will use muscle before it draws upon your fat stores. Unfortunately, the body does not know if you are in the wilderness or participating in the next fad diet and limiting your calorie-intake. That's why it is important to eat an adequate amount of calories, especially when participating in an exercise program.