Incline Walking Exercises

For intermediate and advanced exercisers, walking on a flat surface can be boring and often unchallenging. Walking on an incline not only adds more variety to a workout, it also increases the workout intensity -- and the number of calories burned. Raising and lowering the incline level can even tone the legs and butt, especially if you increase the speed.

  1. Hill Workout

    • Walking up hills is one of the easiest ways to add butt sculpting and leg toning to your workout routine. Health.com suggests charging up a hill the length of a football field at an exertion level that is about 8 out of 10. According to the website, you could burn approximately 170 calories in about 25 minutes. To begin, warm up for five minutes on flat ground and then attack the hill. As you walk, really exert yourself by moving quickly. You shouldn't be able to talk. If your heart rate and breathing aren't rapid, move faster. Walk comfortably down to the bottom of the hill. Do the hill eight times before cooling down.

    Treadmill Workout

    • As an alternative to the hill workout, Health.com suggests walking on a treadmill at an incline of 4 to 8 percent for one to two minutes and then switching to an incline of 1 percent for one to two minutes. Alternate back and forth five to ten times. Don’t use the handrails unless absolutely necessary, because doing so lowers the intensity of the exercise. To kick it up a notch, eDiets.com recommends power walking at a rate of 3.2 to 3.8 miles per hour at an incline of 12 for six minutes. Cool down for a minute. Intermediates should repeat this routine twice. If you are more advanced, do it three times.

    Interval Workout

    • Interval training is another way to boost the number of calories burned per hour. Frequently raising and lowering the incline levels won't allow the muscles to adapt quickly, which makes them work harder. The website for "Fitness" magazine recommends doing a 20-minute workout. Begin by walking at a 4-mph pace and a 3.5 percent incline for five minutes. Increase the incline to 8 to 10 percent for two minutes. Then for one minute, walk at an incline of 4 to 6 percent. Bring the incline back up to 10 for two minutes and then lower it to an incline of 5 to 7 for another minute. Quickly pick up the pace for another two minutes at 12 percent. Then drop the incline to 10 for one minute and return to 12 for another minute. For the final five minutes, change the incline to 2 to 4 percent.

    Taking it Further

    • Raising and lowering the speed in addition to the incline can increase the difficulty of the exercises. For instance, instead of walking at a steady 4 mph and only increasing the incline, occasionally increase the speed to 4.7. Another strategy is to incorporate intervals into a steady walk. For instance, during a 30-minute power walk, instead of changing the incline frequently -- every one or two minutes -- increase or lower the incline every five or six minutes. Programs like this allow beginners and intermediates to quickly burn more calories and work up to an advanced interval routine.