The 1% Rule
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I saw this interesting little blurb in the December issue of Running Times, on whether or not you need to increase your treadmill incline to 1% to make up for lack of wind resistance. I would like to point out that this little blurb was sandwiched between an article about how you can train entirely inside during the winter on a treadmill, and an article about how you must make sure to workout outside during the winter. Hmm, conflicted much?
Anyway, I always up the treadmill elevation when I use the thing. According to this little blurb, I only need to increase the incline if I am running faster than 8 mph.
Ha.
Ha ha.
Guess I will never need to then!
If you use a treadmill, do you bump up the incline?
Hmm, I have to wonder how accurate this study is, since it was done 15 years ago. I always kind of second guess these studies, but they give us something interesting to talk about!
Themocracy
The contradictory stories in the magazine reminds me of the ones that tout how to lose weight and then show delicious looking baked goods all on the cover. haha
I laughed when I saw the 8mph thing too… I think I max out around 8.
I rarely ever bump up the incline on the treadmill.
yes I do it to. but I don’t think I’ll ever get that fast.
I rarely do unless I only plan to start off my workout with an “energy burst” of a really tough mile or something. Do I think it matters? Eh. I find it more important, personally, to focus my energy on actually getting the mileage in- I get so booooooored after 4 miles- why possibly make it harder on myself to get it done? :p
I get so bored too. I think if I left the incline down I would last a bit longer!
Well, seeing as how the incline on my sad sad treadmill is broken I guess I don’t know what it would feel like. However, I would jump up and down if I could run at 8mph so I think that would exert the extra energy of running indoors. Awesome post!
I did all the time at the gym…but I can tell you right now I don’t run that fast…so I guess I can just skip that step?
Yeah, start out without an incline, to get used to it. Did you play with the new treadmill last night?!
I don’t do it…but it’s honestly b/c I for some reason always think the treadmill is so much harder for me. I can normally run outside at 6mph (10min pace) but on a treadmill I’m struggling at 5.5mph. And reading that article…I will NEVER be that fast!
I find the treadmill much harder too. I think ours is not calibrated correctly. We trained for our first HM mostly on it, at a 6.0 mph pace, then got outside and were running 9:00s (and finished the race in 1:57:47!). I am suspicious of the thing 😉
When I was doing a lot of indoor running, I never adjusted the incline on the treadmill. There are so many variables that make running on a treadmill a completely different experience than running outside, I was always a naysayer of the 1% rule. Glad to see the experts agree with me. =)
I do at the gym when I remember. My treadmill at home has an incline function but no display so I honestly don’t know how much the incline is. Guess according to this article it doesn’t matter!
I adjust the incline on my treadmill all the time, but I usually put it in between 3-5% sometimes higher if I’m feeling really inspired (so rarely). I live in a hilly area, so Im always running on hills outside and so I like to run some inside too. Its just what I’m used to I guess.
Good for you! The thought of 3-5% scares me! 😛
The greatest impact on my progress isn’t some silly training trick. The greatest factor on whether or not I’m improving, is whether or not I’m running consistently. Running on a mill staring at a bobbing window is hard. If I run a little faster on the mill than I do outside, that gives me reason to do it again next week.
So just stick with it and ignore the incline? That works too! 🙂
Funny that you brought this up…I was actually wondering this myself recently as I’ve been doing more treadmill runs. I never bump it up, because I sort of hate the TM enough as it is. So I was glad to hear the study say that with my pace I should be alright not to worry about it.
This is so interesting! My running buddy is always asking me about this because I never put the incline up on the treadmill and she always does. SO i forwarded your blog post to her!
Cool! I wonder what she will think of the article 🙂
This is really interesting! The geek in me loves reading stuff like this! I have to wonder, though, if and how the fitness of the runner plays into this. A 7:30 pace is quite fast for me! Should I start to bump it up a little sooner? I feel like it’s easier to run on the treadmill, but maybe that’s just because I’ve been brainwashed.
On another topic – what’s the pic on the top of your blog from?! Looks like something really fun!
I still think it’s good to bump it up for a challenge, despite what this article says.
The pic is from the Corn Maze 5K, a race I have done the past two years – it’s entirely in a corn maze, and not a full 5K, even though they call it that 🙂 http://www.ilaxstudio.com/blog/2011/10/17/worlds-largest-corn-maze-run-race-report-2011/
I never bother with the incline when I run on the treadmill, although I also sometimes wondered if I should. Thanks for posting the article – now I can relax and not wonder anymore!