It’s Wednesday, 5:55 am. Time to step on the scale for your weekly weigh-in!
The stupid thing flashes 186 lb, the same weight it has been for the past 4 weeks.
Everything is right with your program. You’re exercising 3-4 times a week and lifting heavy weights for at least two of those days. Your nutrition is on point, and you’re hitting your macros at least 90% of the way every day. You’re even doing interval training twice a week.
For the first three-four months you saw incredible results. But a few weeks ago, you just stopped losing weight. Caliper readings are the same, tape measurements are the same, and that bastard scale is laughing at you with the same weight for the past 4 weeks.
You are officially at a sticking point.
What do you do? There aren’t a whole lot of options here. Your workout program is pretty much maxed out. You could throw in another day of HIIT, but your recovery will suffer for it, and that’s the last thing you want.
You bust out your macros app and see if you can cut back on some calories. But looking at your diet, you’re already as low as you can go. You need enough calories to function properly and decreasing them even further will only hurt you.
You could just keep doing what you’re doing and hope to see better results in the coming weeks. But isn’t there at least SOMETHING you can do to break through this plateau and kick start your progress?
Fortunately, there is a very simple thing you can do that will do wonders for your weight loss.
The White Knight of Weight Loss
What if I told you there is one exercise that could drastically accelerate your weight loss?
Not only will it help you lose fat faster than you thought possible, but it will also enhance your recovery. Did I mention that you can do it twice a day, six times a week, if you so choose?
And what is this mystery exercise that is such a game changer?
Incline Treadmill Walks
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“That’s it? That’s the magical exercise? If it’s so game changing, why isn’t everyone doing it then?!”
Now, before you click away from this post, let me tell you why the incline treadmill walks are so damn fantastic for fat loss.
More Is NOT Always Better
Ever since HIIT revolutionized the weight loss game, slower paced cardio has steadily lost its foothold in the exercise pantheon. It’s understandable, especially in today’s fast-paced society.
We live in the age of instant gratification, push notifications and 15 second videos. So why do something slow, when you can jack up the intensity, shorten the time, and get a much more satisfied feeling from your workout?
Simple: Not all exercise has to be intense for it to be effective.
Between metabolic circuits, HIIT and resistance training, this philosophy has been slowly forgotten, but it’s definitely not obsolete.
In fact, performing more and more intense exercise may actually be hurting your weight loss progress. Think about this:
To hack our time in the gym, we are performing faster, more demanding workouts. And when this method stalls and we hit a plateau, we add more workouts with higher intensity.
Consequently, a ripple effect occurs. Frequent, high-intensity workouts lead to impaired recovery time. The risk of injury skyrockets and your body begins to flood with cortisol, which gallantly performs its dual-edged mission:
- Keep your body safe
- Cause weight gain
See the problem? Instead of continuing this cycle, you can instead add more exercise, but with a lower intensity. This is precisely where incline walking surpasses all other methods for rapid, consistent weight loss.
5 Reasons Why Incline Walks ROCK
Like an old sword, the treadmill will not be your flashiest weapon in the fight against fat. It will not be the fastest either. But it will be the most dependable.
And when used correctly, walking at an incline on the treadmill can do you more good than anything else. Here are 5 reasons why:
1. It’s Super Easy
It’s powerful specifically for the reason HIIT begins to stall out. It’s easy – almost everyone can walk. Your body is so good at doing it, that you can even catch Pokemon while you walk.
2. It Won’t Stress Your Body
You accumulate virtually no training stress by adding walking into your program. Where more intensive cardio will begin to wear your body down, you can throw incline walks into your program at any moment with almost no ill effects.
3. It Will Help Preserve Muscle Mass
Another important factor is muscle preservation. During a weight loss diet, when calories are already hard to come by, too much workout intensity will cause your body to break down muscle tissue to use as fuel.
Conversely, walking will readily pull from those pesky fat reserves and keep those hard earned muscles where they are meant to be.
4. It Will Boost Your Sex Life
Incline walking also improves your aerobic fitness and increases your work capacity. Why is that important? The first reason that comes to mind is sex. Let’s be honest – at the end of the day you work out to look good naked.
While your ripped body will show off your work in the gym, you don’t want your performance to undermine your looks. Don’t just be the best 15 seconds of her life. Do some incline walking, bring it every time, and be the best NIGHT of her life.
5. It Will Speed Up Your Recovery
And finally, incline treadmill walks will speed up your recovery. The increased blood flow throughout the body will help you recuperate from injuries and workouts much faster.
Walk The Night Away
So when should you walk? Whenever you have the time.
Have 10 minutes free in the morning? Hit the treadmill. Finished your workout quickly? Hop on that treadmill and start walking.
As long as you keep the incline at a manageable level, you can perform these whenever you like. The more often you do them, the less you have to do them for. A 15-minute walk may not seem like a lot, but if you’re doing ten a week, that’s two and half hours of solid walking.
For the fastest weight loss, aim for 4 to 8 walks a week with each walk lasting about 30 minutes. Don’t make the treadmill incline too high. Keep it between 3 – 6 degrees and keep your hands off the rail. Supporting yourself with your hands defeats the entire purpose of walking at an incline.
Walk at a moderate pace. Don’t go jacking it up to 11 now, none of us will ever be as cool as Spinal Tap.
The next time your fat loss stalls, remember your old friend the treadmill. Call on him in your hour of need and prepare to be wowed as he gallantly battles humanity’s most insidious nemesis – weight loss.
