Can You Lose Weight Walking Up Hills

In terms of exercise, walking is hard to beat. “Going for a walk doesn’t require any extra equipment or special instructors and it’s something you already do naturally, ” says Matt Darnell, PhD, RD, assistant professor and director of the graduate sports science program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Most of the physical activity research shows benefits from just moving more and sitting less [and] walking is a great low-impact way of moving and burning calories.”

Walking offers both physical and mental health benefits. Here is what happens to your body every time you lace up your sneakers and head out for a walk:

When you lace up your sneakers, make sure they are well-fitting, comfortable walking-specific shoes, advises Darnell. “A good pair of shoes will help you move better, decrease your chances of blisters and take some of the strain off your feet, knees and lower back, ” he adds.

How To Walk At An Incline To Lose Weight

Picking up the pace not only burns more calories, compared to a slow stroll, but it could also help you live longer. “Count your steps over a 1-minute period to make sure you are walking at least 100 steps per minute (with a goal of increasing the pace to 130 steps per minute), ” says Elroy Aguiar, PhD, American College of Sports Medicine member and assistant professor of exercise science at the University of Alabama.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), individuals should aim to participate in a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per day or 150 minutes per week. If this seems daunting at first, don’t worry. “Remember the saying, ‘slow and steady wins the race?’” Aguiar asks. “Start by walking 30 minutes three times per week and build up from there.” If weight loss is your goal, you’ll want to continue to build to 200–300 minutes per week (a one-hour walk 4–5 days per week).

Sticking to the same route is a common walking mistake because over time your body adapts and it won’t be as challenging. To boost weight-loss (and keep things exciting) aim to vary the scenery a couple of days per week. For example, try a hilly trail, walk on the beach, explore a new park or do an urban hike. It boosts your motivation and keeps you mentally fresh, while simultaneously engaging different muscle groups to burn more calories.

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Whether your goal is to lose weight, tone your body, blast belly fat or take part in your first 5K — we’ve got a program for you.

Make progress every day while you work on fitness and nutrition goals, like walking more steps. Go to “Plans” in the MyFitnessPal app for daily coaching and easy-to-follow tasks to keep you motivated.

Jodi Helmer Jodi Helmer writes about health and wellness for publications like WebMD, AARP, Shape, Woman’s Day, Arthritis Today and Costco Connection among others. She often comes up with the best story ideas while hiking with her rescue dogs. You can read Jodi’s work or follow her on Twitter @helmerjodi.Want to make your workouts — and quite possibly your whole world — better? Go for a hike. It’s not only an easy way to rev your heart rate while being friendly to your joints (Read: low impact), but research shows it can strengthen your spirit as much as your muscles. Here’s what happens when you head for the hills:

How To Lose Weight By Walking 2 Hours

It might seem like a no-brainer, because adding an incline boosts nearly any fitness challenge (hello gravity!), but even strolling along moderate natural terrain can boost calorie burn. According to the Harvard University calorie-burning guide , the average 155-pound person would burn 149 calories walking a 17-minute mile for 30 minutes along flat terrain, and 223 calories over cross-country terrain. That’s 50% more calories torched! Move faster or climb a steeper hill and that number only increases.

Back to the incline effect: When you walk uphill, you’re pulling and pushing your body weight even more than you would on flat surfaces — and you especially engage your glutes and hamstrings. When you head downhill, your quads jump into action to help stabilize your body, including your knees. Finally, your core works throughout your movements, to stabilize your entire body, especially over uneven terrain.

A study published in the journal Psychological Science showed that when people walked in nature, they experienced improved focus. Study participants were asked to stroll through a leafy arboretum during a Michigan winter. They fared better on cognitive function tests than they had before the nature walk and better than those who walked in a more urban setting. (According to the researchers, urban environments require too much active attention, which detracts from the typically restorative effects of a walk.)

Why Walking Is The Most Underrated Form Of Exercise

What does this mean for you? You can get physiological benefits when ramping up the incline on your treadmill, but if you take your hike outside, you’ll boost your body and mind.

This might be the best benefit of all: As if brain and body power weren’t enough, research has shown that hiking can reduce and even help stave off depression. Stanford University scientists found that walking in nature for 90 minutes versus walking for the same amount of time in an urban setting reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for depression. More specifically, the researchers found hiking can reduce rumination, or rather, repetitive, negative thoughts. A dose of sunshine anyone?

Lara Rosenbaum Lara is a writer, athlete and wellness expert living in Nashville, Tennessee. She has held editorial positions at several magazines, including Women’s Health, where she was the founding fitness editor. Lara is a former elite athlete, traveling the world as a member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team, as well as a certified personal trainer and yoga teacher. In her free time she enjoys playing with her dogs, spotting art and strumming her guitar.We are committed to bringing you researched, expert-driven content to help you make more informed decisions around food, health, and wellness. We know how important making choices about your overall health is, and we strive to provide you with the best information possible.

Does Using A Stair Climber Target Your Glutes Better Than Walking Up An Incline Treadmill?

At this point, you probably already know that regular walking on a flat surface already offers an extensive list of health benefits. Whether it's enjoying a longer life or a healthier heart, there's no shortage of reasons to find time for an extra stroll or two through your local park every so often. Of course, when it comes to exercise, there's always room to

Things up to reap further benefits. If you've been looking for a way to get more out of your usual walk, consider adding some incline to your daily steps.

Treadmills have a variety of uses and one of them that many people don't take advantage of is the incline feature, Chrys Crockett, CPT, told NBC News

Benefits Of Walking Up Hill

Walking or running on a treadmill is meant to simulate how you walk or run outside. The incline feature turns what could be compared to walking or running on a sidewalk, into a motion more similar to walking up a mountain. Incline tweaks can intensify your workouts, he added, because you're placing more demand on the body to keep up.

This doesn't have to be done on a treadmill, either—finding a set of stairs or a series of hills outside can provide the same kind of challenge. What matters is not the setting, but that you're demanding just a bit more from your muscles and joints by changing your terrain.

But, what actually happens to our bodies when we walk this way? Read on to learn more about the benefits of walking uphill or on an incline. And don't miss: Secret Tricks for Walking for Exercise, According to Walking Specialists.

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Walking on an incline requires more energy and incurs a greater metabolic cost than a flat-surfaced trek. Translation: You'll burn more calories walking uphill, which can help get you lean.

Walking on flat ground is an incredibly energy efficient activity, explains Jordan Duncan, DC, MDT, a chiropractor and expert in pain science at Washington's Silverdale Sport and Spine. Our bodies have a unique ability to store energy during gait, for example in our tendons and myofascial slings, and then use that energy to help propel us forward. While this allows us to walk great distances with relatively minimal effort, we only burn about 100 calories per mile on average when walking on flat ground.

However, if you walk uphill, Duncan says it increases the challenge to your body, forcing your body to burn more calories. Whether this is on an inclined treadmill or a hilly trail, walking uphill will help get you lean, he says.

How Walking Can Help You Lose Weight And Belly Fat

For example, per Healthline and Nutristrategy, a 155 pound individual burns roughly 267 calories during an hour of walking at a pace of 3.5 mph. But that same person will burn 422 calories while walking uphill for an hour at the same pace. Similarly, a 180 pound person will only burn 311 calories while walking on flat ground, yet burns 490 calories for each hour spent walking on an incline. While it's unlikely that most people will be walking