Incline Walking Cardio Blast

Incline walking is one of my favorite forms of cross-training cardio. I can't stand the elliptical, and my gym doesn't have a stairmaster so usually the treadmill is my last option. Also since I have a treadmill at home it's an easy way to throw in some cardio when I need it!

Just walking though can get pretty boring so I like to mix it up a lot when I do my incline walking. What I typically do is add in some little HIIT moves here and there to really keep my heart rate up and my muscles working. 

Here's what I did this morning: 

1) 3 minutes incline walking

2) 1 round of HIIT-- 20 jump squats, 50 high knees, 20 jumping lunges

Then jump right back on the treadmill and repeat! I leave the treadmill running so that I can keep the time going plus then the incline and pace are already set and I don't have to wait for the treadmill to warm back up. I just hop right off the treadmill, do the round of HIIT, and hop back on! Just be very careful getting on and off! It usually takes me about a minute to do the HIIT moves.  I repeat about 7-8 times to get me to about 30 minutes. 

For the walking itself, I do about a 10% incline (that's the highest my treadmill will go at home) so I do about a 4.0-4.2 mph pace. At the gym those treadmills can go a lot higher so I do a minimum of 13% there with a 3.7-4.0 mph rage depending on the incline percentage.  The important thing is that you set it to what you need but make sure you're still pushing yourself! You can add in whatever type of HIIT you want. Some other combinations I've done: 

1) 10 burpees, 20 pop squats, 50 jumping jacks

2) 50 ice skaters, 20 lunges, 15 pike-ups

3) 20 tuck jumps, 15 kettle bell swings, 30 shuffle squats

It's a great way to combine HIIT with steady state cardio and really keeps my heart rate up! Plus it keeps things interesting for me, and that helps me to look forward to my workouts. No one wants to keep doing the same thing over and over, that gets too boring! 

Let me know if you come up with any of your own HIIT combinations, I'd love to hear them :)