The 10-10-10 incline treadmill workout is a beast of epic proportions, and it is perfect for folks who are unable to sprint outside because of bad weather, or just because they want to stay indoors on sprint day.
When you are doing with this workout, you are not going to mind that you weren’t able to run outdoors for that day. You are only going to care about your burning thighs, and the unbelievable pump in your muscles.
To do the 10-10-10 incline treadmill workout, you will only need a treadmill that is capable of giving at least a ten percent incline. And your willpower- you are going to need plenty of that to.
Breaking Through A Fat-loss Plateau
1. If you have never tried a method similar to this before, it’s going to come as a bit of a shock to your system, and that’s okay – shocks can help you break plateaus and make you even stronger.
Start by standing at the sides of the treadmill – don’t step on the belt just yet. Adjust the incline of the treadmill to 10%, and then set the sped to 1-3 miles more than your average speed.
By average, we mean here the speed that you use to get past the fatigue so you can just finish the workout without having to stop.
If your jogging pace is 5 mph, set the speed of the inclined treadmill to 6-8 mph. This should be a good beginning, and will help your body adapt to the strategy more quickly.
2. Wait for the treadmill to warm up. Give it a few seconds until you hear that its motor is running at the desired speed. Once it has reached this point, feel free to jump in at any time.
When you are on the belt, start sprinting for your life! You are going to feel extremely challenged in the beginning, mainly because there’s no warm up anymore, and your speed is higher than your usual. Your muscles are going to be screaming for air, but just keep pushing and don’t worry about it.
3. The first sprint should be no more than thirty seconds. That’s it. Thirty seconds, grab the sides of the treadmill and step off by stepping outside the bounds of the belt.
Give yourself a thirty second break, and immediately jump on the belt again for another half minute. Do not take a break just yet – keep the momentum going, so that heart rate stays up, and your muscles keep pumping. Repeat the cycle ten times.
4. If you think this isn’t challenging yet, hold on a sec because we’re not done yet. Each time you finish a repetition, try to increase the speed of the belt until you hit the 10 mp mark.
When you reach this level, try your best to complete ten rounds at 10 mph. The incline should remain at 10% at all times – this is where much of the challenge comes from, and is an integral part of the fitness routine.
The Benefits of Cardio
The treadmill is as classic as it gets when it comes to conventional gym cardio workouts, and there’s a good reason why, despite its challenging nature, it is still being embraced by people: it just works. Cardio benefits everyone who wants to have a healthier body, and there’s just no substitute for a good cardio workout.
Whenever you push yourself through aerobic exercises that really pump your muscles and force you to breathe more regularly and deeply, you gain the following health benefits:
– Your cardiovascular and respiratory systems are strengthened. The heart is a muscle, and over time if you don’t use it well enough, it starts to weaken. The lower your heart rate when you are performing exercises, the better off your heart.
That’s why people who have high blood pressure are advised to do exercises because it improves blood circulation and strengthens the heart at the same time. Over a period of time, lung capacity can also increase if you do your cardio workouts regularly.
– You burn calories hard. There are studies in the past that show that simple cardio exercises can increase your metabolism for up to a week after the actual exercise.
If you are exercising daily, that means your body is literal fat burning furnace, and there’s nothing stopping in your way of burning calories and staying fit.
– Regular cardio can help improve your mood. This happens because the body releases mood-regulating compounds to reward the body after a day of hard work.
This is the natural high that fitness buffs experience when they have a good workout. Endorphins help kill pain and also make you feel good inside. That’s not something you can get anywhere else. So exercise!
– The physical exhaustion brought about by exercise simulates the normal physical activities that our ancestors experienced thousands of years ago when they had to walk miles just to get food.
Our bodies, through our genetic makeup, remembers those days, if only vaguely. Our ancestors tuck themselves in after a long day of foraging and hunting.
Of course, with modern life came distractions to normal sleep at night, and exercising can actually help reduce the effects of these distractions because you will feel sleepier, earlier. Deep sleep is also a consequence of regular exercise, and you will wake up feeling great.
– Did you know that regular cardio can also help with chronic or acute pain? Cardio helps strengthen muscles and joints, and vastly improves the physical condition of the musculoskeletal system.
What this means is that if you are suffering from rheumatism, it is possible for you to experience less pain when you use your muscles and joints more. Exercise has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body, and this is pinpointed as one of the major reasons why exercise helps relieve pain.
– And finally, regular cardio, coupled with the right diet, can help reverse the effects of degenerative conditions like heart disease and diabetes.