Designer Hill Training

By Rick Morris

Everywhere we look these days we see designer items. We have designer clothing and designer shoes. We can get designer haircuts. Our homes can be filled with designer furniture and designer appliances. So, why not engage in some designer exercise?

One of the greatest benefits of treadmill training is its versatility. In no area of exercise is this versatility more apparent and valuable than in hill training. You can do nearly any type of walking or running workout on the road, track or trail. But, what about hill workouts? If you do not have hills in your area, how can you perform this important type of training? Easy! – just hop on your treadmill and design your own hill workout.

Why Train on Hills

Hill training can be difficult. For that reason, some of us dislike it and prefer not to do it. You should like hill training. In fact, you should love hill training. You should love it because it improves your fitness level fast. It burns many more calories than zero incline training. Hill training improves your strength and sculpts your lower body.

The increase in calorie burn can be dramatic as the hill incline is increased. For example, when running at 6 MPH at zero incline, you are burning about 708 calories per hour. Increase the incline to 5% and your calorie burn increases to 852 calories per hour. At 8% incline you are burning 937 calories per hour, at 10% around 994 calories per hour and at 12% a whopping 1052 calories per hour.

Increased calorie burn is not the only benefit of hill training. Running uphill forces your leg muscles to work much harder. This added stress on your muscles will result in increased strength, power and muscle tone. The motion of hill running requires you to push off powerfully behind your body. This action works the muscles that extend your hip very strongly. Your hip extensor muscles include the all important gluteus maximus. If you want to tone those butt muscles, hill training is for you.

There are an unlimited number of possible hill workouts that you can design using your treadmill. I have designed several to get you started, but don’t hesitate to experiment and come up with your own designer hills.

The Foothills

This is a beginning level hill workout. If you are new to hill training, this would be a good one to start with. The elevation during this routine will vary from 1% to 5%. The total time of the workout is 40 minutes. Set the pace of the treadmill at your typical easy run pace. This should be a pace at which you can speak clearly, but cannot sing. Your breathing should be at an increase level, but you should not be out of breath. Do not change the pace as you increase elevation. As the elevation increases, the workout will feel harder and your breathing will become heavier.

• Set the elevation at 1% and run for 10 minutes at your typical easy pace.

• Increase the elevation to 2% and run for 5 minutes at easy pace.

• Increase the elevation to 3% and run for 2 minutes at easy pace.

• Raise the elevation to 4% and run at your easy pace for 2 more minutes.

• Increase the incline to 5% and run for 2 minutes. This is the top of your hill.

• Now decrease the elevation to 4% for 2 minutes of easy running.

• Decrease the incline to 3% and run for 2 minutes.

• Decrease the incline to 2% for 5 minutes at your easy pace.

• Finally, decrease the elevation to 1% and run for 10 minutes at your easy pace.

Hill Progression

This is a slightly more difficult hill workout. If you are a more experienced hill runner, this may be a good one to start with. If you have not run hills before, master “The Foothills” workout before trying this one.

This is a 40 minute workout that ranges from 1% to 8% elevation. Perform this workout at a pace that is just slightly faster than your normal easy run pace.

• Set the elevation at 1% and run for 10 minutes.

• Increase the elevation to 2% and run for 2 minutes.

• Decrease the incline back to 1% and run for 2 minutes.

• Increase the elevation to 3% and run for 2 minutes.

• Decrease the incline back to 1% for 2 minutes of running.

• Increase the elevation to 4% and run for 2 minutes.

• Decrease the elevation to 1% and run for 2 minutes.

• Increase the incline to 5% and run for another 2 minutes.

• Decrease the elevation to 1% for 2 minutes of running

• Increase the elevation to 6% and run for 2 minutes.

• Decrease the incline back to 1% for 2 minutes of running

• Increase the incline to 7% and run for 2 more minutes.

• Decrease the elevation to 1% for 2 minutes of running.

• Increase the elevation to 8% and run for 2 minutes. This is the top of your hill.

• Decrease the elevation back to 1% and run for 4 minutes to cool down.

Rolling Hills

This is a fairly difficult hill workout for more advanced hill runners. This is a 3 mile workout that ranges between 2% to 8% elevation. Perform this workout at a pace that is slightly faster than your normal easy run pace. For your first attempt do this workout only one time. As your fitness level increases, you may be able to do this workout 2 times for a total of 6 miles.

• After a 10 minute warm up, set the elevation at 2% and run for ½ mile.

• Increase the elevation to 5% and run for another ½ mile.

• Decrease the elevation to 2 percent and run for ¼ mile.

• Increase the elevation to 8% and run for ¼ mile.

• Decrease the elevation back to 2% and run for another ¼ mile.

• Increase the elevation to 5% and run for ½ mile.

• Decrease the incline to 2% for another ¼ mile of running.

• Increase the elevation to 8% and run for ¼ mile.

• Decrease the elevation back to 2% and run for ¼ mile.

• Cool down with 10 minutes of easy running at 1% elevation.

Hill Blasters

Most hill workouts are performed at easy to moderate paces. However, it is helpful to include some high intensity workouts in your exercise routine. These more difficult workouts will make further improvements in your fitness level and will help increase your strength and power. This tough workout is also great for sculpting your calves, thighs and butt. This is an intense hill workout that uses short runs up a steep grade. You should only attempt this workout if you are properly conditioned for highly intense workouts. If you are fairly new to hills, master the previous workout before progressing to this one.

This workout is simple to perform. First, warm up with 10 minutes of easy running. Then increase the treadmill elevation to 12%. If your treadmill does not elevate that much, set it at its maximum elevation. Now run for 30 seconds at a pace that feels hard. Then decrease the elevation to 1% and run for 1 minute at an easy pace. Repeat this sequence of 30 seconds at 12% elevation and 1 minute at 1% elevation until you feel highly fatigued. You will find that you will be able to increase the number of repetitions you can do as your fitness level increases.

The Hill Climb

So far all of the hill workouts have been composed of alternating hill running with level running. This hill climb is all uphill. If the shorter workouts are considered hill workouts, you may want to think of this one as a mountain workout. This is a great calorie burning workout and also does wonders for improving your endurance and muscle tone. This is also a very simple workout. Just set the treadmill incline at anywhere between 5% and 8%. If you are fairly new to hill running, use 5%. If you are more experienced at hill workouts, set the elevation higher. Set the pace of the treadmill at your normal easy run pace. Now run for 2 to 6 miles without changing the elevation. For your first workout I would suggest climbing the hill for 2 miles. Each time you do this workout, increase the distance by ¼ mile.

Pike’s Peak

This is a challenging hill workout that is composed of steadily increasing inclines followed by decreasing inclines. You are running up to the top of the hill and then back down again. The elevation of this workout ranges from 2% to 8%. You should be running at a pace that is just a bit faster than your normal easy run pace. The total distance of this workout is 3.25 miles.

• After a 10 minute warm up, set the treadmill incline at 2% and run for ¼ mile.

• Raise the incline to 3% and run for ¼ mile.

• Increase the incline to 4% and run for another ¼ mile.

• Raise the elevation to 5% and run for ¼ mile.

• Raise the incline to 6% for another ¼ mile.

• Increase the elevation to 7% and run ¼ mile.

• Increase the incline to 8% for ¼ mile. This is the top of your hill. Now the elevation will begin to decrease.

• Decrease the incline to 7% for ¼ mile of running.

• Decrease the elevation to 6% and run for ¼ mile.

• Lower the elevation to 5% for another ¼ mile of running.

• Decrease the incline to 4% and run for ¼ mile.

• Decrease the incline again to 3% and run for ¼ mile.

• Now lower the elevation to 2% and run a final ¼ mile.

• Cool down with 10 minutes of easy running at 1% elevation.

There you have 6 sample hill workouts for everyone from a beginning hill runner to advanced athletes. These six workouts are just a drop in the bucket. The possibilities are endless, thanks to the incredible versatility of the treadmill. Experiment with different lengths and combinations of hill repeats. Do some short, fast repeats and some long continuous hill runs. Become your own hill designer. You will get fit, lose weight and have fun in the process.

 Adapted from Treadmill Training for Runners

Running Planet

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