Are you self-conscious about your cankles and thinking of hitting the treadmill to reshape your lower legs?
How effective is walking for ridding cankles?
What exactly are cankles?
Think calve + ankle. The word “cankles” refers to when the calve and ankle appear to blend together without definition.
Often, this is just the natural shape of one’s lower leg. They may even see this blending in one or even both of their parents.
Some people just naturally have a “long” calve muscle, so that it merges inconspicuously into their Achilles tendon, creating that familiar cankle appearance.
However, cankles may also be caused by excess fat, water retention or poor circulation.
Keep in mind that if you have notable cankles and are overweight, it’s still possible that the blending is partially due to your natural anatomy.
Thus, weight loss won’t entirely get rid of the cankle look.
What about walking on a treadmill for cankles?
Walking on a treadmill can help reduce overall body fat. This can reduce the appearance of cankles if this shape is driven by excess fat in the first place.
If your desired mode of fat burning exercise is that of walking on a treadmill, you can actually burn a lot of fat (lose weight) if you perform HIIT – high intensity interval training – on a treadmill, by doing interval incline walking.
But remember, any type of high fat-burning exercise will not specifically target fat loss in the ankle area.
Spot reduction (losing fat in just one specific area) is generally not possible, especially in the mid- to lower leg.
In fact, a thin person could have cankles. I’ve seen it. If you go to a crowded venue on a hot summer day where most people are wearing shorts, you’ll sooner or later spot a thin, slender or straight-size individual with noticeable cankles.
When I was a personal trainer, I had a 14-year-old female client who had what would be considered a thin body – but at the same time, she had obvious cankles.
I’m not going to say that an intense body sculpting program wouldn’t have somewhat “de-cankled” her legs.
But for all practical purposes, she is destined to have cankles for life. It’s her natural anatomy.
Nevertheless, there may be some things you can do to lessen the appearance of cankles. Let’s start with the treadmill.
Treadmill HIIT Walking
If you happen to have excess fat in your lower legs, HIIT with a treadmill will help burn it (along with overall body fat since spot reduction is not possible), yielding improved definition in your lower legs.
HIIT alternates between periods of intense effort and recovery.
This type of training combines cardiovascular and strength-building benefits in a short amount of time, making it an efficient workout for burning fat (along with improving endurance).
To do walking-HIIT, you must use an incline, because flat walking (even brisk) isn’t intense enough to qualify for HIIT.
- Start by setting the treadmill to a moderate incline (e.g., 5-10%) to simulate uphill walking.
- Begin with a warmup by walking at a comfortable pace for 5-10 minutes.
Next, alternate between two phases. First, set the incline and speed such that 30 or so seconds at that setting is very difficult and leaves you huffing and puffing at the end. DO NOT HOLD ONTO THE TREADMILL; THIS IS CHEATING.
The second phase is called recovery and lasts one to three minutes.
Tone down the settings so that during this time, you feel at ease and are able to recover all your wind as your heart rate drops.
Alternate this way for 30 minutes, then cool down for 5-10 minutes. Do treadmill HIIT twice a week.
What else can be done?
A combination of full-body strength training, leg sculpting exercises, weight management, hydration and reducing daily sitting time will contribute to overall fat loss plus a much more toned body, which can result in less obvious cankles.
If you’ve never strength trained before and have been sedentary, these two variables will exacerbate a genetic tendency towards cankles.
Flabby legs are more likely to have that cankle look.
You may be wondering if calve raises might work. Bodybuilders and physique athletes typically do Calve-targeting work.
Calve-targeting exercises, when done intensely, will promote a more defined and higher-looking calve musculature.
But calves are notoriously difficult to lift up and sculpt through exercise.
Physique athletes with “great calves” are almost always blessed with a naturally high, well-shaped calve muscle group to begin with.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages and abilities for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health.
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