Walking Sideways on a Treadmill: Why You Should NOT Hold On
You will gain absolutely nothing by holding onto the rails of a treadmill while walking sideways.
This waste of time may lead to worsening of the posture.
Walking sideways on a treadmill has become more popular over the years, but still remains a rare sight to see.
As a former certified personal trainer, I will point out that sideways walking on a treadmill should NOT be considered a gimmick or fad, as it does have some unique benefits.
I am faithful to including sideways walking as part of my treadmill routines, and this lateral form of exercise (“frontal plane”) should be conducted without holding on.
“Unless someone requires handrail support initially to walk sideways on a treadmill because of health reasons [such as spinal stenosis], holding onto the rails of the treadmill will detract from its benefits,” says Dr. Tom Carpenter, corrective exercise specialist, certified personal trainer and chiropractor, and inventor of Stand Corrected™, a portable harness-like stretching tool that helps alleviate back, neck and shoulder pain.
Dr. Carpenter adds, “Hands-free side walking improves lateral (side to side) stability in regards to the kinetic chain. Think core. The body moves in neurologic/muscular systems naturally, not as isolated movements.”
Now think about that next time your hands go for the rails!
“Any interruption in this kinetic chain, such as holding onto the treadmill supports, will create adverse compensations in the way we would otherwise move naturally,” says Dr. Carpenter.
Ask yourself why you want to walk sideways on a treadmill at all. Whatever the reason, you will defeat the purpose by cheating.
WRONG, no matter HOW many people do this.
Holding on while walking sideways on the machine will not improve balance at all, nor will it promote your cardiovascular fitness.
Plus, next time you see a person at the gym walking sideways on the treadmill while holding on, take note of their posture.
They are bent over, and not just forward, but to the side. This is bad for the individual’s spinal column and it throws gait off completely.
Pointers for Walking Sideways on Treadmill
Begin at a speed that you think is too slow for your liking. You will not trip at only 1 mph. Turn sideways and let go. This is not as tricky as you think.
In fact, think of sports that you’ve played that involve lateral movements: basketball, volleyball, soccer, boxing, karate, tennis.
A moving tread is no different. It’s easier because you are not handling a ball.
If you hold on at a faster speed, you will not achieve anything except a distorted gait. Holding on will remove some body weight, and the legs and core muscles will not really be supporting you.
Let go at a slow speed and you’ll quickly get used to it. Focus on correct posture, correct spinal alignment and square, balanced shoulders.
- Those who hold on always have hunched up and crumpled shoulders.
- And their hips are out of whack.
- The posture is crooked.
- They will never improve their balance or fitness.
If you fear stumbling then watch your feet. As you get used to the 1 mph, increase the speed to 1.5 mph.
After you get used to that small increase, then raise it to 2 mph. Don’t rush with this progression.
When you walk sideways on the treadmill, your legs and core really should do all the work for maximal calorie burn (if that’s important to you), best neurological recruitment and most efficient cardio training effect (once you start moving faster). Do not rely on the machine’s rails to do these jobs!
Photo credit: Aleesia Forni
Based upon 30+ years of experience, Dr. Carpenter’s practice approach reflects his belief that restoring optimum health and function will enable his patients to enjoy a much greater amount of vitality and wellness. Chiropractic care is true health care, not sick care!
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
Backward Walking on a Treadmill: Take Your Hands Off Rails!
Did you know you’re wasting your time if you hold onto the rails when “walking” backwards on a treadmill?
Watch someone doing this. How does their posture look?
I’m a former certified personal trainer, and from time at the gym I saw a person walking backwards on a treadmill and holding on.
You may think, “Gee, isn’t that the smart thing to do? Otherwise you’ll fall, right?”
I walk backwards on a treadmill all the time and I never hold onto the rails.
To do so is akin to lying back-down on a floor, grabbing a rope in front of you that’s tethered to a base, holding it at your chest, pulling yourself up into a sitting position, and then saying you just did a sit-up.
You won’t fall if you train correctly and believe a little more in yourself.
Retro walking on a treadmill while holding on is an exercise (no pun intended) in futility.
People I see walking backwards on a treadmill are almost always in their 20s and 30s. The vast majority are women.
Can you retro walk across your living room?
If yes, then you can walk backwards on a treadmill without holding on.
Why do you retro walk on a treadmill?
Is it because you heard that it can lessen pre-existing knee pain? Did you read somewhere that walking backwards stimulates muscles that going forward misses?
Whatever your reason, holding on will defeat the purpose and encourage bad posture.
If you want to improve your posture, retro walking on a treadmill sans holding on will do wonders at improving your spinal posture!
You will be forced into perfect posture by keeping your hands off the rails. This beats walking around with a book on your head any day.
The minute you place your hands on the rails, there’s no longer a need to keep the spine erect and shoulders square.
Want to improve your balance? Let go. You can’t improve balance (be it in martial arts, dance, yoga or whatever) by holding onto something, though some people initially must hold on to a support.
But even then, in the case of martial arts, ice skating, etc., the goal is to perform the activity without clinging to anything.
This should be the case with retro walking on a treadmill.
To get the full benefits, to engage your entire body, to really tap into the core and strengthen these muscles, and to improve coordination and balance, you must walk with your hands free.
Set the speed at 1 mph and give it a try.
Grasping the rails while your feet get moved on a 4 mph tread is worthless.
Retro walking with your hands free will strengthen the ankles, too. Using the rails will block this effect.
- Start slowly.
- As you acclimate, increase speed a little.
- Keep your eyes fixed on a point that stabilizes you.
- If you must keep your eyes on your feet at first, then do so. Gradually move them out more as you acclimate.
“Some treadmill companies manufacture a rail that can be placed over the treadmill for stabilization while walking backwards,” notes Dr. Charles J. Pelitera, assistant professor of kinesiology and coordinator of the Health/Wellness Program at Canisius College, NY.
He adds that “there is more benefit to not holding onto a rail while walking backwards, but there is a proprioceptive learning curve in regards to being confident enough to not hold on.”
The learning curve is psychological. A former client of mine was a 65-year-old, 220-pound woman with arthritis in her knees.
I had her retro walking on the first session — without holding on. She had a bear of a personality, so it’s not surprising she showed no fear and adapted quickly.
“Once mastered, retro-walking can be a great method of cross training,” says Dr. Pelitera.
Retro walking on a treadmill produces a number of benefits, but only if you do not hold on.
Dr. Pelitera is the owner of Pelitera Fitness Consultants, which specializes in athletic training, weight loss and strength training.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
Treadmill Routine with 30 Percent Incline: Burn the Most Fat
Follow this 30 percent treadmill incline routine to maximize fat-burning.
Here is a routine you can do on a treadmill with a 30 percent incline to burn as much fat as possible with this setting.
Follow my instructions; there’s a right way and a wrong way to do this, and most people do it the wrong way and then wonder why they haven’t lost weight.
30 Percent Incline Takes Time Getting Used To
No matter what your aerobic condnition, walking at this angle, without holding onto the treadmill (that’s absolutely forbidden!), takes a little getting used to for the calves and Achilles tendon.
When you walk a 30 percent incline without holding on, this causes pronounced stretching of the back of the lower leg.
So even if you’re walking at 1 mph at this steep incline, your calves and Achilles can easily get sore in less than 10 minutes.
Do not overdo this or you’ll really end up with strained soft tissue.
To get in an good fat-burning workout with a 30 percent grade, you must first make sure your calves and Achilles tendons are adapted. The last thing you want is a strained Achilles.
The Workout
For how long can you walk at 1.5 mph, without holding on, this steep angle before you become quite fatigued? Remember, this is after you’ve developed adaptation in the calves and Achilles.
Are you right now thinking, “What?! Only 1.5 mph?!”?
I have news for you: 1.5 mph at 30 percent incline is no piece of cake. This is about how slow you’d move outside on a real hill at the same grade. In fact, you might even move slower. We’re talking 30 percent here!
Chances are, you’re on a treadmill that has buttons for grades in 3 percent increments.
- At 1.5 mph, press 30 percent and walk one minute.
- Then press 15 percent and walk one minute.
- Then press 27 percent, then 15, then 24, then 15, and so on, until you get to 18/15, all with one minute for each change in incline.
This will be quite a workout and will burn fat. You will really, really feel your legs working. But, you must NOT hold onto the treadmill during any of this (other than to drink water).
Never mind the heart rate; you’ll know it’s elevated. Just swing your arms naturally as you would outside.
Many people who are already trained in aerobic exercise will find this particular workout difficult to sustain.
sustained pace, even at 1.5 mph, at high inclines is a true workout an dwill burn fat.
If you’re upt to it, repeat the cycle, going back to the 30 percent incline, then 15, then 27, and so on for another fat-burning round.
If your legs are “hurting” or you’re getting too out of breath, then start the cycle at 24 percent, and bring the recovery interval down to 9 percent.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Improvisor
Treadmill Workouts with a Negative Incline
This article explains the benefits of the treadmill’s negative incline and why you should use it.
Many people want to know what the negative incline on a treadmill “is supposed to do.”
There are many reasons to use the negative incline of a treadmill, but it seems as though few treadmill enthusiasts use this function.
Whenever I see a treadmill with a negative incline function, the grade goes only as far down as minus-three.
However, that’s just enough to create a difference in the way the body moves when using the negative incline, versus zero grade.
When a person walks downhill, forces are placed upon the knee that aren’t there when walking up a hill, or on a flat course.
These forces are called “eccentric,” which you may have already heard of in terms of lifting weights (eccentric vs. concentric).
Nevertheless, eccentric training is very important for strengthening the legs.
Have you ever known someone who whips up a steep hill with little effort, but when it’s time to ambulate down, this individual struggles?
Or they complain of knee pain? They have not developed eccentric conditioning.
Walk for 10 minutes, at 3.5 to 4 mph, using a negative 3 percent incline on the treadmill. And swing your arms with some exaggeration.
I see most treadmill walkers holding on, and this unnatural way of walking will oppose any goals that you have.
Wrong, wrong and wrong.
More wrong.
If 3.5 mph is too fast for a walk, then try 3 to 3.2 mph — or even below 3 mph — depending on your fitness level. Just don’t hold on.
Jogging on the negative incline function of a treadmill is also a smart idea, as this will further develop eccentric conditioning, creating a stronger knee joint.
Even if you have a staircase in the house and think your knees are already strong from using the stairs every day, the difference with the treadmill’s negative incline is that you’d be using it continuously for a predetermined amount of time.
Going down a staircase takes 5-10 seconds, and then it’s over. Even if this is repeated throughout the day, it’s still 5-10 seconds at a time, which cannot be compared to 10 nonstop minutes on the treadmill.
For an interesting calve stretch, walk backwards using the treadmill’s negative incline (always at its maximum of 3 percent, since this is a minimal decline).
Now here’s the tricky part, though it actually should not be tricky at all.
Everyone I see who walks backwards on a treadmill holds on. When I was a personal trainer, I had my clients let go and swing their arms.
This makes them upright with square shoulders and a solid gait, because by not holding on for assistance, they are making their entire body work to keep balanced and centered. This neuromuscular recruitment is extremely important.
Start out at 1 to 1.5 mph, and begin walking backwards without holding onto the rails.
You’ll feel that your legs have to work in a unique way, but that’s the whole idea, and you don’t want to snuff out this recruitment by holding onto the rails.
As you feel more comfortable, increase the speed, and swing the arms.
Watch your feet if this helps, or if you feel more at ease focusing on a point straight ahead, then do that.
One need not spend long periods of time using the treadmill’s negative incline to reap a training effect.
Ten minutes of walking on it, and 5-10 minutes of jogging on it, per week, will provide a nice touch to your cardio regimen.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/YanLev
Running Backwards on a Treadmill: Pros and Cons
It’s rare to see someone jogging or running backwards on a treadmill.
But every time I see someone doing this, he or she is holding onto the rails!
This is a key point because when someone jogs, runs or walks backwards on a treadmill, but holds onto the rails, their posture and body alignment will be tossed off-whack.
You need not be a chiropractor to be able to observe this.
The irony is that nearly every person who does this appears to be in their 20s and 30s. So we can’t blame age-related knee pain or balance deficits.
It’s cool to jog backwards on a treadmill — but the whole purpose is defeated when you hold on.
If you choose to run backwards on a treadmill, don’t hold on.
If this means you must first practice at 1.5 mph, then so be it.
If you jog or run backwards on a treadmill without holding onto the rails, your posture will not only be forced to be upright with good body alignment, but it will be near perfect, as this is required to maintain balance and steadiness.
In fact, it would be difficult to run backwards on a treadmill with bad posture if you were not holding on!
I feel like a soldier when I’m trotting backwards because I’m so straight; this will happen to you, too, with the hands-off approach.
One need not be a natural athlete to accomplish this.
I had a client with no past athletic training, who was obese and in her early 50s, walking backwards without holding on.
The only thing that stopped her from jogging was osteoarthritis in her knee joints, in which the cartilage gets so worn down that there’s reduced shock absorption.
Why run backwards on a treadmill?
I sometimes do it to warm up for forward high intensity training.
I also do it to create a different pattern of muscle use. It also strengthens the knees.
I do not do it to burn more calories or emphasize the butt or hamstrings, because it will not accomplish any of these things.
Finally, I do it as part of my agility training.
Research Supports Backward Jogging
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Ordway et al, 2016) found that backward running improved forward running economy in trained male athletes, enhancing efficiency without altering VO₂ max or body composition.
Additionally, backward walking has been shown to reduce knee pain and improve balance and gait in people recovering from stroke.
We can easily deduce that for any individual, male or female, trotting or just walking backwards provides benefits, whether on a treadmill or in free space.
If you want to jog or run backwards on a treadmill, give it a try, but proceed very gradually; get used to reverse walking first.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Source: nytimes.com/1998/10/13/health/no-gain-in-backward-exercise-experts-say.html
Skinny Calves: Will Treadmill Incline Walking Build Muscle?
Learn what treadmill incline walking can do — or not do — for skinny, puny calf muscles.
If you’re fed up with your skinny little calves, perhaps you’ve decided to give incline walking on a treadmill a try.
If you want to improve heart health, walk the incline on a treadmill.
If you want to build up your calves, you’ll waste your time thinking a treadmill will do the trick.
Look at it this way: If you want to build up your quad muscles, would you walk on an inclined treadmill? Or would you do heavy squats and leg presses?
Calves are muscles too, and to build them, you must lift weights with them.
Why Walking on a Treadmill Incline Won’t Build Calves
I once saw a man walking the 15 percent incline; he was a personal trainer and did not have skinny calves.
He was holding onto the front of the machine, which was making his body angle back to match the incline angle; the result was that he was, essentially, walking at zero incline due to this mistake.
Below is an image depicting what he looked like.
I asked him what his goal was and he replied he wanted to build up his calves!
You might be thinking that since he was a personal trainer, he was correct with his approach.
He was dead wrong, and the explanation that follows will help you very clearly understand why.
Walking an incline will create a burning feeling in the calves of people new to this kind of walking.
This tricks them into thinking that muscle growth will be stimulated.
But how much something “burns” is not predictive of muscle growth.
Otherwise, holding soup cans over your head for 30 minutes nonstop (which would eventually produce a burn) would build huge shoulder muscles, right?
Of course not!
- To build muscle you need heavier and heavier resistance over time. This is called progressive strength training.
- Walking a treadmill incline is called aerobic training.
There are two kinds of muscle fiber:
1 Slow twitch
2 Fast twitch
Slow twitch is designed for endurance. Walking, jogging steady state or Zumba are endurance based activities and thus, recruit mainly slow twitch fiber.
Slow twitch fiber does not grow in size. It gets more efficient with training, but does not get bigger.
Slow twitch fibers can “hurt” or “burn” — but they do NOT get bigger.
Sprinting and lifting heavy weights recruit mainly fast twitch fiber. Fast twitch will grow in size when challenged enough.
To make the fast twitch in calves grow, you must recruit these fibers.
#1 Calf raises with heavy resistance
#2 Supplement with heavy deadlifts and squats (ever see a man with skinny calves like in the images above deadlift 400 or squat 500?)
#3 Genetics play a big role. Some people were born with well-shaped calves.
The personal trainer I spoke to did not have an understanding of slow twitch vs. fast twitch muscle fiber, and instead … he equated incline walking with hypertrophy.
And plus, he wasn’t even incline walking because his body was tilted back with the incline, netting a zero percent incline.
Still Skeptical?
Ask yourself how you’d get a bigger chest: pushing against a wall while standing for 20 minutes straight (endurance), or lying on your back and bench pressing the heaviest barbell you can do for eight to 12 repetitions (strength)?
If treadmill incline walking indeed made calves bigger, then hiking enthusiasts would have the calves of competitive bodybuilders. So would triathletes and marathon athletes.
Even if you keep your hands off the treadmill while using the incline, you still won’t get bigger calves this way.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
Is It Safe to Let Go when Walking a Steep Treadmill Incline?
Step-by-step instructions in how to use a steep treadmill incline without holding on to get the most calorie burn and fitness benefits.
Every time I see a person using a high percent incline on a treadmill, he or she is grasping the bar in front or are gripping behind the display console.
This big mistake cancels out the effect of that huge incline.
When using a 30 percent incline and hanging onto the treadmill, the user will report that it’s impossible to walk this level of steepness without “falling off.”
If you’ve been using a steep incline and feel you must hold onto the treadmill, here is my question:
- What is the slowest speed you’ve ever used at this grade?
- My next question is: How slow can the machine be set at?
Think good and hard about your answers. If you stood on the incline but the belt was not moving (the treadmill wasn’t on), would you fall off? No. You’d be standing vertically and stable.
Now, march in place while on the high incline while the belt is still turned off. Do you fall? No.
Now, turn the machine on and set the speed at half a mile per hour and move your feet to keep up with the belt, but do not put your hands on the treadmill.
Keep them at your side, as they were when you were marching or as they’d be if you were walking this pace up a hill outside.
Do you fall? I’m betting you’ll come nowhere near falling off. That’s because your body is vertical and your legs are able to keep up with the very slow moving belt, even though it’s at a high incline.
Now gradually increase the speed, but do not advance it over that threshold to where your legs would not be able to keep up. For most trainees, that will be somewhere around 1.5 mph.
You won’t necessarily get out of breath at 1.5 mph, but unless your lower extremities are trained to move at considerable steepness, the back of your lower legs will fatigue quite quickly and you’ll be forced to take a rest.
What’s the best way to take a rest?
By lowering the incline. You can also increase the speed at this point. The lower incline will relieve your aching calves and Achilles regions.
When you reach the point of too much fatigue at a steep grade, do NOT hold onto the treadmill for the relief!
This “un-duplicates” a natural gait and trains your body to become dependent on an external support.
Instead, reduce the incline, even if this means waiting 30 seconds for the machine to sink down to 10 percent or even zero.
Be patient and wait, as you continue walking with a natural arm swing.
To get used to a 30 or higher percent incline, you’ll need to work it interval style:
Walk at 1 to 2 mph on it for five minutes (or three minutes, whatever it takes to fatigue you), and then reduce the grade to where you can walk comfortably for a few minutes (or three or four minutes; this isn’t engraved in stone). Then raise the incline to 30 again for another round.
- And all the while, your hands are OFF the treadmill.
- This is the only effective way to acclimate to such a steepness.
Over a period of weeks, you’ll note you can increase the speed slightly to achieve the same fatigue, and/or you must walk the high incline for longer and longer to stimulate the same fatigue.
You will never progress as long as you hold onto the bar or console, any more than you’d progress with chin-ups if every time you pulled yourself up, you received assistance from a gravity machine.
Be patient and remind yourself how you’d sustain a walk on a steep hill outside: without holding onto anything, and very slowly.
Intimidation of a “moving floor” is the biggest obstacle to keeping one’s hands off a treadmill. I can’t stress enough the effectiveness of just standing on an unmoving belt set to 30 percent.
Then march in place. Then turn it on to half a mile per hour, and begin walking.
Take my word for it: A 1.5 mph pace at 30 percent, maintained for 20 minutes, without holding onto the treadmill, will provide a nice introductory workout to incline walking.
You may think 1.5 mph is too slow, give this a try and you’ll be surprised!
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
How Fast Should You Walk on an Inclined Treadmill ?
If you’re a treadmill incline devotee, chances are 99 percent you do this wrong, namely, going too fast, and here’s why.
The treadmill incline is perhaps the most incorrectly performed type of exercise because people “walk” way too fast for the selected angle.
I’m a personal trainer and have worked out at many chain gyms in different states; everywhere I’ve ever been, just about every person who uses a treadmill incline goes too fast and clings on, totally negating the intended effect!
How fast should you use a treadmill incline?
I declare with confidence that THE most incorrectly performed exercise involves the treadmill incline: holding onto the machine.
This mistake is angrily defended by those with an assortment of problems such as inner-ear balance issues, dizziness, neuropathy pain, recent knee or back surgery, and other ailments.
It’s not logical to assume that most people who jack up the incline and set the speed to 4 mph, then look like a water skier as they grip the bar, suffer from diabetes neuropathy, vertigo, hip arthritis, herniated disks or inner-ear problems. Many are also young and not overweight.
Many of the people who set the incline to super high and the speed to at least 3 mph are muscled gym rats.
They do superb in other exercises such as the back squat, bench press, chin-up and deadlift.
These are not fragile people. A person who cleanly squats 225 pounds is not likely to have a medical problem that requires them to hold onto a treadmill.
I’ve seen the same people who jack up the incline and speed and hold on for dear life participate in step aerobics and go up staircases without any issues.
So many people commit this error, that it’s illogical to conclude that the vast majority of them have medical problems.
So how fast should the treadmill go at high incline or any incline?
The formula is simple:
Choose a speed that’s similar to what you’d walk up an outdoor hill. How fast to use a treadmill incline mirrors your hiking speed outside.
How fast would you walk up an ongoing hill outdoors? Suppose this hill (assume it’s relatively smooth) is the same angle as the treadmill’s highest incline: 15 percent.
If you normally set the incline at 15 percent and the speed at 4 mph, even 3 mph, ask yourself if you’d be walking this fast up that ongoing outdoor hill.
Suppose that hill goes for miles. Really, would you be maintaining 4 mph, even 3 mph, on that 15 percent grade?
I guarantee it, if you planned on walking that hill for only 10 minutes, you’d naturally set your speed to around 2 mph or less!
What beast maintains a 4 mph walk up a 15 percent trail for 45 minutes?
As an avid hiker and trail runner, I have yet to witness this extraordinary feat. The only people who move this fast up a prolonged grade are trail runners.
How fast should you walk on a treadmill incline?
The same speed you’d move if outdoors on a hike.
You’ll then be able to let go. You don’t hold onto anything while hiking, so why hold onto a treadmill? Because you’ll fall off, right?
No. You won’t fall off if you move at your hiking speed!
Reduce the speed and let go.
This will force your posture to be upright.
If this is too difficult for your legs, don’t hold on. Instead, reduce the speed more.
Pretend you’re hiking outside.
Using a fast speed on a high treadmill incline while holding on subtracts significant workload, burns only a fraction of the calories shown on the console, and can cause repetitive stress injuries in the hips and shoulders.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
Treadmill Walking Guidelines for Elderly: Do’s & Don’t’s
Most elderly people walk on a treadmill wrong, so here are guidelines for individuals of all fitness levels for optimal, safest results.
Most people 65-plus (and younger as well) do not walk on a treadmill correctly.
I’m a former certified personal trainer who has guided many elderly women and men on correct treadmill walking.
How do you walk on a treadmill wrong?
The vast majority of elderly individuals grasp the treadmill’s side rails or front portion while walking.
Though at first, to an unassuming person, this seems like the smart thing to do, it will actually cause much more harm than good.
I want to make it clear that this article pertains strictly to able-bodied elderly people, meaning, they do not require a walker or cane to ambulate, and are functionally sighted.
Most able-bodied seniors hold onto a treadmill. When I ask why, the No. 1 response is fear of falling off, rather than a physical disability or pain.
The next most common reason, believe it or not, is something like, “Everyone else is doing it.”
However, I’ve had clients who reported pain when walking, but then after removing their hands from the treadmill and walking with an arm swing for a few weeks, they reported either elimination of pain or reduction.
One 55-plus woman told me her shoulder pain disappeared.
Another 55-plus woman’s gait, including off the treadmill, improved markedly after she abandoned holding on, even though she had knee osteoarthritis.
Why is holding onto a treadmill harmful, even to elderly walkers?
It shuts down the body’s proprioception.
It eliminates the need to balance and know where your body is in space. By shutting this mechanism down, you prevent improving your balance.
The rails balance for you; why should your balance get better? Holding onto a treadmill outright prevents improvement in balance, coordination and ambulation.
“As we get older balance and proprioception are areas that tend to deteriorate,” explains Dr. Charles J. Pelitera, assistant professor of kinesiology and coordinator of the Health/Wellness Program at Canisius College, located in NY.
He continues, “Using a treadmill is a perfect opportunity to work on these areas because it is a controlled exercise with a specific pattern.
“Pumping the arms as opposed to hanging on not only helps with balance but increases cardiovascular output.”
It promotes bad posture.
This is obvious with most walkers who hold on, even young ones, and applies to people of all heights.
Look at this man’s poor posture. By holding on, he is molding a forward spine and hunched, rigid shoulders. This will have a ripple effect on his hips and knees.
However, depending on height, hand placement on the rails will force one’s shoulders to unnaturally jab up and down with each stride.
Taller individuals may exhibit forward posture. Holding on in front somewhere, as well, will still disrupt walking mechanics.
Regardless of height or where one places their hands, walkers (and joggers) will be forced into unnatural hip motion to compensate for the upper body’s lack of motion.
Very unnatural, regardless of age!
This can all be summed up quite simply: Holding on impairs natural gait and posture, and it can result in repetitive stress injuries of the hips, shoulders and even knees.
The last thing an elderly person needs is ruined posture, impaired gait mechanics and a false sense of security when it comes to walking outside.
“Changing of the gait can always lead to injuries, especially soft tissue injuries such as tendinitis,” says Dr. Oliver Zong, DPM, a foot specialist and surgeon based in New York.
He adds: “To the extent that holding onto the treadmill changes one’s gait, this could happen. Clearly it is better to walk or run naturally with a natural gait pattern.”
It’s unrealistic.
When you walk about in the community, you must rely upon your body for balance and control. Holding onto a treadmill fails to prepare you for real-life walking.
Look at this. How on earth can doing this make her walk more efficiently OFF the treadmill where there’s nothing to hold onto? If all she wants is a faster heart rate, holding on will STILL cause the other harm already explained.
Though one might argue that a treadmill, regardless of how it’s used, is unrealistic, this is actually not true.
One’s feet/legs and core must work to keep up with a moving tread to prevent falling off.
This is exercise, and based on my own experience with treadmill workouts, it definitely transfers to outdoor activity! As long as you swing your arms!
Use the rails or front to momentarily hold on while changing the program, sipping water, rubbing one’s eye, wiping away sweat, turning to greet someone or taking heart rate.
- And by the way, the calorie-reading is meaningless because the treadmill can’t tell if you’re holding on or not.
- Walking without holding on will burn 20 percent more calories.
How can elderly walkers learn to swing their arms on a treadmill?
The user below demonstrates exactly what seniors’ hands should be doing on a treadmill.
And don’t forget, I’m referring to seniors who can walk without assistance in their daily lives.
One of the elderly men who had told me he was afraid of falling off had the incline at 15 percent and the speed at 4 mph!
Even my young clients couldn’t maintain a hands-off pace at this intense setting!
If you like a high incline, reduce the speed until you can walk with an arm swing. This will probably be around 1 to 1.2 mph — possibly even less than one mile per hour.
When the incline is maximum, there’s really no such thing as a “too slow” speed.
If you like a fast pace, then reduce the incline. An intense program setting, in combination with holding on, will prove fruitless and waste your time.
To preserve or improve balance, walking efficacy, coordination, fitness, posture and lose weight, it’s crucial that elderly people use an arm swing when walking (or jogging) on a treadmill.
Dr. Pelitera is the owner of Pelitera Fitness Consultants, which specializes in athletic training, weight loss and strength training.
Dr. Zong, a foot and ankle surgeon, has appeared on national and local TV programs such as “Good Morning America” and “The Doctors.”
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Iammotos
Should You Hold Onto Treadmill while Walking Backwards?
Find out why you should not hold onto a treadmill while walking backwards…
Nearly every time when I see someone walking backwards on a treadmill, that individual is holding onto the side rails.
When I was a personal trainer at a large gym and saw this, I’d tell him or her that this was wrong and that it defeated the purpose — whatever that person’s goal was.
“Walking backwards hands free improves posture,” says Dr. Tom Carpenter, corrective exercise specialist, certified personal trainer and chiropractor, inventor of Stand Corrected™, a portable harness-like stretching tool that helps alleviate back, neck and shoulder pain.
“It does this by engaging the posture muscles to a much higher level than normal,” continues Dr. Carpenter. “It strengthens the quads and calves as well as the stabilizing muscles for the hips, knees and ankles.
“Your body is forced to balance itself to a greater degree than normal by walking in a completely different way than it is accustomed to.
“Even though it may feel a little awkward at first, letting go of the support and allowing your body to learn to move more naturally when walking backwards will increase coordination, balance and stability.”
I’m a former certified personal trainer with a large gym, and I’m going to explain why even a light grip defeats the purpose of walking backwards and has other disadvantages.
Your first reaction might be, “But holding on is smart because it prevents falling off.”
However, if the speed is slow enough, you won’t fall off. I’ve had many clients walking backwards on a treadmill and I’d start them off at 1 mph.
The problem is that people typically try to walk backwards at much faster speeds.
Though I’ll also point out that sometimes I’ll see someone holding on while walking backwards at a very slow speed.
Regardless of speed, holding onto a treadmill while walking backwards will defeat the purpose of this different approach to movement.
So why do you walk backwards on a treadmill?
You have a reason or two.
- Is it because you read somewhere it helps alleviate knee pain?
- Or perhaps you read that “muscle confusion” will burn more calories.
- Maybe you’re bored moving forwards?
Reason aside, you should teach yourself NOT to hold on, because the whole point of walking backwards is to — walk backwards in the true sense of the word, to keep up with a moving tread in the opposite direction.
If you hold onto the rails, the rails become stabilization points, relieving your body’s stabilizer muscles (which include those in the core) from their duties. What good is this?
Furthermore, holding onto the rails encourages bad posture. Next time you see someone holding on while walking backwards, note their posture: shoulders, neck, spine, the whole works. The entire gait is wrong.
Now, if you do not hold on while walking backwards on a treadmill, you will be forced into executing perfect posture! I mean perfect!
Stabilizer muscles will be fully engaged to prevent you from falling, and major muscles will be doing all the work.
Start the Right Way
Start out at 1 mph and walk backwards without holding onto the treadmill. Watch your feet if you must.
Or watch the edge of the tread belt, or even the floor just beyond it; you’ll find your sweet spot.
As you get used to moving hands-free, increase the speed a little.
When your legs must keep up with a tread that’s moving backwards, without your hands assisting on the rails, this will force your legs to become more efficient; it will force your ankle, knee and hip joints to become stronger in a unique way.
To reap benefits from walking backwards on a treadmill, go for five to 10 minutes, and swing the arms naturally in synch with your body rather than hold onto the rails.
Photo credit: Aleesia Forni
