Jan 2011
2:56pm, 24 Jan 2011
5,453 posts
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Caterpillar
Can someone explain why putting up the incline on a treadmill makes it harder work? You are not actually going up a hill at all. No rise in altitude. You don't require to lift your body up any height at all. So why is it hard work?
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Jan 2011
2:58pm, 24 Jan 2011
13,955 posts
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Old Croc
you briefly raise onto front foot from rear foot each step - fractional amounts but thats what you do on the road step by step
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Jan 2011
2:59pm, 24 Jan 2011
12,002 posts
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Stumpy
with every step forward you are going uphill slightly, then your foot rolls back downhill again so your other foot goes uphill.....
each step you have to lift your body a couple of inches. imagine it with the treadmill going more slowly and with the incline much increased and it might be easier to see.
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Jan 2011
3:00pm, 24 Jan 2011
977 posts
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monki
Cumulative altitude's got nothing to do with it. The approaching ground is higher than the ground behind you - ergo it is a upward 'hill'. The treadmill is constantly at the incline, remember, so you're constantly 'going' uphill.
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Jan 2011
3:02pm, 24 Jan 2011
9,192 posts
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SparkyMark
errrr - isn't it the fact that from the time your foot strikes the treadmill, to the point you lift off, it has ' gone down hill'. You have you lift your foot/leg up more then you were on the level - otherwise you'd stub your foot into the belt and trip over
QED (unless I've missed the point)
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Jan 2011
3:04pm, 24 Jan 2011
12,004 posts
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Stumpy
it isn't just the lifting the foot more - you have to raise your body through the stride, surely. that's where the work is.
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Jan 2011
3:06pm, 24 Jan 2011
20,520 posts
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Hoaxster
Describe the difference between using a treadmill and running.
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Jan 2011
3:07pm, 24 Jan 2011
51 posts
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MudMeanderer
I expect it's to do with having to lift your legs a little higher each time, so doing a bit more work against gravity. As you identified, your torso upwards doesn't generally move upward, but your legs will by small amounts each step.
Plus it may actually be forcing your quads to move little out of their normal comfortable range for moving on the flat, and that could tire your legs more quickly.
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Jan 2011
3:08pm, 24 Jan 2011
8,777 posts
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RuthB2
Chuck Norris doesn't increase the incline of his treadmill, he just pushes the world down a bit
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Jan 2011
3:09pm, 24 Jan 2011
20,521 posts
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Hoaxster
Chuck Norris doesn't have a treadmill. The world revolves around him.
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