Walking: What’s the Best Type for Weight Loss: Incline or HIIT?

We know the basics matter when it comes to being overall “healthy. This includes eating well balanced meals, drinking all the water and getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

When it comes to exercise, it’s shown that both HIIT walking and high incline walking have positive affects on the body AND mind. Great news for people who like to do both!

For those of us new to exercise but especially cardio workouts, walking can be a phenomenal gateway into making cardio exercise a regular occurrence in your life. Walking is shown to improve your mood, heart health and help in losing weight.

Benefits of HIIT walking

I’m well aware HIIT can sound intimidating to many people, but it’s a useful workout style that is actually super beneficial for the novice gym go-er. HIIT involves faster-paced, intense bursts mixed in with more comfortable rest periods. HIIT has been proven to be an effective way for people to build muscle and burn calories in a shorter amount of time.

For HIIT-style walking, you can choose your own challenge. It’s easy to adjust your work effort intervals in a way that suits you. For example, try to walk super fast for 20-60 seconds, then walk slower for 1-2 minutes. Repeat this for the entire time. You can also vary your terrain to add more or less resistance, whether that’s a flat surface, sand or hills.

Benefits of incline walking

Incline walking is exactly what it sounds like: heading for the hills! This particular type of workout targets the posterior chain of your body which includes your hamstrings and glutes. This variation of walking is also great for weight loss and its low impact- a great option for those with joint issues.

You can walk up hills either outside or on a treadmill. If the treadmill is your first choice, be mindful of not holding onto the sides- that would be considered cheating!

Similarly, it’s important to remember what goes up must come down (unless you’re on a treadmill). If you’re outside, you’ll likely have to walk downhill, too. Keep in mind that walking downhill places more load on your quads and knees, which can potentially cause some knee pain if your quads aren’t strong enough. This doesn’t mean you should avoid hill walking, just make sure you’ve mastered the basic body weight squat and lunge before you attempt incline walking to ensure you have some muscular support around the knee joints.

So...which is better for losing weight?

HIIT walking offers a big calorie burn for a short time, making it a weight-loss favorite. However, the same can be said for incline walking. HIIT is typically done in a shorter amount of time so it comes down to your preference and what works better with your schedule.

My advice is incorporate both! This will help stave off boredom and mix up your weekly schedule and workouts.

What matters most is how consistent you are with keeping up with your workouts- especially when it comes to losing weight. At the end of the day, consistency is key.