Hill Workouts for Anybody

March 30, 2015


A fellow trainer  Sherri McMillan, and blog writer recently wrote this great guideline to maximize your hill workouts or for anyone just starting out. I couldn't have written it any better so I decided to share this with my readers as well.
Walking is a fabulous, low-impact way to stay healthy and fit. But in order to get the same benefit as running, you generally need to go longer.  But most people are busy so if you are crunched for time but still want to give yourself a fabulous walking workout, hills are the answer.


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Hills will increase the intensity of your workout, burn more calories (3-5 more calories per minute), strengthen your legs (especially your quads, butt and calves), lungs and heart and provide some variety to a traditional walking routine.  Hill workouts can be really taxing and consequently should only be done once or twice per week.

There’s a variety of ways that you can include hills to your sessions:

Hilly Route:

Choose your typical walking distance and consider how and where you might incorporate a few rolling hills en route. 

Sample Workout:

Map out a 3-4 mile course that includes 4 hills of various length and grade.  Start with 5 minutes of walking at a warm-up pace.  Then increase your pace until you are walking at an intensity of a 7/10 – you should feel that the pace is challenging but manageable.  Your breathing will be moderately heavy but you won’t feel completely out of breath.  As you approach the first hill, start to shorten your stride, increase your turnover and pump your arms move.  During the hill segment, your breathing will get heavier and it will be harder to catch your breath.  During the hill segment, your intensity should approach 8 to 8.5 out of 10.  It will feel like the pace is out of your comfort zone and that you won’t be able to hold this intensity for very long.  Push the pace until you reach the top of the hill and then cruise easily down the other side at about a 5/10.  On the flats, return to your 7/10 pace.  Continue with this level of intensity on the flats and hills until your walk is finished.  Remember to cool-down with a 5 minute walk at an easy pace.

Short Hills:

Find a short hill of 100 to 200 meters in length with about a 3-10% grade that you will walk multiple times (these hills tend to be a bit steeper and harder that’s why your effort is shorter).  Walk hard uphill and walk at any easy pace downhill and repeat 4-10x.

Sample Workout:

Find a short hill of about 100 meters in length (it should take you less than a minute to reach the top).  Start with 5 minutes of walking at a warm-up pace on a flat.  For your workout, attack the hill by shortening your stride, increasing your turnover and pumping your arms.  Your breathing should be heavy and it will be hard to catch your breath.  Your intensity should approach 8 to 8.5 out of 10.  It will feel like the pace is out of your comfort zone and that you won’t be able to hold this intensity for very long.  Push the pace until you reach the top of the hill.  Turn around and walk easily down the other side at about an intensity of 5/10.  Repeat this 8x.  Remember to cool-down with a 5 minute walk at an easy pace.  This workout from start to finish including warmup and cooldown should take you about 25 minutes.

Medium Hills:

Find a bit longer hill of about 400 meters in length with a gentler grade (3-6%) and complete 4-10 repeats.

Sample Workout:

Find a medium hill of about 400 meters in length (it should take you 2-3 minutes to reach the top).  Start with 5 minutes of walking at a warm-up pace on a flat.  For your workout, attack the hill by shortening your stride, increasing your turnover and pumping your arms.  Your breathing should be heavy and it will be hard to catch your breath.  Your intensity should approach 8 to 8.5 out of 10.  It will feel like the pace is out of your comfort zone and that you won’t be able to hold this intensity for very long.  Push the pace until you reach the top of the hill.  Turn around and walk easily down the other side at about an intensity of 5/10.  Repeat this 4x.  Remember to cool-down with a 5 minute walk at an easy pace.  This workout from start to finish including warmup and cooldown should take you about 30 minutes.

Long Hills:

Find a long hill about 500meter to one mile in length with a gentler grade (2-5%) and complete 2-5 repeats.

Tips:

  • Before any hill workout, always start with 5-10 minutes of flat walking to adequately warm-up.
  • When walking uphill, shorten your stride and pump your arms more to help you attack the hill
  • You can also complete a hill workout indoors using a treadmill. Try increasing the incline to 4-8% grade for 1-2 minutes at a speed that challenges you followed by 1-2 minutes flat walking.  Repeat this 5-10x. Try it without holding onto the handles.
  • Try Nordic walking poles to increase your caloric expenditure and condition your upper body simultaneously.
  • If you’ve never done hill walking before, progress gradually. It can be quite challenging on your body when you’re not used to it.
  • Always remember to finish any hill workout with walking on a flat for 5-10 minutes to flush the legs and cool-down. Don’t forget your stretch – focus on the calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes and lowback.
  • Listen to your body: Since fitness levels and walking abilities vary greatly, it’s difficult to give an exact workout prescription (ie Walk at a speed of 3.8mph at 8% incline for 15 minutes).  So choose a grade and pace that challenges you without causing exhaustion or muscle/joint strain.

For reference, 0% grade is exactly flat.  A 2% grade does not seem very steep but it’s enough to make you feel a bit slow and fatigued.  Most highway off-ramps are 4-percent grade.  A 6% grade is enough to dramatically reduce your speed.  A 10% grade would be really steep; steeper than most of the usual hills any of us who live outside of mountainous areas would run into.