This high incline treadmill is a treadmill DIY you can make in a couple of minutes but permanently impact your workout in an awesome way!
After you walk on your high incline for 45 minutes, maybe you want to stretch with your DIY yoga bolster! I hope you’ll peruse even more DIYs over here too!
We have an inexpensive treadmill that has a very small incline. I prefer walking because I can get things done easier than when I’m trying to run. Walking on an incline is the best workout but I didn’t have money to buy a high incline treadmill. I decided to make my inexpensive treadmill a high incline treadmill myself!
This turned out really well and was quite simple. If you are curious, I have the Sunny Health & Fitness Treadmill. It has every feature I really wanted except for an automatic incline. The treadmills with high incline were over double the price!
What you need for your DIY High Incline Treadmill
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You will start by cutting your 2×4 into 12″ pieces. If you got your 2×4’s from Lowes or Home Depot, they can do it for you there!
We decided to incline our treadmill using 3 2×4’s stacked on top of each other. If you’d like yours higher, you could probably do more, but you still want the back of your treadmill to touch the ground for stability, so I wouldn’t push it!
Next we screwed them together using 2.5″ screws. I did three in the bottom, and three in the top.
I love staining wood, so this next step was mostly just for fun! I also like that it blended in with my treadmill mat so it doesn’t look like I jerry rigged my treadmill together! Verathane is hands down the best stain. I used Verathane in Ebony.
Now you’re ready to get walking. Prepare to sweat!
IS INCLINE TREADMILL A GOOD WORKOUT?
YES! Walking on an incline is a wonderful way to be in a fat burning zone at a low intensity steady state (LISS). If you are looking for fat loss, my personal trainer has me do 3 LISS exercises per week and then 3 days of muscle building.
What is a good incline for a treadmill?
This will depend on each person’s abilities but personal trainers suggest you should be able to keep up the incline for the full extent of your LISS. For me that is 45 minutes. Three 2x4s stacked was perfect for my body and abilities!
Is it better to run on a treadmill or walk at an incline?
For LISS or fat burning, walking on an incline will keep your heart rate in the correct fat burning zone. If you’re looking for more cardio centered exercise, running may be a better option. I don’t run often on my treadmill but when I do it’s for sprints when I do HIIT.
You do not want to miss out on all of these other incredible 2×4 projects!
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DIY High Incline Treadmill
This high incline treadmill is a treadmill DIY you can make in a couple of minutes but permanently impact your workout in an awesome way!
Materials
- 6 - 12" 2x4
- 12 - 2.5" screws
- Stain (optional)
Tools
- Screws
- Drill
- Saw
Instructions
- Cut your wood down to size
- Screw the pieces together depending on how much of an incline you'd like
- Stain your wood
- Prop up treadmill on the blocks
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This is such a great idea Anna! Those high incline treadmills can get so pricey, brilliant solution.
Thanks Amy! They really can. Plus I have no way to get lazy and make the treadmill decline when I get tired!! Lol
Such a clever idea! I love it. 🙂
What a great way to keep what you have but improve on it. You saved yourself a bundle with this easy and brilliant solution to get the workout you want. Love it!
Such a practical solution and a great way to make what you have work the way you want it to!! Great job 🙂
Such a great idea! Our treadmill was really cheap so it doesn’t incline at all – you would definitely feel the burn with this under it!
My concern is that doing this will put extra stress on the components that were not engineered to be used on an incline. Have you had any issues with the motor or other parts? Would love an update. Thank you!
Valid concern and I get that question all the time! It has lasted 3 years and is still goin! I suspect it may shorten its life a bit. The model in this post isn’t top tier and I’m not sure how long it would last in the first place.
How high was the incline once adding the 3 – 2×4 under the treadmill?
The 2″ boards will make it 6″ taller giving it approximately 15cm incline. That means it’s like setting it to a “15” or a 15% incline.