Holding onto the handles on a treadmill?

[Andtheworldwentwhite]

I have been going to the gym for a few months now. Really enjoying it.
But I saw something the other day that has made me think.
Indont have the best balance due to one thing and another. So when I on the treadmill ( not allowed to run so do other things ) I hold onto the handles.

I saw that you really shouldn’t do that. As I won’t get as much benefit if I didn’t hold the handles.
But I mainly do fairly fast walking and up the incline.
im not in this to get super super fit. Just in it for my health and movement. So does it really matter ? I don’t lean backwards. I try to stand up straight. I really didn’t feel safe the other day when I took my hands off and I kept scuffing my feet.

You probably won’t get as much benefit holding on, but you’ll get even less benefit if you feel too unsafe and stop doing it completely.

The thing with exercise is we all have visions of what we should be doing that don’t always match the reality. So in my case as a wrong side of 50 and overweight lady, I figure as long as I keep moving and doing what I can, safely, it’s all good. If things are too hard or you don’t feel comfortable doing it, human nature is you’ll stop. It sounds like you’re doing well.

I'm really pretty fit (weight lifting etc) and I use the handles on my 18 gradient incline speed walks. This means I work my upper arms as well as the (minimally) reduced benefit to glutes of the incline. Yes, I could work core better by letting go, but it's figuring out your own aims and saying to heck with everyone else.

Doing something is way better than doing nothing. But as we age balance is really important. So if you can I would really try to improve your balance. Not necessarily on the treadmill yet though. Obviously if your balance isn’t great due to medical issues ignore me but there are ways to improve balance. Standing on one leg for instance.

And you could try basic normal walking at a slow speed in the treadmill at the beginning of your workout and not hold on and try to get used to it that way.

@Peridot1 i have been working on my balance. As an example I have doing the standing on one leg things while brushing my teeth and I do it at other times during the day. I don’t hold on when doing my hillwalking on the treadmill or slower walking. But faster and high incline.
I have seen so many benefits from it in my walking the dogs etc in terms of speed and walking up hills! I can go faster for longer and I’m finding the hills easier.
I had already got to a point where I was thinking of not doing this anymore because I wasn’t supposed to hold on. so I may just carry on

Holding on will mean your leg muscles are doing less work because your arms are taking part of the strain. However, holding on is better than doing nothing!

As I said doing something is better than nothing so if you need to hold on when fast walking on an incline then do that. It’s great you are trying to improve your balance too. It’s all going to lead to a healthier fitter you. Which is the goal!

Jesus christ 18 incline. How fast are your speed walks? Inspired!

When you say "I saw that you shouldn't do that", what type of source did you see it on? Because people have different opinions that may or may not be based on data or a deep understanding of physiology, so not everything you read is entirely reliable. Also, sometimes doing things the 'wrong' way will cause injury and therefore it's worth making an effort to do it the right way, but sometimes the wrong way will only be marginally less effective than the right way and in that case it's better to do what you can manage than nothing at all.

In your case I would hold on because it's better to do that than risk falling and injuring yourself. Getting injured is a pain in the neck if it stops you from exercising at all because you'll lose muscle tone while resting and recovering. Maybe, if you feel that it's slightly less effective than not holding on, do an extra bit of time or add on a few minutes of core exercises so you can feel you're not missing out.

I hold on because I struggle to balance going uphill at speed. No shame in it, it's what works for me and I know it's benefiting me. I'd rather go for longer than feel tense and panic and cut my exercise short.

Amen! I like your spirit.

I hold on when I run. I'm 72 if I didn't hold on I would fucking fall off.

So...you're exercising your arm/shoulder muscles too, not just your legs?
I'm not seeing how that's supposed to be a bad thing! (I don't mean to imply you think it is btw).
If someone is walking fast on real hills then many will be using one or two poles.

When I was in the gym, a PT explained to me that a person gets more overall benefit just slowing down a little and decreasing the incline so they can walk without holding on than going faster/steeper and holding on. Obviously everyone is different but its a similar philosophy to people getting more benefit by walking quickly rather than jogging very slowly. Or lowering your dumbbell weight so you do the exercise properly rather than a higher weight and improper form.

I hold onto the handles. I like to walk at a steep incline at a speed of 6.6 which makes me feel like I might lose my footing if I don't hold on. I don't see how this reduces any benefit as I'm still doing the same steps and pace?

Improving your balance is great. There's some more you can do apart from standing on one leg - have a look at some of these - https://www.activeessex.org/able-like-mabel/

Not exactly. You're using those muscles but not "working" those muscles. In the same way as just standing there with your arms in the air you'd be using your arms but not doing anything particularly beneficial with them. You'd be better having a lower incline, going slower but using only your legs.

Poles when hill walking are usually for balance, they don't take much weight from you.

So. If I am holding on at an incline of 14 and a speed of 6.2. What should I slow it down to? I don’t want to just plod along. Any help or ideas would be good.

Lower your speed. It's not plodding along if you're at an incline of 14, even if it's slow. It's a very steep uphill walk.

I would lower both speed and incline a bit until you can walk comfortably and not hold on.

I can run on the flat on a treadmill without holding on. But walking on an incline, yes I need to hang on sometimes so I don't come off the back. But my heart rate can get up to almost what it is when I run, so it's a good workout and doesn't really matter. The treadmill is for my heart and fitness, not for my arms.

Carry on

Think about how hard you grip - as you get stronger can you keep just a light touch - there is you need to grab buy relying more on your legs

That would be progression so only when you are ready

@FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant i did try this last week. And I found that my heart rate didn’t really go up. And I thought that having a higher heart rate was the idea? Sorry if these are silly questions. I am new to all of this.

There's a very overweight man at my gym who leans, in a sort of collapsed way, onto the front of the treadmill when he's walking fairly fast on an incline. The first time I saw him I thought he was about to faint or collapse, but over the months I've realised that's just his style. He's usually drenched in sweat and has clearly lost a lot of weight since I first saw him, and I'm really impressed as it's clearly a huge effort for him.

You do you!

PS I am very malcoordinated and if I don't concentrate I can lose my footing easily on a treadmill when running. I have learnt what I can and can't listen to or watch while running!

Do not worry about what others think.

It depends, in my opinion, what you're looking for. If you walk up a mountain at a steady speed your heart rate will increase but probably not as much as if you run up and down the stairs a few times. Incline walking isn't usually something you aim to do fast if you're not yet strong enough to do so without holding on.

It's similar to weight lifting in the sense you can lift heavy and do fewer reps, or you can lift light and do more reps. With incline walking, especially as a steed incline, I'd be looking at slower walking but for longer. You're not running a marathon.