How to Calculate Elevation Gain with the Treadmill Calcuator

Example 1: My itinerary says on Day 3 I will hike a total Elevation Gain of 3000 feet. How many miles do I need to walk at a 10% incline to gain 3000 feet on the treadmill?

1 - Click "ft" under ELEVATION GAINED and type 3000 in the box

2 - Click "% grade" under INCLINE box and type 10 in the box

3 - Your answer will appear in DISTANCE TRAVELED box

Answer: 5.68 mi

Example 2: How much Elevation Gain will I accomplish if I walk 3 miles on the treadmill at an 8% incline ?

1 – Click "mi" under DISTANCE TRAVELED box and type 3 in the box

2 - Click "% grade" under INCLINE box and type 8 in the box

3 - Your answer will appear in ELEVATION GAINED box

Answer: 1267 ft

Example 3: How much Elevation Gain will I accomplish in meters if I do a 45 minute treadmill workout?

Let’s say you want to train at a 10% incline. First, warm up for 10 minutes and gradually work up to a 10% incline. Now you are going to train for another 35 minutes at a 10% incline. Note the distance traveled only in that 35 minutes.

1 – Click "km" or "mi" under DISTANCE TRAVELED box and type in the distance traveled

2 - Click "% grade" under INCLINE box and type 10 in the box

3 - Your answer will appear in ELEVATION GAINED box

Example 4: How do I structure a treadmill interval workout using hills?

Let’s say you want to walk or run hills that are 200 feet high at a 10% incline. How much distance would you have to train at the 10% incline to climb 200 feet?

1 – Click "ft" under ELEVATION GAINED box and type in 200

2 - Click "% grade" under INCLINE box and type 10 in the box

3 - Your answer will appear in DISTANCE TRAVELED box

The answer is .38 miles but you can round up to .4 miles. You know that you can climb 200 foot hills after a proper warm up if you cover a distance of ~.4 miles, which you'll see on the treadmill console. After you accomplish your first hill, decrease the incline to zero and walk until you recover, which might be about 1.5 to 2 minutes. Then repeat your next 200 foot hill climb at 10% incline for ~.4 miles. Rest and repeat.

Definitions

INCLINE = incline on the treadmill is NOT the same as degrees. In all likelihood, the incline number registered on the treadmill console is % grade.

DISTANCE TRAVELED = the amount of distance you walk that registers on the treadmill console almost always reads as miles (mi) or kilometers (km).

ELEVATION GAINED = the calculation of height [feet (ft), meters (m), miles (mi), or kilometers (km)] you would climb on a hike if the treadmill were a hill or mountain trail.