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Lace up gym besties. It might look funny, but the new treadmill trend will supercharge your strength, stability, and sporting performance. Read on to find out more.
Words: Tom Ward
Something weird is happening in your gym. You may have noticed it. Not only are bros, gym girlies and the OGs finally using the treadmills, but they’re actually walking backwards on them.
At first we were confused too. Had they not read the instructions? Do they spend a lot of their time walking backwards, often uphill?
Then we realised, not only had these gym goers not lost their minds, they were actually one step ahead, with walking backwards on the treadmill the official new hack for injury prevention, stronger knees, and new PBs.
There’s even evidence that it’s an efficient fat loss tool, with researchers discovering that energy expenditure when walking backwards is almost 40% higher than walking at the same speed forwards. It might even make us smarter, thanks to the added concentration and coordination required.
And, it’s big on TikTok, too.
Here’s what you need to know?
As well as the trend being popular online, Tomi Akande, personal trainer at UNTIL, thinks that more of us are walking backwards because it’s a genuine fitness hack.
“Walking backward engages different muscle groups and challenges your body in ways that walking forwards simply doesn’t,” he says. “The primary reason this movement is gaining popularity is because it targets the muscles that are often underutilised in traditional forward movement.”
It makes sense: if we spend the vast majority of our time moving in one direction, it’s likely that some muscles will become tired, while others are underused.
“By reversing the direction of your walk, you're recruiting muscles like the quadriceps (front thigh muscles), gluteus maximus (buttocks), and even the tibialis anterior (shin muscle),” says Akande. “These muscles play a crucial role in stability and posture, making backward walking a highly effective workout for both athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike.”
Let’s dig a little deeper into the science.
Chris Antoni, expert PT and founder of Tailor Made Fitness points out that walking backwards isn’t just helpful for runners, but can also benefit those who need to move forward, backwards and laterally at speed, like in racquet sports, football and so on. “It’s also useful for people who have either chronic stroke rehabilitation or ACL injuries,” he says.
One pilot study looking at chronic stroke victims found that walking backwards 30 minutes three times a week for four weeks on a treadmill was shown to improve balance and stability, speed of walking and cardiopulmonary fitness.
As for those coming back from injury, Antoni explains that:
A 2012 study indicated that running backwards puts less compressive force on the patellofemoral joint (where the back of the kneecap and femur meet at the front of the knee) — which may aggravate existing pain around the knee cap — than running forward.“The goal is to practice extending the knee joint and normalising the gait. An athlete coming back from an ACL injury will walk with a slight bend in their knee because they are afraid to fully straighten it or they are still used to getting that full extension.
But walking backward, in which you reach one leg back, strike the ground with your toes, then roll onto your heel, forces you to completely extend your knee and gets the athlete used to how it feels to extend the knee again.”
Upper body - Strength work
Cardio - Backwards walking
Lower body - Strength work
Active rest
Cardio - Gentle walk/jog flat
Full body stretch
Cardio - Running - Interval training
30 seconds sprint / 30 seconds gentle jog
Cardio - Backwards walking
Upper body - Strength work
Cardio - running
Lower body - Strength work
Cardio - Gentle walk
Stretch for 20-30 minutes
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