The best treadmill speed depends on your fitness level and goals, but generally, walking is 3-5 km/h (2-3 mph), jogging is 6-9 km/h (4-6 mph), and running starts around 9+ km/h (6+ mph), with beginners starting slower (e.g., 9.6-11.2 km/h or 6-7 mph) and gradually increasing, focusing on consistent effort rather than speed, and adjusting for inclines like the popular 12% incline for walking.
Jogging is the most popular way to use a treadmill, where you take on a sustained workout at a moderate speed. Not too fast, not too slow. Most people will find 6-8 mph a comfortable speed to jog at, and your heart rate should be sitting at around 70-80% of its max .
The "12-3-30 rule" on a treadmill is a popular workout routine where you set the incline to 12%, walk at a speed of 3 miles per hour, and continue for 30 minutes, created by influencer Lauren Giraldo. It's praised for being a low-impact but challenging workout that builds strength, improves cardiovascular health, and aids in weight loss by significantly increasing calorie burn without running.
Key Takeaways
Walking 10,000 steps on a treadmill typically requires 90 to 120 minutes at moderate pace (3–4 mph), making it an achievable daily fitness goal for most individuals regardless of weather conditions or time constraints.
The Pace Required
A 5K race is about 3.1 miles. So logging all these miles in 25 minutes (or faster) will mean running at a pace of roughly eight minutes per mile, or five minutes per kilometer (for those of you who use the metric system).
Definition. Jogging is running at a gentle pace; its definition, as compared with running, is not standard. In general, jogging speed is between 4 and 6 miles per hour (6.4 and 9.7 km/h).
Both speed and incline can increase calorie expenditure. Higher speeds burn more calories per minute, while hill work recruits larger muscle groups and increases heart rate without pounding on joints. For many people, combining speed and incline, such as in interval workouts, delivers strong results.
In any case, fast walking is recommended to tone the legs and strengthen the muscles, while running is better suited for weight loss. With one hour on the treadmill, you can burn many calories and enjoy many health benefits. However, always remember not to overdo it and to reach your goals gradually.
On the treadmill, one common bad habit that's easy to fall into is changing your stride. For some this means walking too close to the front end of the treadmill and shrinking your stride. For others, it can mean overstriding with an excessive heel strike in an attempt to walk at a faster-than-normal pace.
Walking on an incline recruits more muscles in your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves2. It also elevates your heart rate more quickly than walking on a flat surface at the same speed. Just a 5% to 10% incline can significantly change how your workout feels and boost your calorie burn1.
The 80/20 rule in running is a training principle suggesting you should spend 80% of your training time at an easy, conversational pace (low intensity) and only 20% at a harder, more intense effort (high intensity), like tempo runs or intervals, to build aerobic fitness, improve performance, and prevent burnout. Developed by exercise physiologist Stephen Seiler, it combats the common mistake of running too many days in a moderate "gray zone," which hinders adaptation, and helps runners build a stronger aerobic base to support faster speeds.
Typical Treadmill Settings for 5K Walks
For the best results, start at a comfortable speed (3-4 mph) and adjust as you go. A small incline, around 1%, adds a natural challenge and keeps things interesting. Little tweaks like these can make your 5K walks feel more rewarding!
Running a 5K in under 20 minutes is a major milestone for many runners. However, achieving this goal is not only a physical challenge , but also a test of your mental toughness as you are tasked with maintaining an average pace of less than 4 minutes per kilometer .
The 10-10-10 running rule is a marathon pacing strategy that breaks the race into three segments: the first 10 miles, the next 10 miles, and the final 10 kilometers, guiding runners to start conservatively (slower than goal pace), settle into goal pace in the middle, and push hard at the end to finish strong, preventing early burnout and managing energy. It's about patience in the beginning, finding your rhythm, and leaving it all on the course for the final stretch, promoting a smart, controlled race.
Generally, from a base endurance (sometimes called zone 2) development perspective, men run between 8 and 10km/h. Good runners can run up to 12km/h in this training zone. Very good runners run up to 15km/h.
The 80/20 rule in running means doing 80% of your weekly training at a low, easy intensity (conversational pace) and 20% at a higher, harder intensity (intervals/tempo) to build aerobic fitness without burnout, which helps improve speed for distances like the 5k by allowing for better recovery and harder work during speed sessions. It's about balancing slow, aerobic-building runs with focused speed work, preventing the common mistake of running every run moderately hard, which leads to stagnation.
Mark Zuckerberg's best-known 5k time is 19 minutes and 34 seconds, run in May 2023 at the Stanford Medicine My Heart Counts 5K, achieving his sub-20-minute goal with help from his MMA training, though he's run slower times (like 20:58 in 2024 post-surgery) and faster (like a sub-6-minute mile pace in 2016), showing a strong fitness level for someone with a busy schedule.
A good 5K time for most runners falls between 25–35 minutes, depending on age, fitness, and experience. Beginners often finish between 30–40 minutes.
As fitness trainer Rachel Cosgrove explains, “Incline training activates the glutes, hamstrings, and calves more intensely, turning a simple walk into a full-body workout.” Increasing the incline on your treadmill not only intensifies your workout but also boosts your heart rate, contributing to more fat burning.
You can't go downhill - There's no downhill feature on most treadmills. That reduces the benefits for your anterior tibialis muscles at the front of your legs. It can be boring - They're fine for shorter training sessions but treadmills can become monotonous on longer runs.
Stop Holding On
Holding onto the side rails or the front rails means you prevent from achieving the full benefit of your workout. Since your arms aren't moving, you're not engaging your arm muscles or core, and holding on may be shortening your range of motion with your legs.