How to Find the Best Treadmill Speed for Your Age
FitnessWorkouts & Activities

How to Find the Best Treadmill Speed for Your Age

Discover your ideal treadmill pace that accommodates your current fitness level, builds endurance, supports your cardiovascular health, and keeps your workouts safe.
How to Find the Best Treadmill Speed for Your Age
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Updated on August 7, 2025
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Finding the right treadmill speed is key for a safe and effective workout. The ideal pace can vary quite a lot based on your age, fitness level, health conditions, and personal goals.

A brisk walk is generally recommended for heart and blood vessel health.

 But it’s crucial to start slowly and gradually increase your speed. This lowers your chances of injury and maximizes benefits like improved balance and endurance.

Find Your Comfort Zone First

When it comes to moderate intensity exercise, the average walking speed on a treadmill for adults hovers around 3 miles per hour (mph).

 But not everyone starts at this speed. And your ideal speed may differ, especially as you age.

If you’re new to using a treadmill, it’s important to get comfortable on the machine and understand how it works before you push toward a particular pace.

  1. Start with your feet straddling the treadmill belt.
  2. Press “Start.” The belt will begin moving slowly.
  3. Hold the side railing and step onto the treadmill belt.

As you get comfortable, you can let go of the side rails to let your arms move naturally. Increase your speed by increments of 0.1 mph to find your ideal pace. Aim for a speed at which you can still carry on a conversation and feel confident you won’t fall off. The treadmill’s motor will continue to move unless you stop it, so never stop walking until the belt comes to a complete stop.

Now you can figure out how hard or fast you should walk to reach a moderate intensity. You can base this on your target heart rate or on how hard you feel like you’re exercising (also called the rate of perceived exertion).

Determine Your Target Heart Rate

Target heart rate is one way to determine your ideal treadmill speed.

 This range of numbers can help you find a challenging level of exertion without overdoing it.
The American Heart Association recommends raising your heart rate to 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate during exercise to achieve health benefits.

 Fifty to 70 percent aligns with moderate intensity activity, and 70 to 85 percent aligns with vigorous intensity activity. If your target heart rate is 115 beats per minute, and you reach it while walking at 3 mph, then that speed is perfect for you.
You can use the following steps to figure out your target heart rate: First, find your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Then multiply your maximum heart rate by 0.5 and 0.85 to determine your target heart rate range.

 For example, the target heart rate range of a 65-year-old person is 78 to 132 beats per minute. A heart rate on the lower end of that range reflects a moderate intensity, while a heart rate on the higher end reflects a more vigorous intensity.
Once you determine your target heart rate range, you can use a heart rate monitor, such as a fitness watch or chest strap, to measure your heart rate while on the treadmill.

 Simply adjust your speed to reach your desired heart rate.

Consider Your Rate of Perceived Exertion

The Borg Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale is another way to determine whether you’re challenging yourself on the treadmill or during any physical activity.

 The scale works well if you’re trying a new type of exercise, rehabilitating an injury, taking a medication that lowers your heart rate, or you’re not able to keep track of your heart rate for whatever reason.

Use of this scale relies on your understanding of how your body feels at different levels of activity intensity. Ranging from 6 to 20, the scale indicates levels of exertion from nothing at all (6) to maximal exertion (20).

So if you’re walking at 3 mph and feel like you’re at an RPE around 4, you need to walk faster to achieve what feels like moderate intensity. On the other hand, if you feel like you’re at an RPE of 19, you need to slow down and find a more moderate, sustainable pace for you.

Try Walking With an Incline

If you’re unable to walk faster but you still want to up the intensity of your treadmill workout, you can use the machine’s incline feature. It’s another great way to increase your heart rate.

Since walking up a hill is harder than walking on a flat surface, adding degrees of incline to the same walking pace makes your heart beat faster and increases your heart rate.

EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Walking: Trim Your Waistline, Improve Your Health. Mayo Clinic. March 12, 2024.
  2. Zheng P et al. Classification of Moderate-Intensity Overground Walking Speed in 21- to 85-Year-Old Adults. Journal of Sports Sciences. August 2022.
  3. Understanding Your Target Heart Rate. Johns Hopkins Medicine.
  4. Target Heart Rates Chart. American Heart Association. August 12, 2024.
  5. Vorvick LJ. Exercise and Heart Rate. MedlinePlus. April 27, 2023.
  6. Heart Rate Monitor. Cleveland Clinic. July 5, 2022.
  7. Rated Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale. Cleveland Clinic. November 1, 2023.
  8. Cardiovascular Endurance. Cleveland Clinic. February 21, 2023.
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Kara Andrew, RDN, LDN

Medical Reviewer
Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Kara Andrew, RDN, LDN, is the director of health promotion for Memorial Hospital in Carthage, Illinois. She is also licensed as an exercise physiologist and certified in lifestyle medicine by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Her experience includes corporate wellness, teaching for the American College of Sports Medicine, sports nutrition, weight management, integrative medicine, oncology support, and dialysis.

She earned her master's in exercise and nutrition science at Lipscomb University.

Andrew has served as a president and board member of the Nashville Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She was recently elected a co-chair of the fitness and medicine group in the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

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Erica Roberg Williams

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Erica Roberg Williams is a health and fitness professional in California. She teaches people how to achieve a healthy lifestyle through exercise, nutrition, and stress management.

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