How Long Does It Take to Walk 3 Miles on a Treadmill

How Long Does It Take to Walk 3 Miles on a Treadmill? Using a treadmill to walk indoors is very similar to walking on a treadmill outdoors. However, there are some small differences that can change your workout significantly. For instance, you can’t use an app on your phone to determine how far you have run, as you aren’t actually moving at all. 

Therefore, you have to use conversions to determine how far you might have run if you were actually moving. 

There are a lot of variables that go into this. For instance, the faster you move, the faster you’ll walk three miles. At a moderate pace, you can expect to walk a mile in about 45 to 55 minutes. 

Variables That Affect Distance

With that said, there are a lot of variables that can affect the distance you travel. For instance, if you walk slower, then you will obviously reach three miles much slower than someone who walks faster. 

Inclines can also affect the time it takes you since inclines typically cause people to walk slower. Therefore, you should expect it to take you longer than normal if you increase your incline. 

With that said, on average, we only recommend spending about thirty minutes at a time on a treadmill. Despite what some online sources may say, this is plenty to get the benefits from walking on a treadmill, even if you are trying to lose weight. 

For this reason, we highly recommend not necessarily aiming for three miles, as it will often take the average person more than 30 minutes to make it three miles. However, some walking at a higher speed may make it in thirty minutes. It really just depends on your walking speed. 

FAQs On How Long Does It Take to Walk 3 Miles on a Treadmill

Is Walking 3 Miles on a Treadmill Good?

Generally, walking three miles on a treadmill is just fine. In fact, that may work for those that are used to running. To cover three miles in 30 minutes, you’ll have to run at 6 mph, which is quite fast for most. This is absolutely a sprint. 

If you run three miles on a treadmill in 30 minutes, you can count it as a good workout. However, this is going to be a goal for those that are already pretty good at working out. You have to have a higher level of fitness than most to accomplish this. 

With that said, we don’t recommend aiming for three miles if you can’t make it in 30 minutes. Generally, we recommend running or walking a lower distance and doing what you can in thirty minutes. 

You don’t get many extra benefits for using a treadmill for more than thirty minutes a day. Therefore, we don’t recommend walking 45 minutes just so you’ll hit the three-mile mark. There is little benefit to walking the extra fifteen minutes, especially if you don’t have a high level of fitness already. (If you do, you may use the extra fifteen minutes to increase your endurance). 

How Far is 30 Minutes on a Treadmill?

If you are walking at a brisk pace on a treadmill, then you can plan on walking about 2 miles in thirty minutes. If you sprint at a slower pace, you may even get to 2.5 miles. However, you’d have to run quite fast if you want to hit three miles in thirty minutes. 

Generally, this is going to be about 4,000 steps for the average person. As you can expect, this is quite a bit and often plenty for most people. You usually don’t need to walk more than 30 minutes on a treadmill. Getting some cardiovascular exercise is essential to health, but getting more than thirty brisk minutes on a treadmill isn’t necessary for most uses. 

Generally speaking, one mile is about 2,000 steps. Therefore, if you’re using steps to track your workout, you can use this math to determine your distance. 

However, your stride and speed will affect your overall step count. Taller people will need to take fewer steps to walk the same distance. Their legs are similarly longer, which means that their steps are bigger. Furthermore, if you run, your stride also increases. Therefore, you may end up taking even fewer steps. 

There are so many variables that it is extremely difficult to calculate how far someone might walk on a treadmill in thirty minutes. There is no answer that is going to be right for everyone. 

How Long Does It Take to Walk a Mile on a Treadmill?

For most people, it takes about 15 to 22 minutes to walk a mile on a treadmill. However, it does vary from person to person. This is assuming that you’re walking at a brisk pace or doing a light jog. However, if you’re walking slowly or sprinting then your distance will be different. 

Based on this information, the average person takes about 45 minutes to walk three miles. This is longer than the recommended treadmill workout, which is thirty minutes. 

However, some people may find that walking just over a mile is a perfect workout, especially if you walk a bit slower. Of course, that doesn’t encassairly mean that you’re taking it easy since a higher incline can make the workout harder and slow you down substantially. 

Generally, you may want to plan on walking a mile in thirty minutes. If you walk longer than that in that timespan, you may want to increase the incline. Often, increasing the incline is more effective at making the workout harder than increasing your speed. 

If you are sprinting easily on a treadmill, it is absolutely time to increase your treadmill’s incline if it has one. If you are in the market for a treadmill, make sure you choose one that can incline for this reason. 

Is Three Miles an Hour Good on a Treadmill?

Generally, most people have a walking speed of about three to four miles per hour. Of course, this will vary based on many variables. For instance, those that are older may walk slower. Different health problems may also decrease your walking speed (without necessarily making the workout any less intense). Your overall fitness level will also have a huge effect. 

We do not recommend trying to aim for a specific mph. What is walking fast for someone is not necessarily walking fast for someone else. Everyone has their own speed and needs, which we recommend keeping in mind. 

Therefore, you should focus on the intensity of the workout. When you walk, you should be able to talk fine but not sing. If you’re at this level of intensity, then you’re doing a good job. Otherwise, increase or decrease your walking speed (or the incline). 

You shouldn’t necessarily compare yourself to others when you’re working out. Instead, you should only compare yourself to the person you were yesterday. If you’re getting faster and having intense workouts, you’re doing great – no matter what your actual speed is!

How Long Would It Take to Walk 5 Miles on a Treadmill?

The time it takes to walk five miles varies heavily from person to person. Your pace is going to have the largest impact. If you walk at about 3 mph, which is the average brisk walking pace, then it will take you quite a while to walk five miles. However, if you’re running at 6 mph, it may only take you about an hour (including small breaks to slow down for a second). 

We highly recommend that you don’t aim to walk five miles, as this will take you longer than an hour, which is far longer than you need to walk on a treadmill. It is possible to over exercise on a treadmill, making you more fatigued without necessarily helping you burn more calories. 

Based on this information we highly recommend not setting your goal as walking five minutes on a treadmill. For many people, this is not realistic. Only those who are training to run five miles should plan on training to do this. 

Otherwise, it is better to plan on running thirty minutes at the right intensity for you. Mileage is not a good way to determine if your exercise was intense enough. Most people walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes do not cross over five miles. 

Conclusion

Typically, it takes the average person anywhere from 45 to 55 minutes to walk three miles. Generally, it takes anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes for a person to walk a mile. In the end, that adds up to about 45 minutes to 55 minutes for three miles. 

For that reason, most people do not need to walk three miles when they are doing a basic treadmill workout. Instead, you should plan on something smaller, such as two miles or even 1.5, depending on your pace. 

Generally, the exact mileage is not a good indication of your intensity. You should base it on your heart rate, instead. Try to keep your heart rate in the optimal range, instead of simply basing it on your mileage.