ast updated July 2026.
Almost every treadmill guide mentions, in passing, that holding the handrails “reduces your calorie burn.” Almost none of them tell you by how much, or point to an actual study. There is one, it’s specific, and the real number is more dramatic than most people expect.
The Study
In 2014, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, working with Cybex, published a study in the International Journal of Exercise Science measuring energy expenditure during inclined treadmill walking under four different conditions: 5% incline unsupported, 10% incline unsupported, 10% incline holding the rails while staying upright, and 10% incline holding the rails while leaning back.
They measured actual oxygen consumption, not an estimate, using respiratory gas analysis on 13 healthy subjects. The results were clear and, for anyone who assumes gripping the rails is a minor cheat, a little surprising.
| Condition | Energy expenditure (kcal/min) |
|---|---|
| 5% incline, unsupported | 6.32 |
| 10% incline, unsupported | 8.83 |
| 10% incline, holding rails, upright posture | 7.77 |
| 10% incline, holding rails, leaning back | 6.02 |
What This Actually Means
Two findings matter here, and they’re different from each other.
Leaning Back While Holding On Cancels Out Most of the Incline’s Benefit
The leaning-back condition at 10% incline (6.02 kcal/min) was not statistically different from just walking unsupported at 5% incline (6.32 kcal/min). In other words: crank the incline to 10%, grab the rails, and lean back, and your body is doing roughly the same work as if you’d just walked at half that incline with no support at all. Life Fitness, citing this same study, calculated the leaning-back reduction at 31.8% compared to the unsupported 10% condition.
Holding On While Staying Upright Is a Smaller Problem
The upright-with-handrails condition (7.77 kcal/min) was much closer to the fully unsupported condition (8.83 kcal/min) than the leaning-back condition was. The posture, not just the contact with the rails, is what drives most of the reduction. If you need to hold on for balance or safety, keeping your torso upright rather than leaning back preserves most of the workout’s intensity.
The Practical Takeaway
- If you’re chasing a specific calorie number, especially at a steep incline, avoid leaning back on the rails. It quietly cancels out a large part of why you raised the incline in the first place.
- If you need the rails for balance, that’s a legitimate reason to use them, just keep your posture upright rather than leaning your weight backward into your arms.
- No calculator, including the one on this site, can detect or correct for handrail use. If you gripped the rails and leaned back, treat any calculated number as an overestimate.
Related Reading
Sources
- International Journal of Exercise Science 7(4): 339-345, 2014. The Reduction of Metabolic Cost While Using Handrail Support During Inclined Treadmill Walking is Dependent on the Handrail-use Instruction.
- Life Fitness Education Hub, citing the above study’s 31.8% figure for the leaning-back condition.