Understand your Treadmill…

By Jay Blahnik, member of the Nautilus Institute™ Advisory Board

The Treadmill is one of my favorite pieces of exercise equipment because it allows you to do the 2 most fundamental movements…walking and running! It enables you to measure your distance, time, pace and speed, and that makes it easier to challenge yourself and really see your improvement. Mostly, though, I like the fact that the treadmills make walking and running easier to do because it reduces the impact on your joints compared to outside, it allows you to walk or run any time without worrying about weather or daylight and you create whatever terrain you want instantly by adjusting the incline up or down. Treadmills truly are one of the best pieces of cardio equipment you can buy!

Use of Treadmills

• Try doing hill repeats on a treadmill (where you walk or run up a steeper incline for 30 – 60 seconds followed by walking or running on a flat incline for 60 – 90 seconds). This not only burns a lot of calories, but it makes the workout entertaining and fun…the time will fly by.

• Treadmills do a very good job of measuring your speed, distance and calories. So, use this information to compare your workouts from day to day and week to week. One of the most motivating things you can do on a treadmill is to try to beat your distance from the workout before, or take your speed to a slightly higher average speed than the day before.

• Runners often take too short of a stride when they are running on treadmills (possibly out of fear that the treadmill deck is not long enough for them to stride properly). If you are running on treadmills, try changing your stride length a lot during the beginning of the workout until you find the stride that feels most comfortable and provides the softest landing for you. This is probably your natural stride length, and may not be where you end up if you don’t experiment with your stride.

Benefits of Treadmills

• Walking and running (indoors and on treadmills) are still two of the most popular forms of exercise in the world.

• Treadmills are great for families that have different levels of fitness because you can walk slowly on a treadmill if you are a beginner, and run fast if you are more advanced, and it will accommodate anyone in between!

• Treadmills are great for people who want to tone and tighten their legs. In addition to being great calorie burners, treadmills also strengthen the legs, hips, thighs and calves because they are very lower body intensive.

• Treadmills provide excellent cushioning as compared with running or walking outdoors, and this can reduce the long-term incidents of impact related injuries.

For product information about Treadmills, click here.