We all know with a treadmill you can use it to get a great workout, you can walk, jog and run, but I want to explore other options and how you can get the most out of your treadmill, going beyond the basics taking a deeper look into its uses.
So, lets first look at the basic walking on a treadmill and see if we can maximize your workout.
Walking on a Treadmill
A treadmill can give you a great workout just by simply walking and it can be done in any weather with many different variations so you can burn more calories maximizing your results.
You can take a simple walk for a duration of 30 to 40 minutes with the same form you use for walking outside and correct posture and you could lose anywhere between 100 to 250 calories depending on your weight, while this is enough for some people to be satisfied for the day others it won’t be, you can easily bump the amount of calories burned by doing a few adjustments.
Firstly if your one of those people who like to hold onto the handrails while walking, try to teach yourself to stand up straight and use your hands to swing a little in time with your walking speed, this alone will help you burn off extra calories and not to mention improve your overall balance, among other benefits.
Another good tool to use while you’re walking on a treadmill is the heart rate monitor, this is a great tool, it gives you control over the amount of effort and speed you put into your workouts, you can keep your heart rate in a specific zone to burn off more calories.
Talking about speed, if you simply walk at a faster pace you’re going to burn off more calories, but this can sometimes be a struggle unless you have the motivation, so its important that you buy yourself a treadmill with a lot of features and controls, this way you can place a timer on your treadmill to push yourself to walk faster.
One of the best features of a treadmill is one with an incline option, this will give you a whole new angle for your workouts to burn off a massive number of calories as well as build muscle, so make sure you look out for some of the best incline treadmills to get the best models.
Walking on different angles switching incline positions can give you a challenging workout, not to mention building some nice strong defined legs, you can make your own interval workouts, starting with a slow walk as a warm up, then gradually adjusting the incline level every 5 minutes, and when you reach the top incline position, start to decline back to the flat position every 5 minutes, it should be around 30-40 minutes by the time your back down.
There are other ways to work out walking on a treadmill, some you would have to be confident in yourself and know your way around the machine, these range from:
- Backwards walking – working different muscles
- Treadmill Dumbbell Workouts – Doing a short interval for 5 mins on treadmill and jumping off to use the dumbbells.
- Skipping & Hopping – to spice up your workout, start by using a slow pace
Running on a Treadmill
Now running on a treadmill is a fantastic way to get a high impact workout, burn a lot more calories in the same amount of time (30 minutes) you can burn anywhere from 200 to 500 calories on average depending on your weight and running speed and if your running flat or on an incline, you can easily burn more.
You can do basically the same things as you do when you walk, using correct foot positioning and posture, not using the handrails and using your arms a lot more to swing, incorporating the heart monitor to give you control over speed and effort and it will maximize your workout by doing these simple steps, but if you really want to ramp it up, you can use the incline feature.
Running up hill is going to be a challenge, but it will be worth the rewards, not only does it burn a tremendous number of calories, it will build and strengthen your legs as well as give you a good amount of power, it will make walking a breeze.
The best way to use running on a treadmill is to use interval training and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). This is where you go all out for a short amount of time, let’s say 10 seconds, and you slow right down to a walk for 20/30 seconds, and do this back and forth for 15/20 minutes, using incline as an advantage. You can achieve this with the aid of the perfect running insoles shoe
So, run up hill on an incline for 10/15 seconds and then slow the pace down and decline to the flat position for around 30 seconds, then back up again go all out for 10/15 seconds and back down again, take a longer break up to 60 seconds if needed.
Using The Treadmills Features
Most of all using the treadmill and all of its features can help immensely to maximize your use out of it, they have digital control panels that help you track your progress so you can always keep track of how far you ran/walked, how many calories burned, you can even use the workout programs that come with your treadmill, giving you motivation and a nice variation so you don’t get bored of the basics.
You can plug in your iPod and listen to your favorite motivation music, this will help push you harder, you can even watch a movie or a TV program using your tablet too, so you won’t get bored of looking at a blank wall or empty window.
More ways to work out on a treadmill – http://www.mensfitness.com/training/cardio/9-ways-max-out-your-treadmill-workout
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