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Posts Tagged ‘treadmill fitness’

How To Make The Most Of Your Treadmill Workouts

March 31st, 2009

Using a treadmill can be a quick and simple way of getting fit, whether you use a machine designed for home use or whether you use a machine at a gym. But, the key thing to remember here is that you will only get out what you put in with any treadmill workout. So, how can you maximize your results here?

One of the few drawbacks to using a treadmill is that using one regularly can get downright boring. It doesn’t matter whether your workout involves a long brisk stroll or a short race at double quick speed — a lot of people simply find walking and running boring. And, with a treadmill you don’t have the advantage of passing scenery and other people to distract you unlike when you are jogging in the outside world!

So, the first thing you can do to ensure that your workout on a treadmill works right is to make sure that your head is as occupied as your body. The more bored you get here, the more likely you are to give up. Expert tips include watching the TV while you workout, working out with a friend so that you can chat or simply listening to music.

It is also important to make sure that you start off right with a treadmill. Don’t be tempted to do too much too soon especially if you are new to exercising. So, start off slow and listen to your body. A bit of treadmill ‘burn’ is good but push yourself too hard and you could hurt yourself or feel so bad the next day that you never want to get on the machine again!

On the other hand it is also important not to get complacent. The aim here is to make fitness/health progress and not to sit on a ‘happy medium’ plateau. So, look to increase the time you spend on your workout and/or increase its intensity. If you are using a motorized treadmill with controls then up the resistance/slope or the speed. If you are using a manual treadmill then speed up or stay on longer.

You can also maximize the benefits you get from this kind of workout by altering the exercises that you do on the treadmill itself. So, for example, one day you could do hard road running and the next you could increase the incline to do slow hill walking. Changing the exercises that you do here will simply give you a better range of fitness results for different parts of your body.

As you get more experienced on a treadmill you might also want to add something extra to the mix to increase the fitness benefits. Many people, for example, will use dumbbells at the same time that they are working out on a treadmill. You can do this as you use your treadmill or you can alternate work on the treadmill with work on the weights.

So, remember to start off slow but to keep upping the ante. This will help you get the best results from this kind of workout. And, most of all, try to make your workout an interesting one — the happier you are to be on the treadmill, the better your results will be.

About the Author:

Richard Belton Fitness , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Choose The Best Home Treadmill

March 25th, 2009

Buying a treadmill to use at home is a popular thing to do when you are looking to workout outside of the gym. These machines can give you a variety of fitness benefits in a single piece of equipment and they are easy to set up and to use so they tend to suit all kinds of fitness needs extremely well.

When it comes to choosing the best treadmill to set up in your home you need to think about a few things first rather than simply picking a model that catches your eye and that looks good in a store. For example, although treadmills aren’t as big as many home gym equipment options, they can be bulky so you do need to think about how much space you have at home first of all.

If you don’t have a lot of space and you don’t want to have your machine standing around in sight all of the time then you may be best advised to look at a folding treadmill as your first choice. These treadmills are relatively compact and they can be folded down once you are done using them and stored away out of sight.

However, many trainers find that they don’t get enough features from folding treadmills. Most of them are, for example, manual treadmills rather than motorized ones. When you use a manual treadmill you make the belt run by walking or running on it. A motorized model has a powered belt that you turn on before you start using it.

Another reason to look at the size of the treadmill that you buy is the comfort factor that you will get when running or walking on it. Smaller treadmills come with smaller belts which may affect your stride pattern. If you can try to have a go on a few sizes at the gym or in a store to see which one suits your stride pattern best.

You also need to think about the features that you need from more advanced models. Many motorized treadmills, for example, will have settings that allow you to increase resistance and slope so that you can vary your workout and increase the effort that you need to put in (and the results that you can get!) as you make progress.

In some cases you can also buy treadmills that will give you reports and data on the progress that you are making. The features on offer here range from step rates through to miles covered and speed, for example. You can also sometimes use functions that monitor your heart rate and that count the calories that you are burning which can be useful.

At the advanced end of the scale here you can also find machines that will let you set up individual training programs to make sure that you do the most effective workout. These can be useful ways of monitoring your progress and making sure that you do move on with your overall fitness aims.

Do remember, however, that the best treadmill that you can buy will be the one that best suits your budget at the end of the day. So, don’t be tempted to buy a machine that comes with a load of ‘bells and whistles’ that you simply won’t use.

About the Author:

Richard Brown Fitness , , , , , ,