Treadmill Workout Guide
A treadmill is an exercise device used to facilitate running or walking indoors while remaining in a stationary position. It is ideal for people with limited space or who want the benefits of running, but are unable to run outdoors. A treadmill workout can be varied and focus on developing different types of physical fitness.
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Warm Up
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Warm up before your workout. Start with five minutes of activity that increases heartbeat and breathing. Heart rate should be at 50 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate (see Resources for a method to calculate this rate). A brisk walk on the treadmill itself is suitable. Then do some simple stretches held between 10 and 30 seconds. Stretch the ankles, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, hips, back and arms.
Cool Down
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To cool down, reduce the exercise in such a way that breathing and heartbeat slow for a period of two to 10 minutes. An ideal heart rate for a cool down is 50 to 60 percent or less of the maximum heart rate. Once your heart rate and breathing slow, repeat the warm up stretches, holding between 10 and 30 seconds each. Drink water as necessary.
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Beginner
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Starting an exercise routine can be daunting and running on a treadmill right away might be difficult for the beginner. Aim for a 20 to 30 minute workout that requires a moderate amount of effort. Listen to your body to determine what constitutes a moderate amount of effort, and adjust the speed of the treadmill as necessary. For the workout, alternate between walking for four minutes and a slow jog for one minute. If this is too difficult, alternate between walking for nine minutes and a slow jog for one or two minutes. Over a period of weeks, increase the duration, intensity or treadmill incline to increase your workout's effectiveness. Heart rate measurements should fall around 60 percent of the maximum heart rate.
Fat Burning Workout
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To lose weight and tone the body, maintain a workout for a minimum of 30 minutes, and preferably exercise vigorously for 45 to 60 minutes. Higher intensity workouts are more effective for fat burning than low intensity ones. On the treadmill, after warming up and stretching, maintain your pace at about 70 percent effort for a minimum of 30 minutes. If possible, extend it to 45 minutes or longer. If 70 percent effort is too difficult to maintain, intersperse five minutes of 70 percent effort with one minute of brisk walking. The best way to measure effort is to examine breath and heart rate. For a high intensity workout, breath is rapid and it is difficult to carry on a conversation, but not impossible to answer one word questions. Heart rate should be 70 to 80 percent of the maximum heart rate.
Interval Training
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Interval training increases endurance and improves metabolism. Interval training consists of alternating between a high intensity period, followed by a recovery period. Effort during the high intensity period should be about 80 to 100 percent effort, done for a very short period of time (one to four minutes), and the recovery period should be about 50 percent effort, done for one to two minutes. By alternating back and forth between high intensity and recovery, you become better able to sustain hard effort. To create a high intensity workout, either increase the speed or the incline of the treadmill. Use your breath and heart rate to measure effort. At high intensity, breath should be rapid and it should be difficult to carry on a conversation, though you can still respond to simple questions. Heart rate should be at 80 to 100 percent of your maximum heart rate. During the recovery period, breath should slow so that you can carry on a conversation, but is still deeper and more frequent than a resting breath. Heart rate during a recovery period should slow to 50 to 60 percent.
Walking
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Walking on a treadmill for an hour a day can burn as much as 200 calories, while brisk walking for an hour will burn up to 700 calories. Walking is easy on the joints and is a whole body exercise. Walking provides many health benefits, including decreasing body fat, lowering blood pressure and lowering cholesterol. It's also good for helping increase bone density as it is a weight-bearing exercise.
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