How to Make the Most of a Treadmill Workout

Treadmill workouts are popular at fitness centers and in home gyms. But sometimes people get stuck in a rut with their treadmill workout routines. They are not losing weight or increasing their heart rate, and they are bored with walking on the treadmill day after day. This boredom and fatigue reduces effectiveness and prevents people from getting the most out of their workouts. Treadmill walking can burn calories, help build muscle, and increase overall cardiovascular fitness if done correctly.

Things You'll Need

• treadmill tennis shoes (best kind are for walking or running) exercise clothes exercise journal (optional) water bottle

Instructions

How to Make the Most of a Treadmill Workout

1. Find out your Maximum Heart Rate before you start your exercise program. You can find this out by doing a treadmill test at a fitness center with a personal trainer or getting it clinically tested by a cardiologist. To get the maximum benefits from your workout, your Maximum Heart Rate should be reached about 70% of the time you are exercising.

2. Stretch properly before starting your treadmill workout. It is also important to warm up at a slower pace on your treadmill for about 10 minutes. Some people like to reverse that order - they warm up for five minutes by walking at a slower pace on the treadmill, and then they stretch their leg muscles before starting the more intense part of their workout. Either way, the warm-up routine should not be skipped, or sore or strained muscles can result.

3. Use interval training when you are doing a treadmill workout. One advantage of a treadmill is that you can put mountain climbing into your workout routine even if you live, say, in the Midwest. You can adjust the incline on a treadmill to simulate walking or running up hills or mountains. With High Intensity Interval Training, you run on a steep incline for a few minutes, and then you lower the incline, slow the treadmill down for a few minutes, and repeat. Many treadmills have interval or hill training programs, or you can manually adjust the equipment yourself.

4. Stretch during your workout about every 10 minutes to keep your muscles working properly. After two sets of High Intensity Interval Training, you can stop and stretch your legs before doing two more sets, and so on.

5. Give yourself a proper cool down when the treadmill workout is over. Just as you warm up at the beginning of your workout, you need to slow down and stretch when you are finished. Making the most of your treadmill workout includes warming up, interval training, stretching, and cooling down.

Tips & Warnings

• Before starting any new exercise program, check with a physician. You can use an exercise journal to keep track of your treadmill workouts. Put the date, the number of minutes you spent on the treadmill, and what interval training you did. Then you can see your progress at the end of a week or month. You can also add weight or inches around your waist to the journal.

References

• Getting the Most Out of Your Treadmill Workout (article)
• Treadmill Online Website