Treadmill Minutes

strowco
strowco Posts: 7 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Any tips to make a treadmill minute go faster? Music just ain't cutting it!
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Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Why not run outside instead?
  • strowco
    strowco Posts: 7 Member
    Yeah that would definitely help but I train late at night and don't want to be running around the streets on my own in the dark with headphones in. Good tip though and on weekend I will give it a whirl.
  • Tubbs216
    Tubbs216 Posts: 6,597 Member
    At home? I have mine set up in front of Netflix and the minutes fly by!
  • jcow84
    jcow84 Posts: 75 Member
    Do you have an option of doing another sort of cardio you enjoy?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Intervals. That's the only way I can stay on a treadmill. Somehow, counting down the minutes/seconds until the next one keeps me occupied enough. TV and music just don't cut it.

    The options are endless, short, harder intervals mixed with longer slower ones. Or a pyramid. Google treadmill workouts and you'll get tons of ideas or do your own thing.
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    strowco wrote: »
    Yeah that would definitely help but I train late at night and don't want to be running around the streets on my own in the dark with headphones in. Good tip though and on weekend I will give it a whirl.

    I understand what you mean.

    I guess if there's an option to watch TV on the treadmill? I know the ones at my gym have that option and quite a few people do it.

    Perhaps another type of cardio? Swimming?
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    Treadmill - I like watching YouTube music videos on my tablet. It gives my eyes something to do, not just my ears. Watching TV/movies is very popular, but it just makes the time drag on for me. I prefer to semi-zone out, which the music/music videos allow.
  • buttonblue
    buttonblue Posts: 12 Member
    Zombies, Run? ( https://zombiesrungame.com/ )
    There's also another game(?) produced by the same company about walking across the UK.
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
    If I'm running in the gym I watch netflix. The most action packed movie I can find. The more intense, the more I lose myself in the movie, then suddenly 10 mins has passed and I've almost forgot I'm running.
  • strowco
    strowco Posts: 7 Member
    jcow84 wrote: »
    Do you have an option of doing another sort of cardio you enjoy?

    Yeah.... but I really want to enter a fun run soon so need to practice.
  • strowco
    strowco Posts: 7 Member
    buttonblue wrote: »
    Zombies, Run? ( https://zombiesrungame.com/ )
    There's also another game(?) produced by the same company about walking across the UK.

    I'm totally going to look into this.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    +1 for netflix, or some other type of audio/visual stimulus. No tv=no gym.
  • spatulathumbs
    spatulathumbs Posts: 125 Member
    Find a podcast or audiobook you love? That or netflix makes the time pass quickly for me. Either that or just listen to nothing but the soundtrack to Pacific Rim and then you'll be like AWW YISS LETS GET IN OUR GIANT ROBOTS AND GO DEFEAT THESE OCEAN MONSTERS FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION.
  • hypotrochoid
    hypotrochoid Posts: 842 Member
    I watch subtitled anime. The reading keeps me from focusing on the timer- if I watch a show in English I'm constantly looking to see how much longer I have to go and it becomes a hideous form of self torture.
  • clairepfitness14
    clairepfitness14 Posts: 36 Member
    I've got the same problem!
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    At the very least you can break up your monotony by running outdoors on weekends. Quite honestly if I could only run indoors... I probably wouldn't. I run in every season, day or night, rainy or nice, outside. Preferably on a trail. Even then I find running in the same place can get monotonous so I'm always mixing it up.

    Movies... maybe that might work. But I'm not going to try it!

    PS: When I started running again I ran with music. I almost never do that now, preferring to hear my footfalls, traffic, and anything else out there. Plus I talk to my dog. She sometimes talks back.
  • musicandarts
    musicandarts Posts: 187 Member
    Netflix: Murder mysteries
  • Steve_ApexNC
    Steve_ApexNC Posts: 210 Member
    strowco wrote: »
    Any tips to make a treadmill minute go faster? Music just ain't cutting it!

    I throw the towel over the clock on my treadmill, stare at the same spot on the wall and do my best to think about other things along with my music. It helps, but truth is walking in the same spot is just boring.
  • PixelPuff
    PixelPuff Posts: 902 Member
    Read a book. Make it a classic!
  • MamaBirdBoss
    MamaBirdBoss Posts: 1,516 Member
    TV!

    I actually have a treadmill desk. I do most of my work while walking. But I think other people are more coordinated or better able to focus than I am because they can read and type at higher speeds.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    Intervals are the only thing that help me make it through a treadmill run as well. I dread running on the treadmill and avoid it whenever possible. But if I need to do a treadmill run I try to make it my interval run. If I have to do a steady pace run, I will play with the speed just a bit, like increase it one increment every 30 second until the end of the song I am on and then decrease it back down through the next song or something like that. I have to invent stupid little games to mentally get me through it.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    Put your food in the microwave? Haha... Microwave minutes are longer aren't they?

    I have to cover the timer on the cardio equipment or time seems to go forever. I try and watch a TV program the length of my session so that I can stop when it's done :p
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    PixelPuff wrote: »
    Read a book. Make it a classic!

    Audiobooks
  • jessiruthica
    jessiruthica Posts: 412 Member
    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    Intervals. That's the only way I can stay on a treadmill. Somehow, counting down the minutes/seconds until the next one keeps me occupied enough. TV and music just don't cut it.

    The options are endless, short, harder intervals mixed with longer slower ones. Or a pyramid. Google treadmill workouts and you'll get tons of ideas or do your own thing.

    This is so true for me. If I'm not doing intervals, I'm watching the timer anyway but it never seems to get anywhere. With intervals, it's pretty easy for me to tell myself "Just 30 more seconds" or "I can do this for 2 minutes!".

    Yay for Intervals!
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    I like to run outside at 5:00 AM in the morning. Its cooler and I think its safer because all the crazy people have finally gone to bed at that hour. Traffic is very light too.
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,286 Member
    edited June 2015
    I have a little TV hooked to the front of mine, I watch action movies. I outrun several decepticons a day.

    ETA: lots of reasons to run on a treadmill "instead of outside" mine is that while I do run at 5am, it is while my four kids sleep, not really down with leaving them all alone while I plug in my iPod and enjoy the fresh air!
  • Upstate_Dunadan
    Upstate_Dunadan Posts: 435 Member
    I break my treadmill workout into intervals - either hills (incline for 5 minutes, then decline for 5 minutes) or HIIT. That helps make a 30 minute workout (or hour) into six (or 12) 5 minute workouts.

    While I'm doing that, depending on how hard I'm working, I either listen to music playlists (for harder workouts where I can't really concentrate) or Audiobooks (for easier, pure cardio workouts).
  • jakicooke
    jakicooke Posts: 149 Member
    I hate running on the treadmill and much prefer outside but sometimes needs must. I do intervals on the treadmill BUT instead of watching the timer I use the music im listening to to dictate the pace so during the song I run at my normal steady pace and then when it hits the chorus I up the speed for and lower it again when the verse kicks in - it goes real quick!
  • bbontheb
    bbontheb Posts: 718 Member
    I like the netflix idea. I had no idea people watched tv while on a treadmill...shows how much exercise I get! lol. Does anyone have cordless headphones for working out...?
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    If it's a long, steady run, I have the tv on, but on a show I don't have to pay a lot of attention to. Faster (yet shorter) runs, I really can't pay attention to the tv. I don't even listen to music (can't stand ear buds when i sweat). I sometimes count my steps...take me a little under 200 steps to cover a tenth of a mile. It's rhythmic and kind of soothing.

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