treadmill

scarlet67

My lovely hubby bought me a treadmill, not sure how often to use it, what is the best way to benefit from it, long fast walks, jogging, sprinting. .Help please

Try150

Ive just bought one aswell. Lol

MeanderingMammal

Depends what you want to achieve from using it.

To improve your cardiovascular fitness you'll get most value from longer duration steady paced runs, with about 20% of your total running volume being more intense. If you're only interested in calorie burning then position it near the laundry to ease the transition to expensive clothes rack.

As you're asking the question it strikes me that you're probably not well placed for that and need to build up to it. With that in mind, as long as you can walk briskly for 30 minutes you could get benefit from something like Couch to 5K.

fwiw, as soon as anyone suggests sprinting or HIIT on it, ignore them. Until you're running for an extended duration several times per week sprinting is more likely to injure you than help you.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

The couch to 5k is a great beginner program. You can download it free.

amusedmonkey

Incline walking is great. One thing you don't get to control when walking/running outside is the incline. You are at the mercy of whatever the terrain wants to throw at you. With treadmill incline you get to fine tune the incline to your desired difficulty on days you wish to go a bit hard without the impact. You can get a pretty nice burn on a high incline with little impact and fewer repetitive movements which tax the joints and tendons sometimes. It also works for all kinds of fitness levels. I did it at 300+ pounds and it felt substantial (at lower lower inclines and slower speeds) and I still benefit from it now when I want to burn calories without the impact of running but my legs just can't move fast enough for a respectable burn just walking.

spiriteagle99

It depends on your current fitness level. If you are completely out of shape, start with walking. When you can walk easily for an hour, then you can start a program like C25k. Keep your pace slow - you want to jog, not sprint. Once you become comfortable running 15+ miles a week, then once a week or so you can do some faster running. If you push the pace too early you are likely to get injured. As to timing - you can walk every day if you want. As a new runner, don't run more often than every other day. It takes time for the joints and tendons to get used to the impact of running. Your aerobic fitness usually improves faster than muscular fitness.

BrianSharpe

The old expression that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step is true..... what you do with your treadmill is dictated by what your current fitness level is, how much time you have available and what your goals are (all vary over time).

Personally I started of just walking at a moderate pace on mine and as my fitness improved I increased speed, time & incline.

If you're walking there's no reason why you couldn't use it every day, humans evolved to travel long distances by foot. If you're pretty out of shape I would certainly suggest keeping the sessions slow and shortish to start, you don't get out of shape overnight and you won't get back into shape that fast either and overdoing it (an the attendant soreness) has stopped many people's attempts to improve fitness.

If you're doing more challenging workouts like speed walking at high inclines etc alternate between easy & hard days to allow adequate recovery.

cmriverside

I'm with the "inclined walking" group. Most of my regular exercise is hill-walking outside.

Be careful, running on a treadmill isn't as easy as one would think.

wdedoelder

I started incline walking with Ifit last year and lost about 40 pounds that way. I stalled for a few months at 195 and then gained weight after quitting soda completely. I have started to run intervals now on the treadmill to try to build up my stamina.