Treadmills --- why do people hold on to the rails?

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  • watchhillgirl
    watchhillgirl Posts: 597 Member
    I notice regular looking people (not old or overweight people) holding on to the rails while walking on the treadmill. Why do they do that? Doesn't even look like they're walking fast either.

    What's the the point of walking if you need a rail to hold on to? There's no rails in the real world.

    The fastest I can walk on a treadmill, before I have to start running, is 4.4 mph. I don't need to hold on to anything either.

    They're doing it to annoy you... and it seems to be working. Oh, congratulations on not having to hold on to anything. That's a total NSV.

    Thanks....I was drinking my water when I read this...no need for nasal spray tonight...Too funny!
  • Angie52732
    Angie52732 Posts: 66 Member
    Not everyone lives in a climate where they can comfortably walk outside year round...right now we have ice and about 6" of snow and about 20 degrees so I am not walking outside anytime soon. I grab the handrails because of checking heart rate and also because I have balance problems on the treadmill - sometimes I literally feel like I am going to fall over - I am pushing myself to go longer periods without grabbing them, but it is a security issue - I am sweating the same whether I am holding the hand rails or not.

    some people just like the security factor and the stability the handrails bring. To each his own....at least I am up moving and not sitting on my *kitten* watching TV. I am burning calories and that is all I care about

    Angie
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
    Thats the spirit.............dance puppetzzzz dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:bigsmile:

    :laugh:
  • EmmaReed84
    EmmaReed84 Posts: 263 Member
    Ok, so went to the gym tonight, went on the treadmill (I am not a holder BTW) but felt so self-conscious!

    After reading this thread, I noticed a girl get on the treadmill next to me, she looked over (an obvious look, not a glance) I looked at her, then she looked at me and smiled, then whacked her speed up. The treadmill's have a key with your own personal programme and mine changes speed and incline and every time my speed or inclined changed, I saw her change hers to higher than mine and would smile at me again.

    I never actually realised people did this, it has made me so much more aware of people looking at me... wondering what are they thinking... Are they going to run off and make a mickey taking thread about me.

    OH AND WHAT IS NSV... been bugging me for ages LOL
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,749 Member
    Ok, so went to the gym tonight, went on the treadmill (I am not a holder BTW) but felt so self-conscious!

    After reading this thread, I noticed a girl get on the treadmill next to me, she looked over (an obvious look, not a glance) I looked at her, then she looked at me and smiled, then whacked her speed up. The treadmill's have a key with your own personal programme and mine changes speed and incline and every time my speed or inclined changed, I saw her change hers to higher than mine and would smile at me again.

    I never actually realised people did this, it has made me so much more aware of people looking at me... wondering what are they thinking... Are they going to run off and make a mickey taking thread about me.

    OH AND WHAT IS NSV... been bugging me for ages LOL

    Now that's funny. When I was at the gym this afternoon out of the corner of my eye I saw the girl next to me holding on to the rails and I almost busted out laughing because I was thinking about this thread. Then I saw her glancing over at me a few times and was kind of wondering what she was looking at and why. I'll be completely honest. When I am on a machine doing my cardio at the gym I am focused on my own workout and trying not to die (LOL) that I have very little time to check out what other people are doing and criticize them. Regardless if they're walking slow, holding on, or jamming on the elliptical with zero resistance they're there and you really have no idea why they're doing their workout the way they are and I doubt you're that nosy to actually ask.

    As for NSV: That means "Non Scale Victory"

    ETA: Also sometimes people probably aren't even looking at you. Like this afternoon I was looking for the machine my husband was on which, if someone was self conscious, they would have thought I was looking at them.
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    I used to hold onto the rails because I had to in order to keep from falling off. When I discovered that it was hindering results and creating greater potential for injury in other ways I just stopped using the treadmill altogether.
  • opalescence
    opalescence Posts: 413 Member
    I have screws in my foot from a lisfranc fracture and need to balance myself.

    How about this, you worry about you and I will worry about me.
  • Elzecat
    Elzecat Posts: 2,916 Member
    (although I must say you have to have really poor coordination to not be able to walk on the treadmill lol)


    Or...you could have an inner ear issue...or MS...or cerebral palsy...or a traumatic brain injury...or pins and screws in your foot...or....

    /facepalm/
  • Nauti_Buoy
    Nauti_Buoy Posts: 135
    I'm afraid of heights ! I can handle the 3 incline but anything above that say a 4 or 5 incline I'm grabbing handles and hanging on for dear life. Lever 10 is just straight FTFO!
  • Mr_Bad_Example
    Mr_Bad_Example Posts: 2,403 Member
    I notice regular looking people (not old or overweight people) holding on to the rails while walking on the treadmill. Why do they do that? Doesn't even look like they're walking fast either.

    What's the the point of walking if you need a rail to hold on to? There's no rails in the real world.

    The fastest I can walk on a treadmill, before I have to start running, is 4.4 mph. I don't need to hold on to anything either.

    They're doing it to annoy you... and it seems to be working. Oh, congratulations on not having to hold on to anything. That's a total NSV.

    Thanks....I was drinking my water when I read this...no need for nasal spray tonight...Too funny!

    You're quite welcome. Sometimes a troll serves up something so good that you just have to hit it back at him.
  • dolphinswimmer15
    dolphinswimmer15 Posts: 30
    I hold on while I walk on the treadmill, but not while I run. No clue why--guess I started holding on when I first started using the treadmill and now it's a habit. I am trying to train myself not to, but once I get lost in my music I usually end up holding on again.

    Same thing here ALWAYS when I walk, but not always when I run, but I know why...monitoring my heart rate while walking. or below reasons for running
    When I tend to hold the handles its because I tend to briefly hold myself up to take some weight off my feet so i can catch a breather without totally stopping.

    This applied when I was just coming back from my bilateral femoral stress fractures...a (IMO too) long of an injury that led to a weight gain of 20lbs in a year...bc my body wasn't used to suddenly not being as active
    I get confused at this same thing.
    I can understand on the stair master, or the older/disabled crowd.

    But a healthy looking man, running at a 0 incline at 6mph, holding on to the sides and/or top to keep up with the belt?
    Or the fitness-competitor type holding on at a 3.5 incline, at a 3.5 pace?

    :noway:

    Even as a size 22 newbie who was "allergic" to exercise, I didn't do any of those things.

    ETA: the man running at 6mph holding on really was holding on only for the purpose of keeping up. I am still completely baffled, and I'm not the staring type.

    When I'm trying for a specific time for my 1.5 mi PT test run, I set the treadmill to the pace I need to go at, and will use the railing to *keep up* for a while to try and get used to what that pace feels like. Then the next time I'll do intervals and try to hold on less for that target pace.
    Please for the love of god.......... STOP HOLDING ON TO THE MACHINE! whats the effen point of putting the treadmill on a steep incline if youre gonna HOLD ON!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????????????
    get off the treadmill!!! :devil:

    Please just get off the treadmill!

    I use the max incline to train for my LEVEL pt test. I hold on for various reasons. However I would say that since my 1.5 times improve between starting a program and my pt test, I must be doing something right for me.
  • MaryySmith
    MaryySmith Posts: 4
    Balance my foot. I've seen the same people who hold onto a treadmill then do crazy yoga positions that require a heck of a lot more balance, and other routines on one leg, etc. No, they're just ignoramuses who think gripping on a bar is the same thing as real walking.

    Line up all the treadmill holders. I'd say less than 5 percent have any of the medical maladies that have been mentioned in this thread. Sheesh.
  • MaryySmith
    MaryySmith Posts: 4
    Guess what OP, there are no treadmills in the real world (save for airports). Why are you walking on a treadmill when you could be walking outside? Whats the purpose of walking when you could be running? Why are you judging other's workouts when you should only be focused on your own?


    ^^This! The rare occasion when I use a treadmill, I rest my hands on the rails because I am less stable on a treadmill than when I walk outside. In the real world, your pace and stride length varies, on a treadmill you don't have that option and it throws many people off kilter. I can't run on a treadmill AT ALL without losing my balance, but I run outside in the real world just fine.

    WHAT?????? Since when don't I have the option to change my stride length or pace if I'm walking outside? Say WHAT?

    You can tell a lot about a person's intelligence by how they use a treadmill. Those who are legally blind are excused.
  • MaryySmith
    MaryySmith Posts: 4
    And stop comparing holding onto a staircase railing at your house or on the job with holding onto a treadmill. When you use a treadmill, it's NOT to get from one point in space to another. It's for exercise. When I put my hands on the staircase railing, it doesn't matter because it's NOT my workout! The staircase is just to get me from one floor to the next. Bad comparison, people!

    Step into any gym and go to the treadmill section. Who here is stupid enough to believe that MOST of those who are holding on just began using a treadmill two days prior, and if not, they all have inner ear problems, MS, neuropathy, this-itis, that-itis...

    Give me a break. Most holders are clueless about exercise, and they're the first to scream why haven't they lost weight or reached their other goals.
  • MaryySmith
    MaryySmith Posts: 4
    Heart Rate Monitor. Duh.

    Trying to make the OP sound stupid? Look in a mirror. You need hold on only 30 seconds to get a heart rate. What's the remaining 29 minutes holding on for? Oh, that's right: The machine keeps telling the user to hold on for heart rate. I forgot, people let machines do their thinking for them.
  • JUDDDing
    JUDDDing Posts: 1,367 Member
    I can't believe the stupies on this thread.

    Welcome to MFP! You'll fit right in! :drinker:
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Both sides of this thread bring the absolute LULZ.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member


    BTW, why do you hate SUVs ?????

    You have to ask?
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
    Please for the love of god.......... STOP HOLDING ON TO THE MACHINE! whats the effen point of putting the treadmill on a steep incline if youre gonna HOLD ON!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????????????
    get off the treadmill!!! :devil:

    Please just get off the treadmill!

    :laugh: :laugh:
  • BonaFideUK
    BonaFideUK Posts: 313 Member
    if you constantly hold onto the rails when on a treadmill then you'd be much better using an elliptical machine
  • 6spdeg
    6spdeg Posts: 394 Member
    yea ****s funny.. especially on stair master.. upper half of their body is laying on the machine and just their feet moving.. rediculous.

    seems like my gym is full of ppl with stability issues.
  • Tiff050709
    Tiff050709 Posts: 497 Member
    Because they CAN

    This
  • mak061
    mak061 Posts: 19
    coz it makes it easier and out of all the people in the world who exercise, an amount of these people still take short cuts. why not put your all into something if your going to bother doing it?
    I thought rails were for people who were not very steady on their feet.
  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
    This is so funny I was on the treadmill today and I was sweating , not because off my work out but because I wanted to scream at the woman next to me to stop holding on :mad:
  • RobynLB83
    RobynLB83 Posts: 626 Member
    Because the GROUND is MOVING!
  • healthieramanda
    healthieramanda Posts: 95 Member
    I hold onto them because i've got a bad ankle and had an ankle reconstruction about a year ago...

    For the first 10 minutes or so the pain is insane. So for me it helps with balance and easing my ankle into walking.
  • messpark36
    messpark36 Posts: 33
    It is a balance or coordination thing with me. Unless I'm running, I tend to want to hang onto the rails or else I feel like I am gonna fall or something, werid I know.....
  • oldandhealthier
    oldandhealthier Posts: 449 Member
    Guess what OP, there are no treadmills in the real world (save for airports). Why are you walking on a treadmill when you could be walking outside? Whats the purpose of walking when you could be running? Why are you judging other's workouts when you should only be focused on your own?
    Yes
  • robdel302
    robdel302 Posts: 292 Member
    I use the rails as part of a HIT routine that improves my run time for military fitness tests. Running outside is not fun when it's 150 degrees, 80% humidty, and a permanent dust cloud in the air. When I actually take my PT test, I'll be back in the US and it will be winter.
  • Nicolee_2014
    Nicolee_2014 Posts: 1,572 Member
    When I first started using a treadmill YEARS ago, I felt the need to hold on for balance but now the only time I do is when I've been jogging & slow back down, holding on (again) helps me keep my balance.

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