Treadmill tweaks.... give me your best workouts!

Easy Intervals hills no hills speed ect

I like the treadmill because I have a bad knee and it has a little more cushion than pavement.

I do a 20 minute jog, then 1 min sprint/walk intervals for 10 minutes, then 10 minutes walking incline, then a 5 minute cool down. it's a great 45 minute workout that burns around 450 calories for me.

My favorite treadmill workout of all time.

Turn it off and go outside.

Signed,

Non Apologetic Treadmill Hater

I rented a treadmill workout DVD from Netflix called Walking Strong by Tracey Staehle ... there is a video clip here: http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/tracey-staehles-walking-strong-7914

She has at least 2 of these workouts. Anyway, this has "walking lunges" - squats (stand sideways) - it uses weights - and has incline & faster speed sections. This was fun - the cues were on the screen, so I could make needed changes, yet listen to my MP3 player.

There are plenty of treadmill "dance videos" on youtube. I wish I had the guts to do this at my gym...I'm scared they'd tell me to stop. But one day, I may just do it any damn way.

If I had a treadmill at home, I would totally do this. It's what I want to do anyway when I'm walking and listening to my music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psBZNRmGKrU

My favorite treadmill workout of all time.

Turn it off and go outside.

Signed,

Non Apologetic Treadmill Hater

That's easy to say if you live somewhere where it doesn't get below zero in the winter.

My coach lives in Fairbanks. He runs outside when it's 20+ below. If you have the right gear, you can run outside in nearly all inhabited areas of the planet.

I only do the treadmill once a week (mostly classes and weightlifting other days) but the workout I do is:
5 minute warm up at 5% incline. Then every 30 seconds I change incline. 30 seconds after warm up I go down .5% incline then 30 seconds later I go up 1% then down .5% then up 1%. My treadmill maxes at 15% incline so it take awhile to get all the way up there but it is a good calorie burn. After I reach 15% incline I stay there for 3-5 minutes and then have the treadmill take be back down with the preset cool down.

I usually do it at a 3.8 speed but you could do whatever is comfortable. I have also tried this workout switching every minute instead of every 30 seconds.If your a runner, google HIIT treadmill workout and some good stuff should pop up.

Sometimes I'll do like a five minute "out and back" jog.. I'll start at 6mph, bump it to 7mph at 1 minute, 8mph at 2, 9mph at 3, and finally run 10mph to the fifth minute. Kind of tough if you don't run a lot ^_^

Other times I'll do hill jogs/runs. I like to keep the grade and speed the same, so often a decent clip for me ends up being 6mph at 6.0 incline, but I have taken it as high as 12mph at a 12.0 for a short burst.

My favorite in general though is speed intervals - usually a minute walk at 3.5-3.7, a minute jog at 6.5-7.5, and a minute run at 8.5+.

There are plenty of treadmill "dance videos" on youtube. I wish I had the guts to do this at my gym...I'm scared they'd tell me to stop. But one day, I may just do it any damn way.

If I had a treadmill at home, I would totally do this. It's what I want to do anyway when I'm walking and listening to my music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psBZNRmGKrU

I think if they saw you doing this, they'd ask you to start teaching it as a class there. More $$$ for them. <g> Looks like fun. I gotta try this one.

Yes, one "can" run outside when it's 20 below, and one "can" run outside when it's 94 with a heat index of 105, but get off your high horse and realize that sometimes it's more comfortable (not to mention healthier) to run in a climate controlled environment. I run 4 1/2 miles an 37-40 minutes in a typical workout. If I were to try to do that in Florida in the summer, I would likely suffer heat stroke, or at least feel like crap afterwards. And I used to run outside in northern Vermont. That sucked almost as much.
But as to the original question, I put a song list on my iPhone on shuffle and adjust my tempo (step to the beat) to the tempo of the song. That way, you don't know what your pace is going to be til the next song comes on.

No high horse here. I'm just saying that weather is a very poor excuse, in my opinion, for retreating to the treadmill. The body is capable of running in extreme heat and extreme cold (with proper gear). Have you ever heard of Badwater? Ultramarathon through Death Valley. That's a little more than a nice jog and a little hotter than Florida. Is it comfortable to run under those conditions? No, it's not. Is it possible? Absolutely. Does it help build fitness? You bet your @ss it does.

That notwithstanding, my comment to the OP was obviously tongue in cheek.

I have a bad knee which rules out any impact exercise...including a treadmill at any speed greater than 3 mph. My machine of choice is the elliptical. The gym that I work out at has the machines that have video screens but they have is a few local stations which does not provide much diversion. I use my iPod collection, iHeart radio, and Fit Radio as my training music. This has worked well for me. Good Luck to you.

I like doing quick sprints where I really crank up the speed (5 minutes), then hit the weights for a quick circuit, then back to the treadmill, then weights, etc. My gym is set up great for this. However many cycles you have time for. I find I can really push myself that way. Also, always kills me when cranking up the elevation!