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

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tnqnt
tnqnt Posts: 397 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Looking for some tweaks to the typical boring treadmill workout.
What do you do to mix it up (besides changing tempo)....

I have recently started doing side shuffles at 3.5 and 1 incline and it really ups my heart rate... LOVE doing this...
Any other ideas? Throw them at me :)
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Replies

  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    Easy Intervals hills no hills speed ect
  • dbaumgarn
    dbaumgarn Posts: 111
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    I do speed intervals...lower speed for a couple min-sprints for a min back and forth increasing the speed at each interval. I get so bored, I am always playing around. I try to avoid the treadmill. I run outside as much as possible, it is so much more entertaining;)
  • Pie319
    Pie319 Posts: 129 Member
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    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.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
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    I do 5 minutes on the treadmill, then 5 sets of 5 barbell squats, then 5 minutes on treadmill, and 1 set of 5 deadlifts.
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    My favorite treadmill workout of all time.

    Turn it off and go outside. :smile:

    Signed,

    Non Apologetic Treadmill Hater
  • lorihalsted
    lorihalsted Posts: 326 Member
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    Adjust the incline every minute as well as your speed. Make it interesting for you. I personally like slowing down to 2.8 MPH and the incline on 10 for a deep climb then speed it back up and level out a bit. Just have fun with it!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    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.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Walking Stronger (Tracey Staehle part 2)

    http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/tracey-staehles-walking-stronger-5820


    Duck Walks & Walking backwards .... I have not tried this one
  • Halleeon
    Halleeon Posts: 309 Member
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    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. :D

    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
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
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    My favorite treadmill workout of all time.

    Turn it off and go outside. :smile:

    Signed,

    Non Apologetic Treadmill Hater

    That's easy to say if you live somewhere where it doesn't get below zero in the winter.
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    My favorite treadmill workout of all time.

    Turn it off and go outside. :smile:

    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.
  • mamaomefo
    mamaomefo Posts: 418 Member
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    I sometimes use arm weights of 2lbs each as I walk on the treadmill with incline of 3-4%.
  • TheMisses22
    TheMisses22 Posts: 16 Member
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    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.
  • tnqnt
    tnqnt Posts: 397 Member
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    My favorite treadmill workout of all time.

    Turn it off and go outside. :smile:

    Signed,

    Non Apologetic Treadmill Hater


    LOL - gotcha :):)

    I actually am looking for different things to do on the treadmill. Side skips, as I stated is something I have been doing, which is not really that practical outside.... I get the outside running/walking thing - looking for new and creative ways to exercise on the treadmill :)
  • tnqnt
    tnqnt Posts: 397 Member
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    Walking Stronger (Tracey Staehle part 2)

    http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/tracey-staehles-walking-stronger-5820


    Duck Walks & Walking backwards .... I have not tried this one

    Very interesting!
  • tnqnt
    tnqnt Posts: 397 Member
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    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. :D

    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

    This is what I am talking about ... I don't do the dance stuff, but the shuffles and skips I do at the gym - I don't care who thinks I am crazy... its GREAT for upping your calorie burn.... aside from FAST running, its the only thing that really gets my heart rate in the Maximum zone... :)
  • Mighty_Rabite
    Mighty_Rabite Posts: 581 Member
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    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+.
  • shmoony
    shmoony Posts: 237 Member
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    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.
  • Doberdawn
    Doberdawn Posts: 732 Member
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    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. :D

    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.
  • Doberdawn
    Doberdawn Posts: 732 Member
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    I have found adding punches - such as taekwondo punches, gets my heart rate up and helps tone my arms while I walk. If they get too easy, you can add weights to intensify. (Of course, I'm almost afraid to post this suggestion since there are those on this forum who have been very critical and rude when I've tried to post helpful suggestions before... I mostly popped in here to see if there was anything helpful I could use. <g> Why are there rude and discouraging people on what is supposed to be a help and support forum? I'll never know. Either way, I'll risk this one suggestion and hope for the best.)

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