Treadmill Absolute Beginner

Kudos to you for starting! That's the most important part. Next, is head space! Decide that you are worth taking care of! Set some goals-weight loss, fitness goal, such as walk a 5K. Don't worry about incline on the TM. Just keep doing it. Then every week you'll see that it gets a little easier, so up the speed and/or incline. I would also recommend some light weights-you can start with canned veggies. Lift in all directions-front, side, over-head, back. When you find the difficult spots, focus on them, because that's where you're the weakest. You'll see that you'll gradually gain strength and endurance, and will need heavier weights!!
Hang in there! You can do this!! You'll get a lot of support and help on this site! Good Luck!

BruinsGal_91 wrote: »

There you go. Fixed it for you.

We get it. You don't like treadmills. But I don't think I'm the only person here who uses a treadmill as well as running outside. It isn't an either/or situation.

Nice one OP. Hope you enjoy it.

Very good. I couldn't agree more! I have to use a treadmill, or I wouldn't run at all. I'm either running at 4:45 AM in the gym, or squeezing in a few minutes on the treadmill at home. We have 3 special needs children at home and I can't leave my wife alone with them for extended periods of time (aside from work). So, it's treadmill (or stationary bike, elliptical, etc.) or no cardio at all for me.

Regarding the OP... you've gotten some good advice. I hope it helps you meet your goals!

Go for endurance instead of speed. It's better to be able to walk slower for longer than to walk fast for only 5 minutes. Speed will come naturally as your fitness improves.

Interval training is great, but its for more advanced workouts. Beginner basics is to build endurance.

i vary between treading and road running.
start slow. intervals are nice because it helps you build up your abilities.
i would highly suggest a structured program like c25k
and i would also suggest getting fitted for running shoes. and be perfectly honest with the associate helping you. i find the most knowledgeable people are at local running stores

Try the Pacer App. I got it initially to count my steps since I can't really afford those nifty fitness counters. But if you upgrade to the premium version they have some walking and running programs. You can try the walking one and then go to the walking to running one. That one starts you off at one minute light jogging with 2 minutes walking, the next one is 2 minutes jogging with 1 minute walking, etc. I found that it progressed to fast for me, but you can repeat the days as many times as you want. So for example, you can do day 1 (1 min jogging with 2 min walking) for as long as you need to move up to the second day. I'm sure that you can find the information for free but I really benefit from having the information on the app. You also get diet and fitness advice which I have found to be pretty helpful. The year is $20 or you can do monthly for $3 I believe.

I saw the title to this thread and HAD to post. For the past two years I've been a loyal treadmill runner. Increasing my running speed from 4MPH (for 10-15 minutes) to 8MPH (for 20-minutes). I was constantly told and lectured by my podiatrist (I have terrible feet problems) about how even for people with good feet, the treadmill is absolutely horrific for bones, joints and tendons within your feet. I ignored this. Two weeks ago I was running for 4-minutes ONLY and POP - tore the tendon in the sole of my "good" foot. BE CAUTIOUS. The way your feet pound on the treadmill is not the same as running outside. It puts way more pressure and stress on all parts of your feet. I will NEVER run on a treadmill again and will advise everyone else to avoid it also.

Ditto @mmteixeira . I started doing a C25K (couch-to-5K) program back in January myself. I am NOT a runner! Never have been. I started out running for 60 seconds. I just finished a week of running 25 minutes straight three times. The endurance will come, trust me.

As far as the treadmill, I think it depends on the model as far as how easy it is on your feet/legs. I have been doing my program solely on the treadmill since I started (weather in the Midwest still sucks, and if I have to run outside in the cold, I won't run period), and I haven't had any problems. Sorry you had a bad injury @peaceout_aly . I would probably swear off of my treadmill if I blew out my tendon, too.

It is recommended that outdoor road runners use the blacktop pavement in the streets to run, not the concrete/sidewalk. Apparently the asphalt is a little softer and more forgiving than concrete, for whatever that's worth.

But, I would whole-heartedly recommend using a C25K program. I used the ZenLabs version, but there are a ton out there. My app started with 60 seconds of jogging, 90 seconds of walking, for the first week. And if you need to repeat a week, then do it! Who cares? I had to repeat Week 6. Best decision I made using the program! You could repeat Week 1 as many times as you needed if you felt like it.

One thing I learned, most of my challenges were mental, not physical. My body could do more than my brain thought it could. Get yourself fitted for some good shoes at a running store if you can and then go to town!

Good luck!

Just do what you can. If you can't jog, just walk. If you can't do a steep incline, that's fine, do a lesser incline. With each session of walking or jogging or whatever your pace is, you'll get closer to the next step up.