treadmill high speed watching

vfnmoody
vfnmoody Posts: 271 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I see this every once in awhile and do not understand it.
people get on a tread mill and ramp it up to a very high speed.
Then they step on to the sides and watch it run fast as they rest.
Than they jump on it and run for a minute or two.
Step on to the sides and let it spin somemore...
Why would you not ramp the speed of the tread mill up and down?

Replies

  • MaxwellsDemon
    MaxwellsDemon Posts: 10
    Because it takes too long to let the speed adjust that way. What they are doing is HIIT - high intensity interval training: short bursts of intense exertion. If the treadmill is running the whole time you can get on and go "all out" right away, then rest a minute, and so forth.
  • millerch88
    millerch88 Posts: 56 Member
    I've seen this too. The only reason I can see behind it is that they want to run 1 or 2 minute intervals at a high speed, but don't want to have to deal with the time it takes for the treadmill to speed up or slow down. I know when I jump on and punch in a sprinting speed, it takes the treadmill a good 25 seconds to reach the speed i actually want to run at. then every time i change speed there's more time lost.

    granted it's only three or four seconds every time i change speeds, so i don't mind it.

    if that's what works for them though, it doesn't affect my workout so....
  • vfnmoody
    vfnmoody Posts: 271 Member
    okay: that makes sense ..I hoped it was something like that...still seems a little wastefull
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    The time it takes for the speed to change is actually really annoying. Say you're doing 10mph/5mph HIIT intervals- theoretically the rest time is pretty short because you're trying to take advantage of heart-rate lag- the time it takes to ramp down and then back up can be the total time of your rest. Its easier to step on and off.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    So I see this every once in awhile and do not understand it.
    people get on a tread mill and ramp it up to a very high speed.
    Then they step on to the sides and watch it run fast as they rest.
    Than they jump on it and run for a minute or two.
    Step on to the sides and let it spin somemore...
    Why would you not ramp the speed of the tread mill up and down?

    i do that on my sprint HIIT days. on those days i go at an all out sprint for 15 seconds then rest for 15 seconds.. i leave it on the higher speed the entire time
    1) because the workout is hard enough as it is that I dont need to add fooling with buttons to the mix
    2) it take a good 15 seconds to go from a speed of say 3.5 to 9.0

    for longer intervals (which arent really HIIT anyway) i just manually change it every time, but i do wish there was a way to program the routine into the treadmill

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