Treadmill workouts can be boring and repetitive, even if you run or walk on one of the fancy machines with a television attached. Creative treadmill workouts can increase your interest, keep you coming back to the gym and improve your fitness level.
For a total body workout while you're on the treadmill, carry a pair of lightweight dumbbells with you. Do several sets of shoulder, body core and arm exercises of your choice.
Dumbbells and other kinds of weights can add extra resistance for strengthening your legs while you walk or run. You can use ankle weights, a belt weighed down with extra pounds or even a backpack filled with cans.
Interval training is a great way to improve overall body fitness and fat burning. It involves a period of high-intensity work (70 to 85 percent of your maximum speed) followed by a low activity recovery period.
Many modern treadmills, such as the kind you'd find in your local gym, have the "interval training" preset. They usually increase the incline for a period, then decrease the incline. This is not the best method for incline training on a treadmill. You're better off doing your own interval training routine, which involves increasing the treadmill speed for a period of time, then decreasing the speed.
You can chose to either run/jog through your interval workout, or run/walk.
Although the treadmill forces you to walk or run a straight and narrow path, you don't have to follow. You can run or walk backwards. You can do a "cross over" run, a move where you cross one foot over the other. It will improve coordination and use muscles not relied upon as much when you run or walk.
Always keep your treadmill elevated when you work out. This will mimic the effect gravity has when you run on a track or outside.
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For maximum workout potential, choose an elliptical trainer that features handgrips which allow you to work your upper and lower body, and a stride length between 15 and 20 inches to ensure comfort for your height. |
When you buy a treadmill, get the best quality you can afford. Make sure that everyone who will be using it weighs at least 50 pounds less than the maximum-weight limit. Look for high-alloy steel or aluminum frames and warranties of three years or more. |
Everything you need to know about buying fitness equipment, from treadmill features to the inner workings of pedometers and heart rate monitors. |
It may be tempting to purchase a top-of-the-line heart rate monitor, but if you don't use all of its functions or find it confusing to use, you won?t get your money?s worth and you may wind up not using it at all. |
Look for home gym equipment that uses weight stacks, if serious toning and increased muscle mass are your goals. Home fitness gyms with resistance bands are better for people following weight-loss programs that include a strength-training component. |
When you're shopping for a home stair climber, let the relationship between quality and price guide you: the more you can spend, the better constructed and the better protected by warranty the stair climber machine will be. |
