Treadmill Question

[goldenpath]

How fast do you walk, jog or run on the treadmill and for how long? Do you go up and down in speeds or stay the same? What incline do you walk, jog or run on? Do you change the incline throughout?

I have started using the treadmill and wanted to see how fast everyone was going.

What is the benefit of walking on an incline, does it increase the tone of the legs?

 

[suzcomn]

Two words: Cardio Coach

The beauty of the treadmill is you have so many options. I love intervalling with incline. It allows you to jack your heart rate up without impact! And yes, it is great for your legs and backside.

Kind of depends on the day, the music and if I'm listening to Coach Sean. But my favorite is to interval every other interval of incline and sprinting. So its: w/u, fast walk (5.0 mph)/incline interval/fast walk/sprint interval/fast walk/incline interval...

 

[maddiesmum]

I use the treadmill to help me with my running training and also to do power walks on days I want little impact.

When power walking, I spend 50% of the time on speed work, doing laps at either 5.2, 5.4 or 5.6 mph, with no incline, and 50% of the time on incline work, varying the speed and inclines constantly, each lap is different. So, last time I started at 4.6 mph and incline of 6, then decreased speed to 4.4 mph and increased incline to 8, then decreased speed to 4.2 mph and increased incline to 10, then combined 4.0 mph with incline of 12, and finally 3.8 mph with incline of 14 or 15, which is the max my treadmill will do. This targets the glutes fabulously, while the speed work hits the legs and glutes.

I love it and can do this for 6-7 miles at a time.

When I run, since I am still trying to get back into running, I alternate running intervals of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 etc minutes, with fast walking rest periods of 2 mins at 5.0 mph. I do less intervals as the interval length increases. So, 15 intervals when running for 2 mins, but 13 intervals when running for 4 mins, and down to 10 when running for 6 mins per interval. In addition, I increase the speed at which I run with each successive interval, so I gradually increase the demands paced upon my body. I always start at 6.5 mph and work my way up to 8 mph by the end. With this, I will cover a distance of 7-8 miles per session and I limit the running sessions to three times per week only. This allows my body rest time and a break from impact work.

This is how I use the treadmill. For me, it is not a time to plod away, at a passive pace, while watching TV. I push myself as far and as hard as I can to see results. I am someone who needs to push hard and I need to sweat. I do this instead of taking anti-depressants. It helps.

Clare

 

[Zora]

In addition to the PP's recommendation, I would also STRONGLY urge you to try some iTread workouts (www.itrain.com) Right now I'm a card-carrying member of iTread-Anonymous and am having a very hard time wanting to do anything but Set 2's 40 min workout! I can't say enough about these workouts - and I know that I would have NEVER pushed myself so hard to go so fast, go up crazy hills, and sprint my heart out if it wasn't for Grace and her background music (it sounds kinda dweeby, but when the last somg comes on for Set 2, I see myself running up the Philadelphia steps just like Rocky! :7 )

The other nice thing about these workouts is that they're relatively inexpensive to download!

Good luck to you!!!
(I have the the other ladies on this forum to thank for this new addiction!)

 

[aadams]

Wow, my running on a treadmill is soooo boring compared to what you gals are doing. I prefer to run outside but around this time last year I really amped (sp) up my running on a treadmill and went from 3 miles average to 7 or 8 miles at any given time. I just love to run not so much for all the interval training but merely for the cardio and enddurance factor. When the weather is decent (hot&humid in Texas here lately) I love to just run about 3-5 miles with the ipod going.

I just listen to what my body tells me, if I'm dragging I'll do 2 miles outside, if i'm feeling energized it could be 5 or 6. I've finally started listening to all the experts on this board and realized that I don't have to run so much everyday. Weight lifting itself is quite vigorous enough most of the time.

All of that and i didn't answer you initial question, my running pace usually stayed right at 6.0 or 10 min mile pace, sometimes a little faster but again, I just did it for the cardio factor.

Annette