Treadmill workouts are a crowd favorite, especially in the cold winter months. Moreover, treadmill workouts are very accessible and convenient which is why all gyms have various types of treadmills. Whether you’re working out in the gym or you’re looking for a treadmill at home, here are some of the best tips from the experts on how to workout and what to look for in a treadmill.
Warm-up the right way
As with any other workout out there, a proper workout is a must. To get the most out of your treadmill workout, and prevent injury and sprains, you need to warm up your legs and glutes especially. Doing static stretching is not advised, as many papers have shown that doing static stretching before any workout decreases performance because it makes muscles momentarily weaker. In addition to this, it also increases the chance of injury.
This is why it is advised to do light yoga for hip opening. Yoga poses such as the yogi squat, frog pose, pigeon and half pigeon are good for relaxing the hip muscles for running. However, you shouldn’t overdo it, just stretch a little bit before running to wake up the muscles. After you’re done working out, you can indulge in a small yoga session to cool the muscles down.
The incline is a must
One of the most important things, when it comes down to treadmill workouts, is to always set a small incline. If the incline is set on zero, your treadmill workout will be much easier than simply walking on the sidewalk. This is why you should set your incline to at least one or two so it will give your muscles a fair workout. If you want your treadmill workout to be very effective, be sure to always workout with a set incline, otherwise, it won’t be very effective.
It’s important to use the right treadmill like the ones that offer multiple inclines options. This is why it’s important to go through treadmill reviews so you could explore the incline and other options a treadmill needs to offer. Most people don’t know about this expert tip, which may account for the lack of results they experience. In addition to this, the calf muscles are generally hard to build, but running or walking on an incline will target them very well because you will need to push off more against the treadmill’s belt beneath you.
Interval training increases speed
Another very important tip from the experts on how to make the most out of your treadmill workout is to implement interval training. Interval training, as the name suggests, means that you should use small time intervals where you will alter your running speed. More often than not, runners experience a plateau if they don’t change their usual route and speed.
Treadmill runners are more prone to experience a plateau and see no results no matter how often they work out on a treadmill. Implementing interval training is much more important to see results and avoid a plateau. By altering your running speed often, your muscles will experience more variety. By using “unpredictable” speeds on the treadmill your muscles will have a bigger challenge to get used to and will get more gain.
Do additional exercises
As we’ve mentioned early on in the article, doing a little bit of yoga to wake up your muscles before a treadmill workout is a must. It’s important to note that your muscles will also need a proper cool-down period after a workout. This is where doing a small session of yoga to target hips and legs is great, and it will in turn make you more flexible. Having stiff muscles can lead to overworking your knees and ankles.
Moreover, treadmill running is not quite the same as general running because the treadmill belt moves underneath you, and along with it moves your leg over. This doesn’t quite work the glutes as running on the ground does, so doing squats in addition to a treadmill workout is always advised. Running on a treadmill won’t affect your upper body muscles much, so if you want to work out those muscles too, be sure to implement some simple push-ups and pull-ups into your working out regime.
Having a proper treadmill will guarantee you good stamina and strong muscles. Be sure to read a lot of reviews and find a treadmill that can offer many incline and speed options so you can get the most out of your workout.