Treadmill Fitness Tips
So you run on a treadmill (or outdoors) and want to get into shape – that’s a great idea for cardiovascular health and fitness – but how do you reduce the risk of injury?
How do you make sure you can keep working out and not wind up bed-ridden?
Here are some treadmill and fitness tips you may want to keep in mind, especially for those new to running (on a treadmill or not).
Of course it all starts with having the best treadmills to begin with, and at Treadmills for Sale we only recommend the best brands, like those from Yowza Fitness, Smooth Fitness or various others (see our Folding Treadmill page for other examples).
Assuming you either own or use a great treadmill, be sure to follow these fitness tips.
Warm-up and Cool-Down
You’ve likely heard of warming up and/or cooling-down. Most treadmills we review here at Treadmills for Sale have programs that offer both a warm-up and cool-down period, so long as you’re not using the manual program and forgot to include this.
Or for those of you running outdoors “Old School” style, you may simply forget to do it.
Well: don’t. This is one of the easier ways to wind up with shin splints or some real injuries: the human body is not a machine. You’ll want to warm-up and cool-off.
Think of your muscles as a car engine in the cool of winter: before the defrost kicks in, the engine needs to warm up some. Or if you’ve played sports with a ‘professional’ league of any sort – your coach had you warm up at least.
It’s the same in running. Do some stretches (described below), begin your run with a brisk walk, then jog lightly. Some even swear by jumping jacks or similar body-weight exercises.
The real key is to actually warm up your muscles with some light movement before breaking out into a full run.
A few minutes is good on either side of your run, to get your heart rate up (or down for cooling down).
Stretching
When using your treadmill for the first time, you’ll want to be sure that you stretch out properly for a good 3-5 minutes as part of your warm-up. Some prefer only to do this before and not after the workout, others only after the workout. I’d suggest you do pre-workout and post-workout stretching to make sure you don’t have too much lactose build-up.
If you’ve ever worked out without stretching before and afterward, your muscles likely got sore – if you used weights as well, you probably developed somewhat severe soreness. This is a buildup of lactose in your muscle tissue.
Though I’m not a doctor by any stretch, I do stretch before and after my workouts and have had little problems of soreness.
This is also a good reason to consider Yoga in addition to your weekly routine, but that’s not necessary. Here’s a couple of videos showing some helpful stretches for runners, both before and after the run.
Pre-Run Stretches
Post-Run Stretches
Get Great Shoes
You don’t need the latest and most expensive model of running shoes, but you really don’t want to use the cheap shoes at a discount store.
We buy a good pair once or twice a year, usually from Amazon’s site to save money (since we know our brands and favorites). Without fail we’ve saved hundreds on shoes every year on the family.
So our recommendations are:
Running Shoes for Men
Merrell Men’s Running Shoe in Kryptonite/Olive
New BalanceMR1012 Nbx Motion Control Running Shoe
Running Shoes for Women
ASICS Women’s Gel-Kanbarra 5 Running Shoe
New Balance WR1123 Running Shoe
Once you have a solid pair of running shoes (and we do find the best prices at Amazon for our selection), it’s a good idea to keep them clean (i.e. no trail-running when it’s muddy outside unless you have a second pair for the treadmill). Otherwise, just be sure to keep your running shoes in good repair and replace when needed.
On our ASICS and New Balance shoes, we need a new pair once every other year (though we shop more often just ‘because’).
It’s important to have full support for your feet while running, especially if you run regularly. Pounding the pavement without a great pair of running shoes can cause enough damage on its own to prevent your regular exercise – so in our own case, we run more often on the cushioned treadmill when we can.
Fight Boredom
It’s hard to stay motivated during a run on a treadmill especially if you’re bored out of your mind. For this reason, getting a television set or MP3 player is pretty key to fight off boredom.
Below are our solutions to help fight boredom on the treadmill.
Use a Television
There are so many “outdoor” programs you can use or documentaries to watch while running. One of my own favorite ways to fight off boredom is to use a big-screen and have a wildlife program on.
That way I get the sensation of running outdoors even if it’s cold or wet outside, or you can put on your favorite movie or television show.
This is also why we only recommend mid-range to high-end treadmills: they have silent (or near silent) motors, making the use of the television more practical.
If you don’t have a TV-enabled treadmill like the Smooth 9.65TV or similar, then we suggest:
AND a small workout television like this one from Samsung.
Get an iPod or Other MP3 Player
Since most quality treadmills are equipped with an iPod docking station or other MP3 jack (Smooth Fitness and Yowza Fitness treadmills almost all have this capability), it’s a good idea to get an iPod or other MP3 player.
In our own home we only use iPods for our music pleasure, we no longer have stereos – that way we can all have our own music ‘store’ at the ready with nobody fighting over the play list.
Position the Treadmill in Front of Your Best View
We understand not everyone wants to spend extra on televisions and iPods, etc. – so if you just position your treadmill in such a way that you can see outdoors, this will help you mitigate boredom.
You could also position it where you have access to your existing entertainment centers in the home and save some money – we find it best to have a dedicated gym of sorts in our home (a former den).
That’s about all the fitness tips we have (besides the obvious: get plenty of rest, make sure you speak to your family physician for his or her tips, and be sure that you eat a healthy diet). Happy running!
