5 Best Treadmill Workouts

Running on a treadmill is one of the best workouts you can do, here are five to get you started.  One advantage of running on a treadmill is that the bed is softer than running on the hard cement of a sidewalk.  The display provides great feedback an easy way to watch your progress.

1. Incline.  A best  way to intensify your treadmill workout is to run at an incline of 5% or more.  Running on a treadmill while it is on an incline is a workout that will tone you legs and increase your fitness.
2. Backwards.  Walking or running backwards is a great way to work different muscle groups.  Trying this outside can be dangerous without someone to watch for cars.  Try doing it on a treadmill at a slow pace to work on your balance.
3. Intervals.  You can use the timer on the treadmill to monitor your time.  After a five minute gentle running warm up, run at a tempo that’s hard for you to maintain for five minutes, then run at a slower recovery pace for five minutes.  Repeat this for sixty minutes – it’s the best way to get in shape.
4. Hills.  After warming up, you can adjust the incline on the treadmill up and down every five minutes.  This re-creates the challenges of running hills on the comfort of an indoor treadmill – it is the best of both worlds!
5. Random.  Most modern treadmills have a random setting.  When you are bored with all of your preplanned treadmill workouts and just want to run, why not try one of the pre-programmed workouts?  This is the best option at the end of a long day when you don’t have the creativity to set up a specific treadmill workout.

If you keep doing any of these workouts, you will be able to stay in shape and maintain your running program, no matter what the weather is like outside.  Put on your best running shoes and get started!