It’s easy to dislike the treadmill. The lack of scenery and variety has led some exercisers to nickname it the “dreadmill” and Satan’s sidewalk. But if you can’t get outside, it can be a lifesaver.
“It’s a wonderful tool,” said Whitney Heins, a marathoner and running coach in Tennessee who relied on treadmills after her children were born. “I didn’t enjoy it at first, but it gave me a chance to learn the positives of a controlled environment, and I became mentally tougher.”
The treadmill allows you to precisely control your workout, which is both good and bad. You can experiment with short, powerful intervals or hills, for instance, but it’s also easier to fall into a pace that doesn’t really challenge you.
“If you just keep repeating the same old boring workout, it shouldn’t be surprising when you hit a plateau,” said John Davis, a biomechanics researcher and running coach in Minnesota. “To keep improving, your body needs to experience a bit of a crisis: a faster pace, a steeper incline or a longer interval rep than you’d usually do.”
Here’s what you need to know to get the most out your time on a treadmill.
Treadmill 101
There are two primary controls on most treadmills: speed and incline. If it’s been a while since you used one, start by spending some time familiarizing yourself with the controls, walking very slowly to start, said Steph Creaturo, a running coach in Brooklyn who also works with walkers.
It’s important to know that speed readouts on a treadmill can be inaccurate, often because of poor calibration or a loose belt. But while the speed may be off, pace adjustments are usually fairly accurate, according to Dr. Davis.
The incline number corresponds to the percent grade. There is a common axiom that you should start a treadmill incline at one percent to simulate running or walking outdoors, but that only applies to speeds faster than about a seven-minute pace, Dr. Davis said.
The springiness of a treadmill platform will also vary, which can impact how much energy you need to maintain a certain pace. A bouncier platform can feel gentler on your body, but it’s generally slower, like running or walking on grass or dirt.
On a treadmill, it can also be easy to lose focus and wind up locked into a different pace than you planned, so pay attention to your body. “You can always increase the pace later, but starting conservative helps prevent you from getting fatigued too quickly,” said Dr. Davis.
Once you are comfortable, you can mix it up with a running or walking workout.
Walking Workouts
An interval session to boost overall fitness
Time: 40 minutes
If you’re a walker who is new to the treadmill, this is a good place to start. Ms. Creaturo said you should be comfortable walking for 30 minutes several times a week.
Warm up: Walk for 10 minutes with zero incline, gradually picking up your pace so that you are walking briskly — still able to say a full sentence, but panting a little — by the end.
Workout: This workout is a 20-minute “ladder” sequence with intervals of hard work that vary in length. Start at the speed you were walking at the end of your warm-up. Increase your pace by 0.5 miles per hour for 30 seconds, then bring it back for 30 seconds. Repeat the same speed increase, but this time for a full minute and then one minute back at the warm-up pace.
Next, walk two minutes at the faster pace and two minutes slower; followed by three minutes faster and three minutes slower. This is the top of the ladder. Now work your way back down, to two minutes, one minute and finally 30 seconds to finish.
Optional cool down: 10 minutes of easy walking.
An introduction to hill walking
Time: 30 minutes
Hill workouts better engage the muscles in the backs of your legs and give you more of an aerobic challenge. However, Ms. Creaturo suggested you start slow if you aren’t used to walking hills.
“If you’re in flat Florida and don’t encounter hills outdoors, start with an incline of 1.5 percent to two percent,” she said. But if you are accustomed to hills outdoors, you might try a steeper one.
Warm up: 10 minutes at an easy walking pace with no incline. Slowly work the incline up to a point where you start breathing harder at the same pace.
Workout: Increase the incline by 0.5 for five minutes. Take it up another 0.5 for five minutes and complete another 0.5 jump for a final five minutes. If this isn’t challenging enough, use a 1 percent increase at each interval.
Optional cool down: Five minutes easy walking at zero incline.
Running Workouts
An interval session to boost aerobic fitness
Time: 30 minutes
If you spend all your time running at an easy to moderate pace, a high-intensity interval session once a week will help improve your cardiovascular fitness and build speed, Dr. Davis said.
Warm up: Eight minutes at an easy jog that feels like a three out of 10 effort.
Workout: For this workout, find a challenging pace that you can sustain for longer than a mile — it should be hard to hold a conversation but not flat-out exhausting. This should be slightly faster than your typical 5K pace, if you know it and can comfortably run that far.
Run for two minutes at this faster speed. Walk slowly for one minute. That’s one set; perform six sets altogether.
Optional cool down: Four minutes of very easy running.
A hill session to boost endurance
Time: 30 minutes
This is a solid hill workout. Sustained uphill running shifts your weight onto your forefoot, which challenges the calves more than running on a flat surface. That same shift will also work your Achilles’ tendon, so pay attention to any unusual soreness.
Warm up: Jog easily for eight minutes at zero percent incline.
Workout: Run for four minutes at a challenging pace that you can maintain at four percent incline. Recover by slowly walking for two minutes, returning the incline to zero. Then repeat two more times.
Optional cool down: Four minutes of very easy running at zero percent grade.
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