How long will a treadmill last
The National Sporting Goods Association has reported that the most popular piece of home exercise equipment is the treadmill. More people every year are discovering the undeniable benefits of using a treadmill to meet their exercise goals. And even if you do most of your running outside, a treadmill can be an invaluable tool in your running regimen, particularly on those very nasty days when the weather is just unbearable, or when you want to do a hills workout and there aren't any hills around, and so on and so forth.
Treadmills can really give you almost anything that you want in your running routine, except, of course, the feel of pavement under your feet and the smell of exhaust as cars pass you by. However, you can do intervals on a treadmill, you can do incline intervals, you can train for hills, you can train for long distance, you can program your treadmill so that it will help you meet your target elevated heart rate for the amount of time that you want, and it can control your pace. And you can do it all without having to hire a babysitter, without having to miss your favorite TV show, and more.
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However, before you run out and buy the first treadmill that you see, remember that treadmills-particularly good treadmills-are quite expensive. Also, with treadmills, you are often getting what you pay for, so a $500 treadmill is not going to do you a whole lot of good for very long. It can actually be dangerous for you to purchase a really cheap treadmill because you may end up getting seriously hurt by a broken down treadmill belt or another similar problem.
So how long should you expect your treadmill to last? While a lot of the life of your treadmill depends on the quality of your treadmill, fitness experts, retailers, and manufacturers report that the average life span of a treadmill is somewhere between seven years to twelve years. The average life span of a treadmill is about 10 years. Of course, if you take extra good care of your treadmill, it can last you even longer than that.
And how can you take care of your treadmill? Even if you buy the absolute to top of the line treadmill, if you don't take care of it your treadmill is not going to last for very long. Dust is actually the biggest danger and problem for treadmills. This means that once a week, you need to take a dry cloth and wipe off any dust that has accumulated between the treadmill's belt and the treadmill's deck. Make sure that the floor all around and under your treadmill is clean and that there is no dust around it (it is easier to be aware of the dust on your treadmill if you are regularly using it).
Some treadmills come with belts that need to be periodically lubricated in order to keep them running properly. Few treadmills actually require this, but it is important that you check with your retailer and with the owner's manual before you buy a treadmill so that you aren't getting yourself into something that's more than you wanted to bargain for. If you do need to lubricate your treadmill's belt, make sure that you do so on a regular basis, exactly following the instructions that are written in the manufacturer's users manual.
When you are looking at treadmills, make sure that you look at warranties. You will want a warranty for three years for all of the treadmill's parts. Also look for a warranty that includes one year for labor, labor that is provided by the dealer and is in-home service. You don't want to be lugging your treadmill back to the place where you bought it. The majority of the problems that will occur with your treadmill-mostly minor problems, such as needed adjustments-will happen in the first three months that you own your new treadmill.
