How to figure out the right gradient or speed for you on your treadmill
Treadmills are some of the best exercise equipment available. Depending on your fitness goals and plans, a treadmill could be one of the best investments you make for your long term physical health. Treadmills have been shown to burn more calories in a one hour run than are burned in a similar workout on a stationary bike, cross country skiing machine, or rowing machine. The cardiovascular system is greatly strengthened by such workouts with the benefit of better overall health and strength. Even a short period of exercise every day can greatly improve your overall well-being and happiness. Other benefits of a treadmill are the ease of changing the conditions under which you are working out. If you have a treadmill at home you can listen to whatever music you want without the hassle of strapping some sort of device to your arm or shoulder. You can also watch whatever television program or movie you might like. When the weather is poor or freezing cold in the winter, you always have the opportunity to get an excellent workout. These benefits make you want to workout more, so you are more likely to actually get the exercise done and improve your health. But what about some of the most important features like the incline and speed control? How can you use these great options to improve your workouts?
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The incline and speed control are two of the most important tools you can use on your treadmill to give you a great workout. Treadmills are actually set at a slight decline normally, so if you want the effect of running on a flat surface you need to increase the incline a little bit. When you normally run outside you also have to fight air resistance, which you do not need to do while running indoors. As a result you need to adjust incline and speed to make up for the lack of resistance that you would have normally felt while running outdoors. Remember that you should keep well hydrated while running on a treadmill because without the natural wind resistance that you get from the outdoors your body will loose more water than it normally would. Be sure to watch how you feel and not to overdo it. You might also want to have a fan blowing on you while you are running or walking on the machine.
If you run at the standard decline that a treadmill is set at you will be running downhill. This is o.k. if you want to build up your calf muscles or shin muscles. It will not be as good for someone who wants to do overall endurance work. Running on the flattest setting will help you build up endurance and speed, but it works out a limited set of muscles. When the treadmill is set on an upward incline, you develop more strength in the buttocks and shin muscles. This type of running works a very different group of muscles and is very difficult, although it helps develop allot of cardiovascular strength. If you want to develop allot muscle you might want to do incline workouts at about three or four percent incline.
To develop lots of sudden speed you will want to develop more muscle mass and work on explosive running at a high speed. Endurance should be done at a lower and more steady speed. You can use the speed control to set a specific time for a workout so that you can actually work up to a particular race speed.
