Ready to try out treadmill workouts for weight loss? You came to the right place! While you see treadmills everywhere, you may not have known just how effective of a workout you can get on your regular old treadmill.
Known by all kinds of silly names like “dreadmill” and “expensive clothes hanger,” treadmills just might be your new best friend when it comes to weight loss and consistently burning off the body fat.
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What are the Benefits of Treadmill Workouts?
Treadmills are more than just another boring machine at your local fitness facility. Here are just a few of the reasons you shouldn’t just walk past them on your way to other parts of the gym (or house).
- Multi-task—catch up on your favorite television shows while you work out. Or, make those phone calls you need to return and get those conversations out of the way while burning through the calories. Why waste time sitting around on the couch when you can kill two birds with one stone?
- For use in any weather—yes, since treadmills are usually situated indoors, you really have no weather-related excuses not to get your workout in.
- Less stress on joints—treadmill workouts will usually provide less impact, especially when compared with walking or running outdoors on hard surfaces.
- Safety—also because they’re indoors, treadmills may be safer than walking or running outdoors at night, in traffic, or when the weather conditions are less than optimal (whether that means snow and ice or in the heat of summer).
Plus, cardiovascular exercise makes everything better—yes, you can improve your health markers across the board by including plenty of cardio into your daily regimen, and a treadmill can help you get it done. Cardio work can help you improve your blood sugar levels, relieve depression and stress, help you sleep better, boost your energy levels and immune system, strengthen your heart, increase your good cholesterol levels, burn body fat, strengthen muscles, and more.
Where Can You Find a Great Treadmill Workouts?
Besides simply walking on a treadmill, there are many workout variations you can try.
In case you haven’t heard, treadmill workouts for weight loss are very popular. From YouTube to TikTok, everywhere you look, you’re bound to find a great workout routine. In fact, there’s even a workout that has recently gone viral:
1. The TikTok 12-3-30 Treadmill Workout
Start by warming up with a five-minute slow walk.
Next, set the treadmill to a 12% grade (so you’re walking uphill) and set your speed at 3.0 mph. Continue this walk for 30 minutes.
According to the 12-3-30 Treadmill Workout’s creator, actor Lauren Geraldo, you’ll burn a ton of calories and, compared to running, this exercise routine is gentle on the joints while doling out extra work to your core, glutes, and calves.
A note of caution: although this workout may look relatively simple, rest assured, it is not that easy. In fact, you should take your time and work your way up to both the time and the incline levels. Most people will not be able to realistically sustain this workout. A good recommendation may be something more like this:
Start with a gentle 5-minute warmup at about 2.5 mph. Next, raise the treadmill until you reach a 5% grade. If you can, bring the speed up to 3 mph. Continue for 15 minutes, feeling a good stretch through your legs, glutes, and core. Make sure to use your arms (pump them) to help with forward momentum. After 15 minutes at an incline, bring the treadmill back down to 0% incline, reduce the speed to 2.5, and walk for another 5 minutes to cool down.
Note: you can also work your way up to these inclines slowly, by raising the treadmill up a degree or two at a time. You can also go more slowly than 3.0 mph once you’re walking on the incline. The goal is to work your way up to a faster pace and more of an incline over time.
2. Couch to 5K Treadmill Workout
Another very popular treadmill workout that will have you losing weight and gearing up for a big outdoor run (if you want to) is the very popular Couch to 5K Treadmill Workout. Also, check your phone as there are apps you can use for this program as well: just type in “C25K,” and several programs will pop up that you can download for free.
The premise behind the C25K is that you slowly build up your running ability over time by interspersing walking with short bursts of running. Over time, you do more and longer running sessions and less walking until, eventually, you are ready to run a 5K!
There are two main versions of the program: one outdoors and one on the treadmill. For example, the treadmill workout might look something like this:
- Minutes 1 – 5: Easy warm-up walk
- Minutes 5 – 6: Run
- Minutes 6 – 7:30: Walk
- Minutes 7:30 – 8:30: Run
- Minutes 8:30 – 10: Walk
- Minutes 10 – 11: Run
- Minutes 11 – 12:30: Walk
- Minutes 12:30 – 13:30: Run
- Minutes 13:30 – 15: Walk
- Minutes 15 – 16: Run
- Minutes 16 – 17:30: Walk
- Minutes 17:30 – 18:30: Run
- Minutes 18:30 – 20: Walk
- Minutes 20 – 21: Run
- Minutes 21 – 22:30: Walk
- Minutes 22:30 – 23:30: Run
- Minutes 23:30 – 25: Walk
- Cooldown
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Each week, you’ll repeat some version of this setup, usually with the run times getting a little longer and the walk times a bit shorter every few days. Ideally, you would use this program three times a week with at least a day off in-between workouts.
Variations on the Treadmill Workouts
There are many ways to approach this type of workout and mix it up so that it works best for you. You can increase and decrease the incline instead of changing the speed. You can simply increase and decrease the speed at a fixed incline. You can alternate between walking, running, sprinting, and inclines. The possibilities are many and so much fun! Enjoy!
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