Treadmill Redux

Coming back around to using a treadmill in my fitness quest. I'm a fan of P90X and sane nutrition, but there is a dynamic for me I using a treadmill that helps keep me motivated with exercise and nutrition. And, not to belabor the point, there is nothing passive about the way I use a treadmill.

I practice high intensity interval training sets on a treadmill (HIITs for short). There are several approaches to this, but the basic premise is that the intensity of the workout is varied from moderate to exhaustion through several cycles. When I was doing this regularly and running on the treadmill I would start with a slow warm up for 5 minutes, gradually picking up my speed and breaking out onto a jog. Then I would begin increasing my speed by intervals of 2 every 30 seconds until I reached exhaustion, at which point I would drop back down to my jog speed. After just a minute to rest I would begin increasing my pace again, but by intervals of 3, and continue until I reach exhaustion again. I would repeat that until I reached intervals of 6. After reaching exhaustion on that set I would start going back down in numbers (intervals of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2). I would consider it complete when's had reached the last set of intervals of 2. I'm not a fast runner, so my goal was augmented with the objective of running 3 miles in 30 minutes. The fitness variable was getting as much speed as possible before exhaustion.

Here I am now starting over again (I quit the pathetic fitness center where my membership was and tried to supplement it with walking around my community - not the same thing / same results at all). I'm having to start over walking on the the treadmill but I'm still practicing intense intervals, but with modifications until I'm running again.

I start off with a lower body stretch. I would always do. I like the experience of feeling my body becoming increasingly limber. I jumped on the treadmill once a few years ago, thinking I really didn't need to stretch that day and ended up with a pulled muscle. The pain of that experience has made me a confirmed stretcher for before and after each treadmill session.

I then do the slow warm up on the treadmill. When I'm ready to start I initiate the settings. Since I'm walking during my HIITs right now, I'm incorporating the use of steep inclines and make them the major variable. I set the speed at 3.5 (a good moderate pace) and the incline at 4. For each minute I increase speed and incline by intervals of 1 and continue until I' be reached maximum walking speed (right now 4.5 at lower inclines, less at higher inclines). After reaching maximum walking speed I continue to increase incline until I reach exhaustion. Then I drop back down on speed and incline, but not quite as far down on the incline (maybe only as far as 5.0, an increase of 2 intervals). I repeat the process until exhaustion, then start again at a higher incline.

I never start running. I make myself work harder by walking fast at a steep incline. Try this and you can get yourself I to a dripping mess, which, of course, you really want to do. People who never break a sweat using a treadmill really aren't accomplishing much. You will be able track you increasing fitness by using HIITs on a treadmill. And by the way, no holding on to the front or side hand holds. Walk with your hands swinging. That increases the level of your "work" while you're on the treadmill. At lower speeds you can also occasionally lock your hands behind your head, elbows high, for a workout of your abs.

This is where I'm starting as I work toward getting back up to running my HIITs on the treadmill again. In a few days I'll have to be on the road and away from my fitness center. The advantage of what I'm doing now is that I can still go out and just walk the neighborhood in order to keep my conditioning on track.

Remember, your goal is to work out on the treadmill, not just ride it. No matter what your fitness level, there is a way forgo to use a treadmill that is challenging and will improve your physical condition.