Avoid the 'Dreadmill'

The treadmill is the perfect equipment for an indoor workout. For some people, the prospect of running without going anywhere and staring at the same spot on the wall can turn the treadmill into the 'dreadmill.' Here are a few ways to keep the treadmill fun and challenging.

If you are on the treadmill simply to burn more calories, you may be surprised at how many workout options you truly have. If you are looking for a low intensity workout that allows you to burn more calories without overtraining, consider walking on a sharp incline. Walking slowly at maximum incline can burn just as many calories as going jogging outdoors. The incline keeps your muscles working and heart pumping, but the slow pace allows you to entertain yourself while training by reading a book or watching the television. Better yet, I find that incline walking is easy to recover from and is a great form of cross-training.

If you don't like spending time on the treadmill, an interval workout is a great way to burn maximum calories in minimal time. Start with a slow, steady pace for several minutes. Then begin cycling to higher paces. For example, you might jog for a minute, increase the pace to a run, then run faster, and finally sprint for a final minute before falling back to a jogging pace. Repeat these intervals several times and you will easily burn several hundred calories in less than a half hour.

The incline is another great way to add variety to your workout. Instead of changing your pace, you may keep a steady pace but vary the incline during the workout. One of my favorite routines is to perform intervals on a flat surface and slowly increase the speed week to week. Once I reach maximum speed, I fall back to a slower pace but raise the incline. This cycle allows me to keep my workouts short and fast but steadily increase the calories that I burn each session.

Distance runners can use the treadmill for tempo training. Run five kilometers at a slower warm-up pace. Follow this with five kilometers at a faster pace, then another five kilometers at your race pace or faster. Finish with five kilometers at the slower cool-down pace and you've completed a long tempo workout.

If your treadmill allows you run at faster, near-sprint paces, you can perform some very short but intense workouts. One routine I prescribe to clients is a short, fifteen minute routine. It's simple: start out for two minutes at a comfortable warm-up pace. Then, increase the pace by one - two kilometers per hour every minute until have either maxed out the speed of the treadmill or cannot keep the pace for a full minute. Then, drop back to the original pace but increase the incline. Repeat this one more time. For that last segment, after you've hit the top speed, flatten the treadmill (turn off the incline) and try to work your way back to the slow pace by dropping one - two kilometers per hour every minute. This is a very intense workout and not for beginners, but it will pack quite a punch.

Try experimenting with various routines to learn what you enjoy and recover from best. I find that having an intense and challenging routine takes the boredom out of running and going nowhere. Sometimes I am forced indoors by heavy rain or cold weather and am scheduled for a long (two or three hour) run at a steady pace. When that's the case, it helps to take a slightly different approach: instead of focusing on the routine, I focus on a good movie to watch while I'm pounding out the kilometers.

Whether you are using the treadmill to improve your sport ability, increase your cardiovascular performance, or simply to burn extra calories to shed fat, the treadmill is a great and convenient tool. Learn to have fun so it is not another trip to the 'dreadmill.'