The Treadmill Revolution
July 17th 2006 02:55
The Treadmill Revolution
Treadmills are becoming more and more popular in household living rooms and garages due to their greater convenience and feasibility over the more out-of-the-way and elite gym membership.
The benefits of using the home treadmill are many:
• First and foremost, you don’t need to go anywhere. Many people avoid exercise because they just can’t be bothered driving to the gym or going outside in the cold or wet weather. Having a treadmill at home is a very convenient source of exercise.
• It’s possible to adjust the incline and speed at the push of a button, so the trainer can exercise the way he or she wants. For example, you can perform enormous hill workouts without needing to find a large mountain!
• Some treadmills have special features like step count, heart rate monitors, amount of calories burnt, etc so trainers can set goals and aim for better results each run.
• Sometimes using the treadmill can be monotonous, but unlike the gym you can put on your own TV programmes/music videos to aid you in forgetting about what you’re doing.
• Interesting note: Trainers can actually gain better running times on a treadill due to less air resistance coming towards them. A runner on a track has to compete with this resistance but a treadmill runner is essentially not going anywhere, so is not trying to push through the air.
Some people believe that running on a treadmill does more damage to the joints – especially the knees and ankles – than running outside on the road. This is not true as there is some bounce-back with a treadmill because of the way they are designed. The running surface is usually made of plastic or rubber and the treadmill is able to give a little. Running on the hard tarmac of the road is worse for the joints as the road can’t give due to the ground beneath it.
All things said though, running outside in the sunshine and fresh air can be psychologically as well as physically stimulating. Especially in winter, it is important to get at least 15 minutes of sunshine a day to obtain sufficient Vitamin D, so exercising outside on a sunny day is a great way to be healthy in two ways.
Image part of the Public Domain
Treadmills are becoming more and more popular in household living rooms and garages due to their greater convenience and feasibility over the more out-of-the-way and elite gym membership.
The benefits of using the home treadmill are many:
• First and foremost, you don’t need to go anywhere. Many people avoid exercise because they just can’t be bothered driving to the gym or going outside in the cold or wet weather. Having a treadmill at home is a very convenient source of exercise.
• It’s possible to adjust the incline and speed at the push of a button, so the trainer can exercise the way he or she wants. For example, you can perform enormous hill workouts without needing to find a large mountain!
• Some treadmills have special features like step count, heart rate monitors, amount of calories burnt, etc so trainers can set goals and aim for better results each run.
• Sometimes using the treadmill can be monotonous, but unlike the gym you can put on your own TV programmes/music videos to aid you in forgetting about what you’re doing.
• Interesting note: Trainers can actually gain better running times on a treadill due to less air resistance coming towards them. A runner on a track has to compete with this resistance but a treadmill runner is essentially not going anywhere, so is not trying to push through the air.
Some people believe that running on a treadmill does more damage to the joints – especially the knees and ankles – than running outside on the road. This is not true as there is some bounce-back with a treadmill because of the way they are designed. The running surface is usually made of plastic or rubber and the treadmill is able to give a little. Running on the hard tarmac of the road is worse for the joints as the road can’t give due to the ground beneath it.
All things said though, running outside in the sunshine and fresh air can be psychologically as well as physically stimulating. Especially in winter, it is important to get at least 15 minutes of sunshine a day to obtain sufficient Vitamin D, so exercising outside on a sunny day is a great way to be healthy in two ways.
Image part of the Public Domain
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Comment by edward
Rocky's Running Diary
Comment by RachDegab
Maybe they do this to make you work harder? Or maybe they don't underestimate things and we're just going nuts??
RachDegab