The treadmill can be an effective cardio machine for those interested in burning fat and losing weight. A treadmill can offer various speeds, inclines and preprogrammed workouts to help you create variety within your work out sessions. The key to a successful fat-burning workout on the treadmill is to constantly challenge yourself through higher intensity, interval-style training.
Speed Intervals
Speed intervals involve alternating periods of rest with periods of high-intensity running. According to ShapeFit, this type of exercise will burn calories and boost your metabolism. For every 3,500 calories that you lose through exercise, you will lose 1 lb. of body fat. Because speed intervals are demanding on the body, limit your sessions to 15 to 25 minutes. For beginners, start with five to 10 minutes until you can perform longer sessions.
One way to perform speed intervals is to alternate 30 to 90 seconds of brisk walking or slow jogging with 30 to 90 seconds of sprinting for the entire session. For each interval, select a specific speed such as 4.0 mph for the rest period and 7.5 mph for the sprinting period.
Another method is to constantly change the intervals for the entire session. You can make your intervals last 30 seconds to five minutes with speeds varying from a brisk walk to a sprint. For example: walk for two minutes, jog at 5.0 for one minute, sprint at 8.0 mph for 30 seconds, jog at 5.0 for 4 minutes, sprint at 8.5 for 30 seconds and so on.
Incline Intervals
Incline intervals work similarly to speed intervals by incorporating various inclines for designated periods of time. Before attempting to increase the incline while running or sprinting, test your treadmill's incline while walking at a slow pace.
Incline intervals allow you the freedom to change the incline gradually or rapidly and maintain the incline for the time you desire. To simulate climbing a steep mountain, try increasing the incline one level every two minutes. If you prefer more variety, change the incline every 30 seconds and randomly select an incline level.
Steady Running
According to ShapeFit, steady state cardio is lower in intensity but works to immediately burn excess body fat. When performing steady cardio at a lower intensity, your session will need to be longer to see results. Aim for sessions that last 30 to 45 minutes. New runners may find that maintaining a long session can feel almost impossible. If this is the case, start small and build up to longer times. Try starting with 10-minute sessions and adding one minute to your session every other week.
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