Treadmill Exercise for Weight Loss

Treadmill Exercise for Weight Loss
Photo Credit man exercising on treadmill 6 image by Ken Hurst from Fotolia.com

To lose weight, you have to work off more calories than you consume each day. You can increase the number of calories you burn through physical activity. Working out on a treadmill is an efficient way to burn calories and help achieve your weight loss goals. You can walk or jog on the machine, or if you want to keep things interesting, you can mix up your routine with a hill or speed workout.

Talk to Your Doctor

If you're going to start a weight loss routine that involves working out on a treadmill, be sure to talk with your doctor when planning your exercise regimen. As a medical professional, she can help you set realistic weight loss goals and ensure you are healthy enough to perform cardio workouts.

Start with Jogging

If you want a no-frills workout, jogging on the treadmill should be enough to kick your weight loss into gear. According to NutriStrategy, running at a 10-minute-mile pace on a treadmill can burn between 590 and 863 calories an hour depending on your weight. As you get used to the treadmill, you can increase your speed to burn more calories. Running a 9-minute mile means the same person can burn between 649 and 949 calories an hour.

Incline Settings

If you have access to a treadmill with incline settings, Fitness Magazine recommends a hill workout as an effective way to burn calories and lose weight. Every 30 seconds, increase the incline setting on the treadmill so that it feels like you're walking uphill. As you increase the incline, increase the speed of the treadmill as well. Do this until you're at the highest incline, and then start going down the hill by decreasing the incline settings every 30 seconds. A workout like this can burn 300 calories in 20 minutes.

Interval Training

In treadmill interval training, you focus on bursts of speed rather than completing a certain number of miles. Each speed burst brings the heart rate up and increases cardiovascular endurance. Between each sprint, you can recover before bringing your heart rate up again. For example, put the treadmill at the highest setting you can handle and sprint for 45 seconds to one minute. Once you have nearly exhausted yourself, bring the settings of the treadmill down and recover at a walking pace for one minute. Repeat this interval work for 30 minutes.

Lower-Intensity Work

There is a treadmill workout for every fitness level. If you're not healthy enough to use the treadmill for vigorous cardio activity, there are plenty of low-intensity options that will still burn some calories. Walking at a moderate pace can burn between 200 and 325 calories an hour. If you set your incline to a hill, walking can burn between 354 and 518 calories an hour.

References

Article reviewed by BudK Last updated on: May 30, 2010

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