If you are ready to begin a weight loss program, jumping on a treadmill is an excellent place to start. "Running is one of the easiest exercises to learn and master," according to author Dave Kuehls. "You just need to get out the door and do what you did when you were a kid--run." Running raises your heart rate and strengthens the larger muscles of your body, which results in increased calorie burning all day long.
Hills and Valleys
Run for one minute with the treadmill incline set to 5 percent, then reduce the incline to 1 percent for the next minute, back and forth for 20 minutes. As your strength and endurance improve, you can increase the length of your run, increase the incline percentage of the hills or both. By setting your speed at a constant jogging pace but alternating between a high and low treadmill incline level, you will keep your heart pumping and calories burning.
Fartlek Training
According to Jeff Galloway, "Fartlek running is a Swedish word meaning "speed play."" The only rule of Fartlek training is that you begin running at a slow pace and run faster and faster until you need a break, then slow back down and start over with another speed progression. This style of training keeps your body guessing and challenges it with the speed sessions to burn fat and strengthen muscle.
Uphill Hike
The stronger your muscles are, the more calories they will burn. By challenging your legs to carry you up a steep incline, you are stoking the fires of your calorie-burning furnace. Begin your run with the treadmill set at a 1 percent incline, and every minute of your run increase the incline by 1 percent. Each time you adjust the treadmill incline higher, slow your pace accordingly.
Sprint Intervals
Incorporating speed sessions into your treadmill workouts will increase your energy output and amp up your fat burning potential. With the incline setting at 1 percent, speed up your pace until you are running at a 90 percent effort. Do this sprint interval for 30 seconds, then slow back down to a walking recovery pace. Walk for one minute then sprint again, continuing this cycle 10 times.
Long Slow Distance
Long slow distance is what you see the majority of treadmill runners doing at the fitness center. Choose a pace that you can sustain for 30 minutes without stopping and set your legs in motion. This style of training is a great way to chalk up the miles and increase cardiovascular endurance and weight loss.
Run-Walk-Run
According to John Ivy, "Jeff Galloway is the creator of the famous run-walk-run method of training." This differs from sprint intervals in that the run portion is not an all-out effort but rather your normal running pace. When you take walking breaks, you are able to run further and therefore burn more calories, resulting in greater weight loss success.
References
- Precor: Intermediate Level Fat Burning and Aerobic Base 1 Building--Treadmill
- "Galloway's Book on Running"; Jeff Galloway; 1984
- "The Performance Zone"; John Ivy and Robert Portman; 2004
- "Run Away from Fat"; Dave Kuehls; 1999
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