Spending money on a huge machine or gym membership sounds like a waste of money when you could simply walk or run for free around the block. Treadmills do have benefits that the sidewalk doesn't, though, and depending on your situation, a treadmill may be a better choice if you want to keep moving. Anything from the weather to roadside construction can throw your exercise routine out of whack, but a treadmill indoors lets you continue with your exercise routine no matter what the outdoors or local surfaces are like.
Monitor Conditions
Treadmills have consoles that can measure anything from how fast you're moving to the approximate number of calories you've burned, although this is really a general estimate. Each model will have different controls and abilities. You can measure the amount of time you've spent at a particular speed or program the machine to rise to a certain incline, saving you the trouble of searching out an equivalent route outdoors or allowing you to include hills in your exercise if you live in a flat area, or vice versa. Without a treadmill, you have to essentially guess the speed at which you're going, and you have a limited choice of terrain.
Inclement Weather And Pollution
If the weather has become bad -- too snowy, cold, hot, wet or icy -- an indoor treadmill means you don't have to skip exercising that day. Complete your exercise while staying protected underneath your own roof or that of a gym. An indoor treadmill also means you can still work out if pollution levels outdoors have reached unacceptable levels. While cities across the U.S. have worked to contain pollution and lower the number of days marked by ozone or smog alerts, these days still occur, due to too many cars or a weather phenomenon known as inversion, in which a layer of warm air traps cold air and pollution close to the ground, resulting in severe smog. If your city has issued an alert and advised people to not exercise outdoors, or for those with respiratory diseases to stay inside, you can still take your daily walk on an indoor treadmill.
Safety
Running or walking outside carry inherent dangers -- bad drivers, uneven pavement, stray dogs and unsavory people with ulterior motives. If you prefer to exercise while wearing earphones, you risk not being able to hear approaching cars, dogs or people. If you tend to concentrate on the music, you could end up tuning out your surrounding environment and not see that crack in the sidewalk just ahead of you. Using a treadmill lets you complete your run or walk while listening to music without having to worry about whether that car sees the stop sign.
Therapy
Modified treadmills have uses in therapy. Hans Petersen of the Veterans Administration Public Affairs office reports the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Palo Alto uses a special attachment that creates an anti-gravity effect, which lets users choose how much of their weight they carry as they run or walk. If the user has weak joints due to an injury or surgery, he can adjust the treadmill so that the bulk of their weight is kept off joints.
References
- "Austin Fit" Magazine; How to Use a Treadmill Safely and Effectively; Bob Wischnia; March 2009
- Utah Department of Environmental Quality: Health Effects of Pollution Trapped in Inversions
- BeginnerTriathlete.com: Treadmill Running: Just How Good Is It?; Amy Kuitse; October 2007
- U.S. Air Force; Veterans Use NASA Anti-Gravity Treadmill in Treatment; Hans Petersen; October 2010
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