Not sweating on the treadmill can mean you're in a cold gym or it can be an indication that you're not working out at a high enough intensity level. Although you can still burn calories with a workout when you don't break a sweat, you'll burn even more calories and reap full fitness benefits if you boost your treadmill workout's intensity.
Intensity and Sweat
A treadmill workout at a moderate intensity will usually have you breaking a sweat after about 10 minutes of exercise, while a vigorous intensity will get you there after only a few minutes. Low intensity workouts can leave you without sweat. The talk test is a way to measure your workout's intensity, with moderate workouts leaving you the ability to carry on a conversation but leaving you too winded to sing.
Intensity and Heart Rate
Tracking your heart rate is another way to gauge your treadmill workout's intensity. Figure out your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age by 220. A light intensity workout reaches between 40 percent and 50 percent of your maximum heart rate, a moderate workout reaches between 50 percent and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate and vigorous exercise reaches 70 percent to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.
Intensity and Calories
Looking at the calories burned can be enough motivation to boost your treadmill workout's intensity. If you weigh 160 lbs., for instance, you can burn about 91 calories during a 30-minute treadmill workout walking at a speed of 2 mph. Increase the treadmill speed to 3.5 mph and you can burn 138 in that same half-hour. Jogging at a speed 5 mph can increase the workout's calorie burn to 282 and kicking it up to an 8 mph run can boost it to 493 calories. Increasing the incline can burn even more calories.
Boosting Treadmill Intensity
A report in Fitness magazine titled "Run/Walk: The 20-Minute Treadmill Hill Workout" offers a 20-minute treadmill hill workout that burns 300 calories by mixing up the pace and incline. The workout begins and ends with three minutes of walking at 3 mph with an incline of one. It gradually increases the incline to seven in 30-second intervals, then brings it back down to one, followed by another round of gradual increases. At the same time, the treadmill speed increases every two minutes, with peaks of higher speed for one minute, and then a moderate level for two more minutes for the duration of the workout. Create a similar workout that varies speed and intensity to work out at an overall moderate level peppered with vigorous boosts of activity.
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