Do you think it's safe to do walking bicep curls, hammercurls, and tricep extensions while walking on an incline on the treadmill?

Reason being - I only have 30 mins to workout during my lunch break - so I've been incorporating cardio, intervals and strength training in one jampact workout. I warm up (jog) 2 mins, then I alternate between sprinting (at 8.5mph) for 1 1/2 mins., 3o second jog, 2 min walk on an incline (3.0mph, 5% incline) while doing arm workouts, 30 second jog, sprinting for 1 1/2 mins so on and so forth. Is it OK to use dumbells on the treadmill? OH and I'll also switch out the upper body for lunges on the days I want to workout lowerbody. I'll do very slow walking lunges on the treadmill - I'll set the speed to .5mph and do walking lunges for 2 mins. with 10 lb dumbells in hand...

I've been doing this for 2 weeks - twice a week. The other 3 or 4 days I'll take a spinning class and/or a jump rope class, and a long run on Sundays.

I feel like I'm losing a battle! I'm not fat - but I am fighting a never ending battle of trying to get my body to LOOK like the incredibly active person I am..LOL that sounds very dramatic

Of course it's not ok............. I'm guessing the weight your using isn't doing you much good anyway....consentrate on one thing at a time. just saying.

No offense but BAD IDEA! Do either cardio or strength training not both at the same time. I would suggest doing compound exercises (like a side squat with a lateral raise). Compound exercises burn more calories than isolation exersices and therefore they are really good if you are time strained.

if you're already getting your cardio in on other days, why not just lift weights on those 2 days? seems like you may be taking unneeded safety risks using weights on the treadmill. I just have a funny picture in my mind of a random person doing lunges on the treadmill at a slow speed with 5lb dumbells... just makes me think... why doesn't she just do that in the studio or near the weights?

O.o

And I thought I got weird looks running backwards on the treadmill...

Yeah, seriously. You're kind of running at a safety risk carrying weights while being on the treadmill. Why not just do the weights on those days (like a previous poster mentioned) and then do some super setting? That way you'll keep your heart rate up for a non-traditional cardiovascular workout.

Or Crossfit. 30 minutes or less and you'll feel like you've worked out for hours.

There's nothing wrong with doing cardio and weights during the same workout. In fact, circuit interval training is highly effective. But I agree with the others that trying to do both at the same time is unwise. Do one at a time. Treadmill for a while to get warmed up, then stop and do a strength exercise (moderate weight, 15-20 reps...this is not the time for muscle failure weight training), then hop back on the treadmill. Do this for 30 minutes, keep your heartrate elevated the whole time, getting in both upper and lower body strength exercises, and you'll have quite the productive workout. But also alternate days where you just do treadmill with days where you just do strength training at heavier weights/lower reps so you can build muscle. Circuit interval is great for toning, but ultimately it's more about building stamina and improving cardiovascular conditioning.

Thanks - I get really bored with lifting/strength training workouts, which is why I'm experimenting different ways of incorporating both strength and cardio. I'm going to keep the same workout - but I'll jump off the treadmill to work with weights. I just didn't think doing walking lunges on the treadmill would be such a crazy idea. When I worked with a trainer we did walking lunges around a track with dumbells all the time. I also recall an article I read a while back in either Fitness or Self Magazine, that had a 20 min treadmill workout, and part of it was walking lunges.

Without going into any other ideas--if you want to add weight to your treadmill workout--get a good weight vest. That way you are not throwing off your stride and it is a lot "easier" to do lunges.

How about intervals with body weight exercises. Do your treadmill, jump off and put in some push ups, Hindu squats, Burpees, etc---and get back on for some more treading:-)

One last thought--you can't beat a hill for cardio or the back end:-) Ramp the treadmill up the full 15% and walk at about 2.8--3.1 for an hour. I do this and throughout the hour will lower it some to do lunge walking and then back up.

I agree with above posts. A treadmill is a working piece of machinery and if something should go wrong....there you are with dumbbells in your hands that you have to drop or throw to grab onto the bar or whatever. How about getting up earlier to get your workout in? Or weight lift to keep your HR up? ie circiut training. If you are bored with weight lifting then mix up the exercises.

Reading back thru your post it seems like you are getting enough cardio in already. I would concentrate on stringth training. Just my opinion

One last thought--you can't beat a hill for cardio or the back end:-) Ramp the treadmill up the full 15% and walk at about 2.8--3.1 for an hour. I do this and throughout the hour will lower it some to do lunge walking and then back up.[/quote]

Thanks I have to try this..sounds like a killer!!

NO wait I got it...you could sky dive with a chain saw and cut the tops out of trees on the way down.

Actually, the suggestion to do cardio 3 days and weight training on the other 2 makes the most sense. Plus it would be hard to do the whole tree thing in 30 minutes.

ROTFLMAO........that was pretty funny.