Walking on a treadmill

Walking on a treadmill is a common cardio option for all athletes looking to improve aerobic endurance and cardiovascular function, boost their metabolism, or lose body fat.

Regular brisk walking on a treadmill gives results comparable to interval jogging in city parks, long cardio sessions on an ellipse or stepper, but for most amateur athletes it is much easier both physically and mentally.

What muscles work?

Let's start by looking at which muscles work when walking on a treadmill.

During aerobic exercise, we train, first of all, the heart muscle, on the state of which the lion's share of our health depends. But also while walking on a treadmill, the quadriceps and abdominal muscles are actively involved in the work.

If your gym is equipped with modern treadmills, in which you can adjust the angle of the moving surface, then walking uphill on the treadmill will additionally strengthen the calf muscles, hamstrings, gluteal muscles and spinal extensors.

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The benefits of walking on a treadmill

It's no secret that walking on a treadmill is very beneficial despite the simplicity of the exercise. In particular, for weight loss, brisk walking on a treadmill is perfect.

Calorie consumption for this type of physical activity is quite large - for an hour of work with an average intensity, we burn about 250-300 calories. This is equivalent to 150 grams of lean, boiled beef or a hearty serving of buckwheat porridge.

Regularly doing this kind of cardio workout increases the metabolic rate, which allows us to quickly get rid of accumulated excess fat or gain quality muscle mass without increasing subcutaneous fat.

The undoubted benefit of walking on a treadmill is also manifested in an increase in endurance, which greatly simplifies the task when doing crossfit or classic workouts in the gym. No wonder cardio on the treadmill is a must-have part of the training process for any experienced crossfitter, bodybuilder, mixed martial artist, cyclist or swimmer.

Who is the exercise recommended for?

There is a lot of controversy on the web about what is best to include in your workout program: walking or running on a treadmill. It should be said that walking is no less effective in terms of developing endurance and getting rid of excess fat, and it is certainly more beneficial for health. The fact is that the treadmill is designed in such a way that we don't run along it - we catch up with it. This puts unwanted stress on the knee joints and over time can lead to injuries to the meniscus or hamstrings.

So, here are a few categories of people for whom this exercise is ideal:

• walking on a treadmill is recommended for those people who have knee problems. It will help you stay fit and avoid worsening injuries;
• this is a great exercise for those just starting out in sports. Performing walking on a treadmill from the first days of training, you will gain excellent endurance and keep your knees;
• interval walking on a treadmill is perfect for athletes suffering from hypertension. It allows us to work with a comfortable heart rate (115-130 beats per minute), while running increases the heart rate to 140-170 beats per minute, which is too much for the cardiovascular system of hypertensive patients;
• also, measured walking on a treadmill will work well for those people who have just quit smoking and started to lead a healthy lifestyle, and their respiratory system is not yet ready for serious strength or cardio loads. After a month of regular walking on a treadmill, their shortness of breath will decrease or completely disappear, the work of the cardiovascular system will normalize, their lungs will get used to delivering more oxygen to the muscle cells, and only after that you can start full-fledged exercises in the gym.

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Effective walking rules

To get the most out of this type of cardio workout, follow these simple guidelines:

1. Always start your workouts with a thorough warm-up. Particular attention should be paid to the knees and ankles, and the quadriceps and calf muscles should also be well warmed up.
2. Drink plenty of water during exercise. Drinking at least a liter of still mineral water in small sips, you will protect yourself from disturbances in the layer balance in the body.
3. Do not change the length of the steps. Try to take steps of the same length throughout the workout - this will keep an even pace of walking and increase the effectiveness of cardio load;
4. End your workout with a cool down. When you are already exhausted and cannot walk with a brisk step, continue walking for another 10-20 minutes. By increasing your heart rate when walking fast, fat burning and metabolic processes in your body will not weaken during a hitch.
5. Decide on the optimal workout duration. Scientists believe that the processes of lipolysis during physical activity begin to proceed with full power only after 35-40 minutes, but, at the same time, too long cardio (more than 80 minutes) can lead to the breakdown of muscle tissue. Therefore, the optimal walking time on a treadmill is about 60 minutes.

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How to lose weight by walking?

In order to enhance the lipolysis processes during cardio training in the form of walking on a treadmill, there are several technical subtleties. Here are some of them:

Correct exercise time

The optimal time to do cardio workouts for weight loss is in the morning on an empty stomach. At this time, catabolic processes prevail in our body, glycogen stores in the liver and muscles are minimal, and the only source of energy is subcutaneous or visceral fat, which our body begins to actively consume. If you are worried that fasting cardio will negatively affect your muscle mass, take a serving of BCAAs or complex amino acids before training.

Combination with other exercises

Walking on a treadmill after strength or functional training is equally effective. Walking at moderate intensity will increase the fat-burning effect of your workout as you burn even more calories.

Regularity

Regularity is the key to progress. If, in addition to walking, you exercise with weights, then two hours of walking workout on a treadmill per week will be enough. If, for one reason or another, training in the gym is contraindicated for you, walk on the treadmill 4-5 times a week.

Variety in training

Add variety to your training. Perform brisk walking, almost running, more often, so you will achieve an even greater increase in endurance and reserves of the respiratory system. Also, an excellent way to lose weight is interval walking on a treadmill, in which you alternate walking at a brisk pace and walking at a walking pace. Interval walking will be especially effective if you have a fitness bracelet or heart rate monitor - so you can track your calorie consumption and heart rate at different walking paces and, based on this, make adjustments to your training schedule and try to increase the intensity of your cardio workouts day after day. ...

Training program

Below are several interval walking patterns for beginner and intermediate athletes:

First level

Average level

Each scheme should be repeated 3-4 times in one workout. To increase energy consumption, you can vary the incline of the treadmill's moving surface, making it larger for low intensity walking and smaller for high speed walking.

Reviews on the use of the treadmill

If you read the reviews of many fitness experts, then there is almost no doubt that walking on a treadmill is one of the best weight loss exercises possible. Professional athletes who actively use this simulator to improve their own body and improve athletic performance are in solidarity with the experts.

UFC champion Conor McGregor is among the adherents of treadmill use during cardio workouts. In his opinion, this exercise, along with a bicycle and a rowing machine, allows you to develop endurance.

The result of such training speaks for itself: Conor is the most popular and highest paid mixed martial arts fighter. His fees grow with every fight, and his every fight with an opponent is not discussed on the Internet, unless he is lazy. Conor's physical appearance is also phenomenal. He has insane stamina, strength and fighting qualities, while constantly maintaining the level of adipose tissue in the body less than 10%, although for this he sometimes literally has to "die" on the treadmill.

Watch the video: Man hilariously demonstrates 100 ways to walk on a treadmill (November 2024).