Running and walking are by far the most recommended exercises on planet earth. It doesn’t end here. Try to regulate yourself, throw yourself on a treadmill every day and you will start to see some amazing benefits.
Treadmill exercises are go-to for two main reasons. First up, it puts slightly less pressure on the knee compared to running on a road. Secondly, I don’t have to worry whether it is raining or storming (it’s a thing in Europe).
But wait up. That’s no the end of the story. I pushed myself to use the treadmill 7 days a week ranging between 6 miles (low) to 9 miles (high) per hour speed for 25 minutes without making pauses. I think I reaped some benefits out of it.
Today I am going to write up how I think it benefited me and how it can do the same for you even if you are just thinking about walking on the treadmill (of course a little bit longer for compensating for the speed).
We usually review fitness equipment with smart features in them and a little while ago, we reviewed some smart treadmills that stole our attention with innovative tech.
1. Gain Noticeable Physical Endurance
I remember it clearly. The first few weeks of running were horrible. There were numerous times when I thought this is not my cup of tea. But once you just hold yourself together through the pain and go past the beginner’s block, it will only get smoother.
Running on a treadmill is slightly easier for beginners because it has a softer surface. A solid road, in comparison, exerts significantly more tension on the bones making it even more difficult to get used to.
Repetitive running on a regular interval will make all your bones and joints stronger. Your body will learn to endure more stress and perform for a longer period of time without starting to get tired. Doing this every day will accelerate the process of developing necessary fitness components.
2. Learn to Combat Runner’s Knee
If you have been out there running, you probably know this annoying problem. Once you feel like you are getting momentum, this thing strikes out to put your progress downhill. Runner’s knee!
Runner’s knee is generally the outcome of running or walking in a bad form. So if you think you can run perfectly from day one, you are really wrong. Even if you try your best to keep the form up, one bad foot placement in your entire session is good enough to give you a runner’s knee.
The only practical way to combat a runner’s knee is to practice. Of course, if you already got a runner’s knee, you should not try to force yourself to run under any circumstance until you have recovered completely.
Another reason to love treadmills is that they have good ergonomics and rubbery surfaces making injuries less frequent to happen.
3. Develop a Good Runner’s Form
Developing a good form for running takes time and a lot of practice. Sure you could read like a dozen of articles to learn the proper form. But putting it into practice is a totally different story.
In fact, this is the number one reason for many health injuries. Runner’s knee, ankle strain, achilles tendinitis and to prevent so many of these, you have to learn how to run maintaining a proper form quickly.
One advantage of treadmill is that it is more accessible, less prone to causing injuries, and is recommended for all those people who want to build up the habit of running. Do it every day and you will master the form faster (provided you are not injured).
4. Shake Off Some Daily Stress
This is something that has been helping me a lot lately. It is not just applicable to a certain group of people. Science has proven that it can benefit all people out there who are dealing with stress because it relaxes stress hormones in our body.
So what kind of stress am I talking about? Let’s say you have a tiring 9-5 job and at the end of each day, you are probably very exhausted. If you build this routine to go out for a run after returning home, it could help you mitigate the daily stress.
Treadmills make this so much easier. If you own yourself a treadmill, you can do it whenever you are a bit stressed or want to distract your mind.
5. Massively Improve Your Sleep Quality
Sleeping disorder or any kind of sleeping problem can be improved with a little bit of running. If you take HIIT sprints, you will sleep like you haven’t slept in the last three days.
Why is that? Running and walking work all muscles in our body. Thighs and calves are some of the biggest muscle groups and they can get the necessary training for muscle growth best from running.
Running will put those muscles into work and tire them so much that your brain will want you to sleep. That’s why some people believe in evening runs where you technically prepare your body for a good night’s sleep.
And why so with a treadmill? Because you can do it in the comfort of your home or in a gym close by. It also relieves you from the worries of road conditions or darkness.
6. Make Your Weight Loss Diet More Effective
Diet is crucial for any fitness goal. It is like a gain-all or lose-all situation. If you don’t have an effective diet plan, the returns from your workout will be insignificant to notice.
Especially in weight loss diet plans, to keep the calorie count low you might have to burn more calories. The easiest way would be sprinting on a treadmill.
Sure there are thousand other ways to burn calories but running is considered the most natural way to burn calories and boost metabolism so that you can eat more. Isn’t that what you want?
7. Feel an Extra Dose of Productivity
Adam Barsouk on Business Insider shared how running transformed his productivity. He went ahead to check if the science backs him up for all the good things that happened to him. It actually did!
A walk or run in the morning can make you more productive in a few different ways. The most important one is generating awake hormones. People get attracted to a cup of coffee but combine this with a prior run, it will wake you up completely and naturally.
There are some mental benefits as well. When a human brain thinks something is difficult, it will look for reasons to not do it. Running early in the morning will train your brain to be strong and take up difficult tasks everywhere in your life.
A treadmill makes it so easy to start a day properly. If you have a treadmill at home, with a little bit of determination you could turn this into your first thing in the morning.
8. Stand Strong Against All Cardiovascular Diseases
In simple English words, running reverses heart diseases. According to Bronson Healthcare, running helps you keep a healthy weight, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, and reduces the risks of heart diseases by 35-55%.
When you don’t use one particular muscle in your body, it not only weakens that part but also breaks the balance in your internal health system. As a result of this disbalance, you get diagnosed with so many different diseases.
Treadmills are helpful in this regard because you control at which speed you are comfortable running (it doesn’t necessarily have to be fast) and worry less about the surroundings.
9. Fall in Love with Music Once Again
Some people do it more and some a little less. But everybody loves music. One thing I can guarantee that if you incorporate music into workouts, you will love music once again.
How does that work? When you use music to get through the pains in a workout, you will develop an emotional connection with music. It will act like your best friend who you can trust on.
Treadmills are, in general, equipped with music players or systems. Some modern treadmills can also allow you to stream music directly from the internet. So if you are one of those people who don’t like wearing headphones for running, a treadmill will be super useful.
Wrapping Up: Tips to Not Get Bored on the Treadmill
That’s pretty much it for this blog post. But here is one more thing to finish this list off with. It is effective, and believe me, it works if you are planning to run on a treadmill every single day.
If you constantly feel bored on a treadmill, pair it up with a tv screen. In your home, you can try to position your treadmill in front of a screen, or at a comfortably viewable distance. If you own yourself a smart treadmill, it could already have an entertainment system built-in.
It is funny but there are times when I ran way longer than I planned, just because my mind got diverted to the screen.
