How To Use A Treadmill For Effective Weight Loss?

Treadmill is a great way to burn extra calories and help you lose weight. It is not cheap and most people do not know how to use a treadmill for weight loss. If used regularly, treadmills are machines that take an excessive beating. Physical problems may occur when you are ready to ramp up the intensity of your workout. If you increase the treadmill’s speed, then you run the risk of putting more pressure on your knees, which may cause increased pain and irritation on the knee joint. But treadmill walking and exercise are preferred for people with severe overweight conditions. They not only burn belly fat, but one of the long-term effects of regular treadmill sessions is that visceral fat will go away for good. This article provides you a detailed guide on using a treadmill for weight loss.

Basic of treadmill weight loss and workout plans

High-intensity interval training (HIIT)

This involves alternative sets of high-intensity exercise and rest that reduce body fat and burn calories in a short period of time. HIIT routine helps to burn a lot of calories and contributes to weight loss. By following HIIT, your body attempts to return to a normal resting state and does this by metabolizing body fat for energy. How to do HIIT on a treadmill? Here it is:

Walk 2mph for 5 minutes to warm up on the treadmill
Run on a treadmill at 9 to 10 mph for 30 seconds
Walk on a treadmill at 3 to 4 mph for 60 seconds
Repeat these 5 to 10 times
Now walk at 2 mph for 5 minutes to cool down

Moderate intensity walking workout

Moderate intensity walking workout is a 60 minutes workout that can burn up to 300 to 400 calories depending on your speed and weight. If you can’t set aside a continuous hour, then break this workout into two sessions of 30 minutes. Do a warming-up exercise for 10 minutes at an easy to moderate pace. Gradually increase your pace to a brisk walk that brings your heart rate up to 60%-70% of your maximum heart rate. Some treadmills have an inbuilt grip pulse detector or heart rate monitor. This helps you to track your heart rate and exertion. While using the scale, choose a number between 6-20 that correlates to your workload with 6 indicating that your body is at complete rest and 20 indicating that you are working at maximum intensity.

Distance workout

A distance treadmill workout is an hour or more of a walking workout at a comfortable pace. You can take your walk outdoors for the day and walk in a park, along a greenway, shopping, or exploring. If you want to track your steps and distance, use your smartphone or an activity tracker so you can balance how many activity calories you are burning. Instead, if you are planning to walk indoors on the treadmill, listen to a podcast or stream your favorite song to pass the time. Several treadmills have a screen built on them so that you can watch your favorite show.

Moderate health walk

Do treadmill walking for 30 minutes at a moderate pace. But do not do high-intensity walking and you should feel that you are working and not working very hard. So choose a 12-14 on the RPE scale to make the workout intensity sustainable. After this, you can do some core workouts at the end. Choose simple 2 to 3 exercises without using any types of equipment such as ab curls, plank, standing abdominal exercises.

Add hills

Adding hills makes treadmill workouts more challenging. To burn more calories, walk briskly or run at an incline so that your body has to work harder. This also helps to activate your muscles and build more lean muscles. So if you want to try this, then follow the below-given sequence of treadmill:

Firstly, walk at 2 mph for 5 minutes to warm up
Now set an incline to 1 percent and jog at 4 to 6 mph for 1 minute
Again increase the incline by 1 percent each minute and repeat this until you reach an 8 to 10 percent incline.
Now decrease the incline by 1 percent each minute and repeat until you are at a 0 to 1 percent incline.
To cool down your body, walk at 2 mph for 5 minutes

Treadmill workouts have various benefits apart from weight loss. Some of them are:

Regulate blood sugar level
Improve endurance and cognitive function
Increase memory and focus
Strengthen your muscle
Relieve stress, anxiety, and depression
Provide better and peaceful sleep
Boost your immunity power
Promote healthier and smoothen skin

So as a form of cardio exercise, treadmill workouts are excellent ways to burn calories and losing weight. You can choose the best-suited treadmill and the best treadmill weight loss program for you after talking to a certified personal trainer.