Effective Treadmill Workout

OK, you got off the couch and decided to drop a few pounds.  You climb aboard the XLT 2000 at the local gym and off you go with your cell phone, half-gallon of Diet Coke, the local paper strategically positioned in front of your favorite TV show.  Twenty minutes later after setting the speed on "crawl" you climb off hoping that weight loss is possible without sweating.

Sounds familiar?  Let's unlock the "secrets" of an effective treadmill workout.  Caution: It will feel a lot like WORK. Check with your physician before starting any exercise program.

• Warm up first to stretch the muscles (yes you have them), no ... reaching for the phone is insufficient. Set treadmill pace to 1.5 to 2 mph for 2 minutes.  I understand that used to be the speed you used for workout but remember that was the bad old days.
• Be patient.  Just starting out, don't rush trying to do too much too fast.  Ignore that leaping gazelle next to you that was sprinting when you walked in and is still sprinting after you changed clothes.  For first 4 weeks, give yourself 30 minutes including 5 minutes for warm up and 5 minutes for cool down.
• Keep adding time up to 60 minutes as your fitness improves.
• Remember the entire objective of aerobic exercise is cardiovascular exercise.  The more fit you become more work will be required to yield the same results.  This is a good thing.  That also means climbing the stairs or playing with your kids will be less taxing also.

Let's discuss the time between warm up and cool down called a workout:
Studies have found that interval training will yield better aerobic fitness.  That is vary your pace from sprint (say 4 mph) for 3 to 5 minutes then slow down (2 mph) for 1 to 2 minutes.  For some reason the body adjust too easily to the same pace.  Increase your sprint interval (and speed) over time.

Another form of interval training is to vary your incline from flat (0 incline) to say 5 degrees in 5 minute intervals. 

Caution: Don't combine the high end of the speed range with high incline until you are at least 6 weeks into your program.  However, don't do zero incline at 1.5 mph either.  You must stay in the fat burning heart rate zone at all times during the workout!