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Greetings, today we’re going to be talking about the benefits of a treadmill workout plan. If you’re constantly having trouble fitting in workouts at home, or if you don’t have a lot of space for your cardio equipment then this is perfect for you.
When it comes to running on the treadmill, most people don’t come close to maximizing their cardio treadmill workouts. Like so many other things in fitness, you get out of the treadmill what you put into it. Once you step on the treadmill, it’s time to envision your fitness goals, work hard, and train like an athlete to achieve them.
Burn fat, build muscle, and improve endurance with these four challenging treadmill workouts designed for any training program. You’ll learn how to make it fit into your life and get the most out of your exercise routine with these 4 different treadmill workouts.
Benefits of a Treadmill Workout Plan
Whether you’re trying to lose weight via calorie burn, gain muscle, increase cardiovascular endurance, or all of the above, a treadmill workout is an effective way to get your body moving. Treadmills are excellent for cardio and help build muscle with their low impact nature for beginner or advanced runners.
You don’t have to be afraid of using a treadmill. A common misconception is that treadmills are harsh on the joints and bad for your body. However, if you use them properly, the only thing that will be negatively affected is your cardio endurance.
The biggest benefit of a treadmill workout plan is the ability to fit it into your daily routine. This convenience will help keep you motivated and in turn increase your fitness level. You don’t have to have a lot of extra space to store a treadmill. Try doing your cardio on an elliptical machine or cross trainers, but if you can’t fit those into your schedule then try using the treadmill.
Why you need the Treadmill Workout Plan
The treadmill workout is going to give you the most targeted cardio workouts for your fitness goals. It’s going to maximize your body’s capacity to burn fat, build muscle, and improve endurance. If you work out on a regular basis, this plan will show you how to get the greatest benefits from your exercise program.
Treadmill Cardio Workout Plan
You can modify these workouts by making the component parts shorter or longer, adding intervals, hill repeats, etc., but the basic format should always remain the same. Here is a sample week of treadmill workouts for cardio that works:
Monday: HIIT Interval Treadmill Workout
Wednesday: Treadmill Tempo Workout
Friday: Treadmill Incline Workout
Saturday: Treadmill Endurance Workout
Below we will give details on each of these strength building and calorie-burning treadmill workout routines.
30-minute HIIT Interval Treadmill Workout
This is an HIIT Treadmill Workout plan. Since the interval training will be significantly shorter than the tempo section in the previous workout, they should be run at a much higher intensity and max effort. Walk or jog slowly to recover.
10-minute walk/light jog at a comfortable pace
8×1-minute hard intervals [a 9-10 intensity] with 1-minute recovery
5-minute cool down
30-minute Treadmill Workout Tempo Workout
This workout has three parts: A warm up, the tempo section, then a cool down. The key is to run the middle section at a “comfortably hard” pace for that period of time. This means not max effort, so not where you’re dying, but it’s challenging.
10-minute walk/light jog at a conversational pace
10-minute tempo [roughly a 7 intensity on a scale of 1-10]
10-minute cool down
30-minute Workout Treadmill Incline Workout
Running hills is one of the most powerful ways to maximize your treadmill workout. You torch major calories, strengthen your entire body, and improve your running form and efficiency. Run at a 7% incline for the work portion of this treadmill incline workout plan.
10-minute easy warm up at a steady pace
5×2-minute hills with 1-minute recovery
5-minute cool down
30-minute Treadmill Endurance Workout Routine
Although it has been much maligned over the past few years, there is still great value to performing slower steady-state treadmill runs. These workouts force the body to add new capillaries and increase the number and size of the mitochondria, building overall endurance. They can also be used as “active recovery,” performed the day after a harder session, such as a HIIT Interval Treadmill Workout.
3-minute easy warm up
25-minutes steady-state, easy aerobic pace. [5-6 intensity]
2-minute cool down at a recovery pace
Conclusion
As you can see, the treadmill workout plan has several different components. This is a great workout to combine with weights or traditional cardio to build muscle and endurance. You should also consider adding these workouts into your rotation if you can fit them into your time.
Follow the plan, there are no excuses! If you’ve been wanting to lose weight, build muscle, and improve overall conditioning, this is a great way to do it.
FAQ
What pace should I be running on the treadmill?
Setting up your treadmill can be a challenge if you like to run by feel or in miles rather than kilometers. Use our pace converter here to convert minutes/kilometers to minutes/miles.
How can I make treadmill running less dull?
If you plan your treadmill running, you’ll have more fun and get more out of it. If you separate your run into parts, you may concentrate on one section at the same time by varying your pace every three to five minutes between a harder and a softer pace. For a more intense workout akin to an interval training session, you can alternate between sprinting and jogging during the recovery periods while working hard for varying repetition lengths. The treadmill breaks up the workout too much for me to get on and off, so I prefer a slow jog recovery instead.
On a treadmill, tempo runs can also be done, with the warm-up and cool-down included in the workout. For 20-30 minutes, I also like to run on a treadmill at a faster pace, increasing the speed every two to three minutes. Seeing how far I can push myself has been a way for me to monitor my fitness levels.
Treadmill workouts can be done by ramping up and then slowing back down to a moderate pace the incline for a minute. Continually work on increasing the inclination and pace of the treadmill.
How to Figure Out Treadmill Pacing
The majority of treadmill classes and personal trainer teach you to run at your race speed when discussing fitness advice. Whether that’s a mile, 5K, 10K, half marathon, or even a marathon. That’s not a requirement; these reference points are only a convenient means of cueing several runners to run at their own individual paces.
Running shorter distances requires a higher degree of intensity and a faster pace than running larger distances. Typical jogging speeds on a treadmill range from 5.0-7.0mph, explains Clayton. There is a 6.0-8.0 minute per mile pace for the half marathon and a 7.0-9.0 for the 10K, an 8.0-11.0 for the 5K, and a 9.0-12.5 for the mile or sprint. Obviously, your speed will have an impact on these values, but they can be used as a starting point.
Consider using your rate of perceived exertion as a guide. Using a scale of one to ten to measure your exertion level. Easy, moderate, and strenuous running are all rated between 5 and 8 out of 10; jogging is rated 5 out of 10. Using this information, you can figure out what amount of effort corresponds to a particular treadmill speed for you.
