Who uses treadmill as primary exercise?

[Pie4me]

I am happy because I just got a nice new treadmill and I was wondering who out there uses a treadmill as much of their primary source of exercise?

I do best walking and live in the country--lately wild stray dogs
and drunk rednecks have really been a concern for me and I feel like
it is only going to get worse as summer approaches--so that was
my excuse for my new toy and the fact that I am turning 50 this
year and I have trouble these days outrunning rednecks! LOL

Let me know about your treadmil use, please!

[Alexa]

Re: Who uses treadmill as primary exercise?

Hi Pie4me,

Woah, are you joking about the rednecks?! Sounds scary.

Good idea to get a treadmill though. I use it as primary exercise at the moment (for the KATA and to train for a race). I tend to run/walk and am trying to progressively run more and walk less for the same distance. I personally (with other machines to) prefer a target of distance, rather than time otherwise it can be a bit clock-watching. Then you can set a time to try and beat that you can do that distance in and then you actually want the clock to go slower!

I know some people do Walk Away the Pounds tapes here I guess that could be done on a treadmill - Lady Hawke would be the person to ask.

I hope you enjoy it

[Sashie]

Re: Who uses treadmill as primary exercise?

I used a treadmill for my primary exercise and LOVED it. On really nice days I would take the kids for walks as well. I live on a military base though so don't have to worry so much about crazy people around me lol. I just found that it was easier for my schedule, left me with no excuses even if I had to exercise after I put the kids to bed... It just "got done". I tried to change it up a bit by changing the grade, adding weights to the mix, and of course I did different ball/stretchy band exercises so my body wouldn't get too used to the treadmill. I lost my weight pretty quickly, I do admit I didn't have much to loose, but man.. in a way it just seemed like it took FOREVER because there wasn't much to loose. In my opinion if you plan to mainly walk/jog to loose weight I highly recommend getting some type of heart rate monitor. I found that I was over doing it, and after purchasing mine, the weight came off more quickly as I was able to monitor different "zones". There is a thread here for them, do some reading... you don't need a fancy one, just get one that will fulfill your basic needs as they tend to get pricey.

[Grant]

Re: Who uses treadmill as primary exercise?

My primary source of exercise is my treadmill too, I agree with Sashie regarding the heartrate monitor, very useful. I'd recommend getting one with a stop watch feature and if you ever think you might be running in the dark I'd suggest getting one that has a back light so you can read the thing (mine doesn't and I regret it).

Anyway, I've been using the treadmill about 8 months. After a while I noticed that I had a harder time getting my heart rate up consistently. I'd either have to go faster then I was comfortable with or really up the incline. To change it up I started doing interval training and/or working with weights while on the treadmill. Good stuff, if you are interested here is a link with articles on both interval and weight training on the treadmill and several other things you can do if you get bored with your normal routine.

http://walking.about.com/od/treadmillworkouts/Treadmills_and_Treadmill_Workouts.htm