Treadmill Walking Tips

There are several important elements to an effective treadmill exercise. A few things to keep in mind are:

Always warm up. It is essential to stretch your muscles and warm them up slowly by walking at a speed of no more than 1.5 to 2 mph for a minute or two. Switching from the heels to the toes for thirty seconds each, then stretching out your stride for another minute will help stretch all muscles properly. If you’ve increased your level of fitness after a time, you can increase the speed of your warm-up to as fast as 4 mph, which is basically power-walking or a light jog.

Increase your workout slowly. You should stay at one level for four weeks before moving on to the next level of difficulty. Any faster and you risk over-tasking your muscles or sustaining an injury. This is one of the most important tips for treadmill workouts to keep in mind. Burn-out is frequently the result of trying to rush to    results.

Always cool down. Hopping off the treadmill after running and sitting down is an invitation for muscle cramps or worse. You need to slow down the pace and allow your muscles and heart rate to return to normal while you are moving.

Walking is the key to good cardio treadmill workouts. For the first four weeks, you should try for twenty minutes of walking at a pace of about 2-4 mph, depending on your comfort level. Adding ten minutes for the stretching, warm-up and cool-down, you’ll spend a half-hour each time. For the few weeks of treadmill exercise, add ten minutes to your walking time. Do this until you are spending a total of sixty minutes on the treadmill at a time.

Studies have shown that varying your heart rate and the intensity of your workout actually increases your metabolism more than exercising at the same rate for a prolonged length of time. What that means for you is that you should vary how fast you are walking or running when you are on the treadmill.

Strength Training

Who's confused about weight training?

Many people are confused about weight training. They are concerned that they are going to "bulk up" too much or that they are going to add pounds when they are trying to cut weight.

Keep in mind that you're not preparing for a wrestling tournament or similar activity that requires you to be in a certain weight group. So for most of us, body composition is ...much more important than what the scale reads. Some overlooked benefits of weight training include improved body fat percentage, increased energy and metabolism and stress reduction. Strength training often helps you look better in a bathing suit too!

Two benefits that I think are particularly important include improvements in muscle strength and bone density. Think about your elderly family members. When was the last time they did any kind of strength exercise?

The truth is that it has probably been such a long time that simply getting out of the chair is a workout. This is likely due to the common belief that resistance training is just for young people and particular for young men.

In reality, strength training is for people of all ages and it serves different purposes for each.