The Treadmill Workout:  What It Can Do For You

A fast, fun and varied treadmill workout is a fantastic way to keep you motivated and keep up your exercise routine in the cold winter months along with having you burn a serious amount of calories! Many people think of treadmill training as monotonous and boring but it really does not have to be. And despite this bad reputation, the trusty treadmill is the most common piece of home fitness equipment. People love them!

But you may ask, why not pay a visit to the great outdoors and walk, jog or run outside? Well, treadmill workouts have some distinct advantages over going outside and here's why.

People generally like running for the large amount of calories that inevitably get burnt. Running engages a huge amount of muscle groups in the body and is also weight bearing, serving to keep your joints in healthy condition. So it comes as no surprise that running is the best form cardiovascular exercise to burn fat and calories.

Interval training on your treadmill is the optimal method to keep you enthused and inspired and also get the best all over body workout. And, you don't need to be a top runner either. Interval training is an intensive method of burning fat and increasing your cardiovascular fitness so it is at its peak. This is because it allows you to run at an intensity higher than you usually would for a longer time period. Stints of lowered intensity are interspersed with stints of heightened intensity. This leads to a serious boost in your metabolism and an optimal cardiovascular fitness training effect for about 3 to 4 hours after the workout.

This phenomenon is called an EPOC or "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption". It means that you are still burning up to 300 to 400 calories even when you are putting your feet up after your interval workout.

The time efficiency is so much greater than going for a run outside. Treadmill interval training workouts give you a far better fat burning and fitness improving workout than a long, cardiovascular session. Plus you spend less time in the process. About 1 hour of traditional cardio training doesn't even come close to what you can achieve in 20 minutes of an intensive interval training session on your treadmill.

If you use interval training treadmill workouts combined with resistance training for about two to three times a week, you will notice real differences in how you feel and look. Expect substantial fat burn as a result of your consistent treadmill workouts and you will see that you do not need to spend time doing time intensive cardiovascular sessions. Fat loss boils down to short intensive bursts of activity like sprinting. Sprinters are not fat! Far from it. It is kind of like working smart, not hard!

Remember that any workouts should start with a gentle five to six minute warm up like jogging or stretching.