The Treadmill and Your Training Program

By Rick Morris

One of the greatest benefits of treadmill training is the ability to tailor your workouts to precisely meet your specific goals. You can create workouts designed for weight loss, overall fitness, endurance, speed, sports performance, learning to run or even to train for a marathon. Whatever your goal or fitness level you can use the treadmill to help you achieve your goal.

Beginning Runners

The treadmill is an ideal training tool for beginning runners. Most beginners start with a walking or a walk/run program. The treadmill makes it very easy to make the transition from walking to running. You can precisely and easily control your pace. Just increase the speed slightly for a brief period of time before slowing back down to a walk.

The convenience of a treadmill provides a huge motivational advantage for beginning runners. Your treadmill is available at any time of the day. You do not have to worry about weather, darkness or safety. It removes all excuses for not doing your workout. Beginning runners without a treadmill can come up with a long, long list of excuses for not doing their training run. Excuses I have heard for not working out include bad weather, darkness, air pollution, lack of time, work commitments, social commitments, etc. When you can just hop on your treadmill for 20 minutes, those excuses don’t hold water anymore. You have no reason not to do your workout.

A beginning runner can do some or all of their workouts on the treadmill. A training program for beginners is designed to improve cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, connective tissue strength and mental toughness. All of these goals can be achieved by running on the treadmill.

The softer running surface makes treadmill running even more advantageous for beginners. It is very important for beginning runners to gradually improve the strength of their joints and connective tissues. If these tissues are subjected to more stress than they are conditioned for, physical breakdowns can occur. This is where most running injuries happen and beginners are especially susceptible. The constant pounding of running on concrete or asphalt puts much more stress on the joints than running on the softer surface of the treadmill does. Running on the more cushioned treadmill surface allows a new runner’s muscles and joints to adapt more gradually to this new physical stress that they are being subjected to.

Treadmills are also more forgiving to the stride of a freshman runner. A beginning runner has usually not yet developed their stride to the point that it is smooth and efficient. The bouncy, up and down running stride of a beginner also puts more stress on the joints and tendons, which the softer treadmill surface will help smooth out.

I would suggest that beginners do all poor weather workouts on the treadmill. A beginner has not yet developed their proprioceptive abilities and balance that is necessary to run safely on uneven or slippery surfaces. Running outside in bad weather can also cause any runner to cut their workout short or skip it altogether. If I look outside and see blowing snow, I start looking for excuses not to go out and run in the bad weather. With the treadmill in easy reach, I would not even consider missing my workout in bad weather. I just hop on and run. The quality of your run will also suffer when running in bad weather, because of the uncertain footing and uncomfortable conditions. It is much better to run inside on the treadmill and get a good workout than to run outside in bad weather and get a poor workout. For safety reasons, all nighttime workouts should also be done on the treadmill. Running in the dark presents several hazards, including: traffic, road obstacles and criminal activity. These are all easily avoided by running on the treadmill.

Running for Weight Loss

The treadmill is also the ideal tool to achieve your weight loss goals. To meet the goal of weight loss, calorie burn is the primary objective. It does not matter whether the calorie is burned on the treadmill or outside. A calorie burned is a calorie burned.

The console of the treadmill provides valuable feedback for weight loss users. The runner will be able to monitor total calories burned and calories per hour. This kind of information can be critical to the success of a weight loss program. If weight loss is your long-term goal, consider setting a specific number of calories burned as your workout goal. Weight loss is a function of calories in versus calories out. Once you know how many calories you are burning during exercise, you can add in the calories burned by your daily activities and basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is the number of calories that you expend just by living and breathing. You can estimate your BMR using the following calculations:

• Men - Multiply your weight by 10 and add twice your weight to this value.

• Women - Multiply your weight by 10 and add your weight to this value.

Adding the approximate calories burned through your daily activities will allow you to calculate roughly how many total calories you should be eating in order to maintain the negative calorie balance required for weight loss. Runners with the goal of weight loss enjoy the same motivational advantages as beginning runners. The treadmill removes all excuses for not exercising.

Many individuals that are exercising for weight loss are limited to walking, at least during the initial stages of their training program. This can limit the number of calories you can burn during your workout. The treadmill provides an easy solution to this problem. Simply use the elevation features of your treadmill to increase the rate of calorie burn. Increasing the elevation has a similar calorie burning effect as increasing pace. The higher the elevation, the more calories per hour you are burning.

Running for Fitness and Lifestyle Change

Many individuals start a running program in order to change their formally sedentary lifestyle, increase their fitness levels, improve their health and reduce the stress in their life. Most runners of this type typically run 3 to 5 times per week. They usually run at the same pace and on the same routes. All of these types of runs can be done on the treadmill with no decrease in benefits.

Running on the treadmill can actually increase the returns by providing some variety in terrain and speed. Hills can be easily added in by elevating the treadmill. Speed can be increased for short periods. The addition of some hill running and short increases in speed will improve fitness levels more and faster than mono-speed running on level terrain outside.

Competitive Runners

Road racing has become very popular in the past decade. Competitive running provides a valuable motivator to keep you training on a year round basis. Competing in road races, such as 5K’s, 10K’s, half marathons and marathons gives you a goal to work towards, increases your fitness level, provides a fun recreational sport and is also a wonderful social activity.

The treadmill is a valuable tool for a competitive runner. There is some controversy concerning how much training should be done on the treadmill. You can do all of your running on the treadmill and successfully train for a road race, but, in most cases better results will be achieved by including some free-range running. There have been contradictory results obtained from the limited number of studies concerning the efficiency of treadmill running. Most of the studies have shown that there is very little difference in the physiological response of treadmill training versus free range training. Fitness gains are nearly identical. But, there have been a couple of studies that have shown that treadmill running has less of an energy cost and is therefore a less efficient method of training. Until conclusive evidence is presented, we must use what data is available and what our experiences tell us. My personal experience in both my coaching career and my own training tells me that the majority of studies are correct. The physiological gains are very similar at most distance running speeds. But if you want to run your best, your training should mimic your goal event as closely as possible. This means doing at least some of your workouts on the road, track or trail.

The rule of specificity states that training should match the goal as closely as possible. The treadmill will equal free range workouts for most purposes, but is very different than free range running. The most important differences between treadmill and free range running are:

• Lack of wind resistance on the treadmill. When running outside the density of the air adds some extra resistance that you must overcome. Since you are not moving through the air when running on the treadmill, that extra resistance is not present.

• The moving belt does part of the work when running on the treadmill. You are keeping pace with a moving surface rather than forcefully propelling yourself over the ground. If you do not focus on maintaining your stride mechanics, treadmill running can cause minor stride inefficiencies that could carry over into your outside running.

• The treadmill has a softer, more forgiving surface than the asphalt and concrete surfaces most commonly encountered in road racing. While this softer surface is great for decreasing the impact of running and reducing the chances of injury, it does not prepare you adequately for the more firm surfaces you will be running on while road racing.

• No environmental challenges on the treadmill. When you race outside you will run into all types of weather conditions. Heat, cold, rain, snow and wind can all become factors during a race. The treadmill removes these factors.

The lack of wind resistance is a major difference between treadmill running and outside running. This becomes more important as you run faster. When walking or running very slowly, there is not much of an effect from wind resistance. However, as you pick up your pace, more resistance is generated. The physiological effect of the lack of wind resistance and the moving belt can be adequately offset by elevating the treadmill 1 or 2 percent. When running between 5 and 9 MPH, 1 percent elevation is adequate. When running faster than 9 MPH, elevate the treadmill 1.5% or 2% to compensate for the additional resistance of faster running.

The difference between the softer surface of the treadmill and the firmer roads cannot be completely overcome. There are treadmills available that have a fairly firm deck. Some are made of wood which give a very firm ride. But even with the firmer deck, there is some flexibility in the frame and additional cushioning in the suspension system that makes the treadmill workout a more cushioned run. For many running goals, the softer surface of a treadmill is an advantage. It decreases the stress on the joints and helps avoid injuries. But a competitive road runner must be conditioned to run on concrete, asphalt, dirt, grass and uneven surfaces. These surfaces are much harder and less forgiving than the most firm treadmill. If all of your training runs are done on the softer surface, when you run outside on harder or more uneven surfaces you could encounter joint pain, muscle pain, premature fatigue and possible injury.

The effects of the moving belt will become more pronounced as your running speed increases. Research has shown that experienced runners will run with similar stride length during slow running on both the treadmill and outside. But, as running speed increases, experienced runners tend to increase their stride length past their most efficient level. Beginning runners have the opposite problem. They tend to run with a stride length that is too short when doing fast treadmill running. So pay close attention to your mechanics when doing fast training runs on the treadmill.

Environmental conditions, such as heat, cold, wind, rain, snow and ice, obviously cannot be duplicated on the treadmill. It is usually best to avoid these conditions. I would suggest that even competitive runners avoid running outside on ice or snow due to the chance of injury, changes in running stride when running on ice or snow and the nearly unavoidable decrease in the quality of the workout. Some runners actually enjoy running in the rain. I am not one of them. I am a card carrying member of the poor weather wimp club. So, I am on the treadmill any time I do not like the conditions outside. But, other than periods of snow, ice, extreme heat, extreme cold, high pollution or high winds, running outside in less than ideal conditions is usually not hazardous. So if you enjoy it - go for it.

The decision of whether or not to run on the treadmill during poor weather conditions will depend upon your specific goal race. If you are training for a marathon that will be held in hot weather, you should do some of your training runs, including some long runs, outside in the heat. Always remember the rule of specificity. If your goal race will be hot, you must train in some heat. Just make sure you stay hydrated and be careful of dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The same reasoning applies to cold weather running. If your goal race is held during cold weather, you will be better prepared if you do some of your training runs in cold weather.

How much outside running is necessary? Probably less than you may think. There has been very little research done in this area, but my observations have shown that you will adapt to outside running very quickly. When training for the marathon, you can do nearly all of your runs on the treadmill with very little decrease in performance. As little as one outside run per week should prepare you adequately for a marathon. When training for the 10K or 5K distances, it will depend upon where you are in your training cycle. Early in your cycle, when your training is more broad and less specific, you can do all of your runs on the treadmill. In the last 6 weeks of your cycle, it will become more important to include some free range running. For 10K runners, I would suggest a minimum of 1/3 of your training runs be done outside in the last 6 weeks of your cycle. For 5K runners, a more appropriate level would be at least 1/2 of your training runs in the last 6 weeks be done on the road or track. It is also more critical to do your quality training runs outside. Easy or recovery runs can always be done on the treadmill.

Adapted from Treadmill Training for Runners

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