Using a treadmill may be a simple choice; however, you can develop some bad habits, which can destroy your own result or even cause injuries. These are top 10 most popular treadmill mistakes and method to fix them.
14 Common Treadmill Mistakes
1. Skipping the Cool Down or Warm-Up
It is unwisely appealed to jump on a treadmill and increase the pace or the incline setting to your aimed level and start to go. Nevertheless, just as the outdoor running, it is vital that you should warm-up before start the challenging part of the run.
If you feel quite dizzy after taking the very first steps off your treadmill, it is because you skipped your cool-down when your run finished. You may likely jump off your treadmill right after the timer reaches the goal time of your run. However, a suddenly stop is the cause of light-headedness because your blood pressure and heart rate drop rapidly.
On the other hand, a slow winding-down will let them fall gradually. Whenever you complete your run, you should make sure that complete your cool-down by slowly jogging or walking in 5 or 10 minutes before stepping off your treadmill.
2. Wearing the unappropriated shoes
Before choosing your sneakers, you had better make sure of its function rather than its style. You should search for sneakers with additional padding in their soles so that your foot bones and your heels are protected from the tremendous impact of the foot strike.
Besides, you had better keep in mind that these sneakers just be used for running or walking, not for cardio or dance classes. The higher soled your running sneakers are, the more risk they will cause for your ankle in the dance class. In case you do speed walking or hill, search for the sneakers, of which outer soles are at an average height like the Nike-Free Runner.
3. Looking at your feet
You can lose your own balance when staring at your feet while running on your treadmill. This can cause tremendous strain on your neck’s back as well as misalignment for the rest of the body, and causing poked-out hips, which strains your knees, hips, and spine.
You should look straight ahead as well as keep your chest open and your shoulders level. Your low back, knees, and hips will follow to make a straight line from your head to feet.
4. Slapping your own feet down
You may suffer from muscle strain if you keep landing on flat-footed. You will finish when leaning backward because the belt will go forward, which causes strain on the back muscles by the force created through your back and hips.
It can also make you lose your own balance. You should be as vertical as possible as well as run or walk normally. Especially, keep in your mind that landing on the ball of the foot or the midfoot – not the heel.
5. Sticking with only one routine
It is habitual when practicing walking on the treadmill every day, however, the calories you can burn will be fewer because your muscles are much more efficient and your body adapts well to your practice.
You should change one aspect, at least, of your own workout for every for weeks. Take your walk outside, or try the stair climber or the elliptical. Changing your routines also prevent joint and muscle strains from repetitive stresses of pulling as well as pushing your muscles at the similar angles again and again.
6. Your arms are over the place
It is simply not beneficial when swinging arms by crisscrossing them in front of you or winging them out. You will burn up the energies with your arms and will not be able to solve as long. You should keep them by your side until you reach a higher speed.
When you reach a jog, you had better keep your arms parallel with each other as well as at 90 degrees that help for your torso’s rotation. Keep in mind to keep arms loose, neither tight nor tense.
7. Your step is too long
It is said that you will sacrifice efficiency and form by stretching out your own legs with an attempt to cover much more ground. Whoever over strides will tend to jump high with every stride. You will burn up much extra energy, therefore, you cannot work out for a long time and you will enhance the risk of injuries. You can also hit the front frame of your treadmill and make yourself fall. Running three steps one second is the most beneficial way and you should not lift your feet off the ground.
8. Holding the bars
Walking on the level ground will burn fewer calories that walking on the incline unless you destroy your results by enduring. You will burn fewer calories when trying to support your body’s weight. You should walk as natural as possible on the incline as if walking upon a hill outdoors.
You also need to be vertical with a five degree slight lean, but not be forward so that you will not grab the treadmill’s front. Besides, you should let your feet come down under the center gravity of your body, which is not far from the front.
9. Hunching forward
In case you lean in any directions too much, it is natural for your body to find the way to keep its balance. Hunching forward is the cause of developing excessive forward lean or an anterior tilt, which may cause losing balance and contributing to lower-backache.
You should keep an upright posture that consisting of engaging the core muscles. In case you cannot maintain a good posture, you can slow down the speed of your treadmill.
10. Overdoing it
Little pains and aches, elevated your resting heart rate, and excess muscle soreness, which are worse with every workout, are the signs of over-training.
You had better stop your current exercises, as well as re-evaluate the program and take some rest when you find out those red flags. It is advisable that workouts with high intensity need to be practice only 2 or 3 times per week. According to Figueroa, average workouts should be done from 3 to 5 times a week.
11. Autopilot Mode-on
Whenever you repeat the same works many times, your body will adapt to them, thus, your results will be the same. Frequency, duration, and intensity are three important components in training. To have a safe workout, you just need to increase one of those variables only on any week.
For example, if you aim to run a longer distance this week, do not try to run at a faster speed at the same time. Keep in mind to enhance the intensity after completing enhance the frequency and duration – only ten percentages for each time.
You can also enhance your intensity as well as the calorie burn of the walking workouts by adding wrist weights or ankle weights, or a weighted vest that helps distribute the resistance evenly.
12. Do not practice hard enough
In case you are the one who read the whole magazines since you rarely break a sweat when exercising on your treadmill, you are probably not practicing hard enough. Although it is not good to do your entire run or every run at such a hard pace (because easy days are also essential), sometimes, you had better push yourself to achieve some results.
You can increase your incline or your speed so as to feel more challenging, at least a part of your own workout. On the other hand, you can also try the interval training, which is a great way to push your pace but not pushing it for an entire run.
On an interval training, you will try your best to run in a certain time, then, cool-down and prepare for the next interval, this way of training can be done 1 or 2 times a week.
13. Running with the same pace in the entire run
It is not a great idea for you to hop on your treadmill, chose a pace, then stick with it in your entire run. Firstly, your pace should be variable with 5 minutes for warming up by easy jogging or walking. At the end of your run, do not forget to spend 5 minutes walking or jogging.
When you are running outside, due to different factors like the changing of weather conditions, traffic lights, hills and the winds, you may run with different speed. Therefore, to imitate the outdoor condition, you can vary the incline or the pace of your entire run. This will prevent you from being bored as well.
14. Practicing an entire workout with a steep incline
Many runners believe that they are getting a good workout by challenging themselves with practicing an entire workout with a steep incline. However, that idea can lead to tremendous injuries. Will you ever find such a three-mile-hill with 5 to 6% incline?
Thus, you had better avoid practicing on the steep incline in more than five minutes. You can get a better result when alternating between running for a few minutes with the steep incline and a few minutes running without it.
You also need to avoid running on 7% steep incline and above because it causes too many strains on your ankles, hips, and back.
In conclusion
Through our top treadmill blunders that you are making, we hope that you can evaluate an appropriate workout as well as find a right way to make the most efficient exercises on your treadmill. Above are all common treadmill mistakes that we know but if you have any idea about other treadmill mistakes at the gym, let us know in the comments! We will so appreciate your sharing.
Freya Osborne says
Although I have found many treadmill guidelines,treadmill tips and tricks,best treadmill review,treadmill components repair guideline etc.But, this is different than others.It is very important for anyone to keep knowledge about treadmill mistakes.I really appreciate admin to post an awesome topic.
Many many thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Freya