Most treadmills made today have the capability for programmed workout sessions. These can include pre-set variations to both rate of speed at which the belt and walker both move, as well as more customizable user defined programs.
More recently, there have been attempts to increase the ability of users to program their own workouts, or better yet, to have some control over the creation of interactively variable treadmill workouts. This way users can get the type of workout that they want, such as fat burning or muscle shaping, while not doing the exact same workout each time. This type of technology is able to apply some basic rules supplied by you, to create different highly unique treadmill workouts.
In many treadmills made by the Icon Health and Fitness company, something called iFit has been incorporated into the machines that allows users some increase in creating and migrating their treadmill workouts information. Users can store treadmill workout information in their PDA and then transfer it to treadmills that have the iFit technology.
In addition to being able to transfer data to and from different treadmills and PDA, users can go online and download different treadmill workouts. This can make getting a variety of workouts a lot easier, not to mention fun. It’s like a pallet of colors from which to create the exact workout that you want.
As for the treadmill workouts found on most treadmills that have a basic selection, there are usually some kind of beginner workout, a fat burning workout, a cardio intensive workout, and some type of advanced workout.
What is a fat burning workout?
A fat burning workout is simply a cardio workout that’s not as intense as a workout labeled ‘cardio’ or ‘advanced cardio’. A fat burning workout will not involve much, if any, increase in elevation, nor will the speed get very high. Fat burning workouts are intended to somewhat boost the metabolic rate, more than to build muscle.
What is an ‘advanced’ workout?
The ‘advanced’ workout option on most treadmills is what could be considered the muscle building workout option. Don’t get me wrong, a treadmill workout is still cardio, first and foremost, but it can incorporate more work from certain muscle groups when you increase the incline setting of the treadmill. These types of workouts are considered advanced because the increased incline makes the forward speed harder to maintain.
In my opinion, the fat burning and beginner workouts are great for beginners or to use for short periods of time through the day to boost calorie burning; it makes sense to call it ‘fat burning’; yet if you want a really effective cardio workout, you should use the advanced or interval type workout settings. Honestly, if you want a super intensive cardio workout, you’d do better with some free form exercise, like martial arts, sports, etc, but the reason to choose one of the advanced workout programs if you can keep up is that they’re way more interesting.
Choosing an advanced workout program makes things more interesting!
Even if you’re not in tip top shape, as long s you can do at least twenty minutes of any setting on a treadmill, you can do one of the advanced workout programs. Just change the speed and incline settings. Generally, these programs will allow you to adjust the speed and incline, and then the program will make it’s increase and decrease ratio adjustments according to the program you have chosen.