Effective Treadmill Workouts - Keep Boredom At Bay

Do you look forward to your treadmill workouts or is running in place getting to be a bore? It seems like many of us have treadmills sitting in the basement collecting dust after a few months of use. You may have had a hard time staying motivated with treadmill exercise and maybe you didn't quite see the results you expected. In both cases, the culprit is not the treadmill itself, it's understanding treadmill exercise and the motivation factor.nnHow Not to Get BorednnHow do you work out on a treadmill without getting bored in the process? Well, simply stepping on the belt and running in place for twenty minutes makes for a very tiring, boring and inefficient workout. Other potential mistakes include omitting the warm-up period and forgetting to pace yourself. This type of exercise doesn't work out your lower body muscles effectively and may result in sore muscles, frustration and even injuries. nHere's how to do your treadmill workout session the right way. These three steps already put some variety into your exercise routine which improves the motivation factor:nnWarming Up - Start your workout at a walking speed of not more than 2 mph for the first two minutes. This will give you time to stretch your muscles and getting them warmed up. Alternate between putting weight on your heels for thirty seconds, followed by shifting your weight onto your toes for the next thirty seconds. Then increase your stride for the remainder of the warm-up period to help stretch the muscles. After a week or so you will get used to warming up at this pace and you might want to increase the speed of the warm-up workout to a light jog of 3 or 4 mph.nnIncreasing the Speed - Don't rush into things by working out at too fast a pace in the beginning. Maintain your level of exercise at least for a couple of weeks before you move on to the next level. You don't want to burn out by overworking your leg muscles and injuring them in the process. nnCooling Down - Don't just get off the treadmill after an extensive run and sit down somewhere to catch your breath. This type of "cool-down" is asking for trouble. Your muscles might cramp or worse. Always slow down the belt to the same speed you used for the warm-up period and let your heart rate return to normal while you keep running on the belt.nnGetting ResultsnnSo how do you pace yourself during your treadmill workouts to lose body fat and sculpt your body efficiently? Fitness experts say that the key to an efficient workout is variation in speed. As your stride changes you work different muscle groups, resulting in a better cardiovascular workout.nnTo sum in up, no matter what type of treadmill workout you engage in, always do some stretching, warm up and cool down for a couple of minutes. Put variety into your main workout by changing the speed and incline but stay at a certain level until your fitness level improves. Then proceed to the next level in your treadmill workouts.