treadmills

[mhs-07]

Any opinions on if treadmills are that effective to making a person a better runner. My parents are getting one for my birthday, but my coach tells me that it is a waste of money.

[clifbar]

I have one and despise it. I just can't run on it, or any treadmill.

[jwager]

They're no good in my opinion...its not real running. Your legs are primarily just bringing your leg back through to land on the belt again. They're good for working your aerobic system though.

Here's a long, but real good article...
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/treadmill.html

[mhs-07]

in my opinion they can't hurt you. i think that it'll be cool to do some crazy hill work outs on them.

[AzN at LARGE]

um can't you just run outside?

[titan2005]

I only run on them when i'm at the gym. overall they suck compared to just running becuase you can usually only go 6 min miles, and they pull you along rather than actually making you run (at least thats what it feels like to me)

However, they're good to run on with dumbells (1-5 lbs). kills your arms and makes for a solid addition to a workout

[lancexcrunner]

i usally run on my tredmill when im sick, and i just go for like 1 hour and 20 min the that balances out to o good hour road run.... plus i have a knee problem and i found thats it much easier on my knee to run on the tredmill, and another good thing is that u trick urself into going at a very constant speed becuz if u slow down u fall off, and believe me falling hurts bad.

[clintonxc v2.0]

i usally run on my tredmill when im sick, and i just go for like 1 hour and 20 min the that balances out to o good hour road run.... plus i have a knee problem and i found thats it much easier on my knee to run on the tredmill, and another good thing is that u trick urself into going at a very constant speed becuz if u slow down u fall off, and believe me falling hurts bad.

an hour and twenty minutes on a treadmill :eek:
I applaud you sir

[Kryptonite]

This past winter the only place I could train was on a treadmill, I ran 6-8 miles on it daily. I just turned on my i pod and ran. I like them b/c it keeps you going the same pace. Every so often I would change the incline and I also changed the speeds a lot. I think treadmill running benefited me a lot. Instead of worring about slipping on ice, or getting hit by a car. You can focus on running form and pace.

[IrishBH]

I was reading Daniels running FOrmula over the winter and tried experimenting with his treadmill charts. I actually found it pretty cool. But on a treadmill i think it is effective if you use it with an incline. Cause it will feel unnatural running at 6min/mile pace on a treadmill. BUt if you put it on an incline you can run at 8min/mile pace but be doing 6min/mile effort. I found this really intresting. For a couple snow days we had I put 5 thousand meters nothing comes easy in the DVD player and cranked out the miles. I would not call it a waste of money esspecially if you live where there is crappy snowwy weather in the winter. It can also help you legs recover due to less pounding on your legs.

[j.j.putz]

Treadmills have some value. Though I prefer running outside, a treadmill comes in handy in lousy weather. Also, runners living in flat areas can do "hill" workouts on a treadmill.

Despite opinions to the contrary, the biomechanics of running on a treadmill are identical to running on a road or track. The only thing lacking with treadmill running is air/wind resistance. Popular opinion is an incline of 1% will compensate for this.

[ItbeganN Africa]

Treadmills have some value. Though I prefer running outside, a treadmill comes in handy in lousy weather. Also, runners living in flat areas can do "hill" workouts on a treadmill.

Despite opinions to the contrary, the biomechanics of running on a treadmill are identical to running on a road or track. The only thing lacking with treadmill running is air/wind resistance. Popular opinion is an incline of 1% will compensate for this.

I'm sure you know what you're talking about. But I'm just wondering why a baseball player is posting on a running forum :p

[CrossTrack]

They're no good in my opinion...its not real running. Your legs are primarily just bringing your leg back through to land on the belt again. They're good for working your aerobic system though.

Here's a long, but real good article...
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/treadmill.html

I didn't look at article you posted, but I seem to remember that Kim Jones did extensive treadmill training during the high point of her marathon career. She lives in Spokane, so obviously she had some weather adversity if she ran outside.

The key to buying a good treadmill is to make sure that it can go up to 12mph (5:00 miles) in increments of 0.1mph, can incline up to 15 degrees, is well built, and has a decent warranty.

I've got a Landice 2700 - about 10 years old now...was cutting edge at the time. Only goes to 11 (insert Spinal Tap joke here) mph. It is the "health club" version....beefy and strong.

I've heard that running at 6:00 per mile on a treadmill at 2 degrees is like running 6:00 per mile on the road.

You can also check out Consumer's Reports to see the latest treadmill rankings.

[jwager]

Despite opinions to the contrary, the biomechanics of running on a treadmill are identical to running on a road or track.

Yeah...biomechanics are the same, but what about the muscle groups used and that kind of stuff?

I've had many knowledgable people tell me that it's different.

[farmer]

Picture this: You are in the first car of a long motionless train and you run through the cars to the end of the train at 8 mph. Now return to your starting position and repeat the run, but this time the train is moving at the same 8 mph, though in the opposite direction. As you look out the train's windows, you appear to be in the same spot relative to the outside world. But you are definitely moving forward relative to the cars of the train. Is the run on the motionless train any different, biomechanically or kinematically, than the run on the moving train?

[Kryptonite]

^^^^..WHAT? Wow, you are a very confusing person, but a very smart person. :)

[jwager]

It's no different but that doesn't relate to the topic of treadmills...maybe you can try to explain to me how you see it connected?

[Crouching tiger]

Duh....the surface is moving underneath you in both cases?

[Filipe]

The train analogy is a good one to describe the use of treadmills. You're using the same muscles while running on a treadmill that you use running on the roads. I see no problem in the use of treadmills, I would run on mine every morning--put it on random and run 3 or 4 miles before school started. I still use the treadmill to do hill workouts on.

[jwager]

The surface may be moving, but so are you. If you throw a bottle up in a car, does the bottle fly to the back of the car? No...it stays where you threw it because its already moving at the same speed the car is. Now...if the floor of the train were moving, and not the entire train, then you'd be correct.


If you still don't understand, try this one. The moving train is not a good example of a treadmill. If you were on this moving train, and you jumped, you would theoretically land in the same spot (relative to the train) as you jumped from. Now, if you were on a running treadmill, and you jumped, you wouldn't land in the same spot (relative to the belt) as you jumped from (assuming of course that the belt doesn't rotate all the way back to the spot where you jumped from and you coincidentally land in that same exact spot...that'd be a one in a million shot). Therefore, a treadmill is different from a moving train and that isn't a good example.

[ScratchTheCougar]

i dont like running on a tredmill, it feels like it shortens the natural stride..and gets extremely boring

[tb1223]

treadmills are more of a patience test than anything. without tv or music, i doubt i could last 20 minutes on one.

[Sully 800]

The surface may be moving, but so are you. If you throw a bottle up in a car, does the bottle fly to the back of the car? No...it stays where you threw it because its already moving at the same speed the car is. Now...if the floor of the train were moving, and not the entire train, then you'd be correct.


If you still don't understand, try this one. The moving train is not a good example of a treadmill. If you were on this moving train, and you jumped, you would theoretically land in the same spot (relative to the train) as you jumped from. Now, if you were on a running treadmill, and you jumped, you wouldn't land in the same spot (relative to the belt) as you jumped from (assuming of course that the belt doesn't rotate all the way back to the spot where you jumped from and you coincidentally land in that same exact spot...that'd be a one in a million shot). Therefore, a treadmill is different from a moving train and that isn't a good example.


I'm sorry that you don't understand physics.

The reason you would land on the same spot on the train is because you have an initial velocity equal to that of the train, and therefore it is not moving relative to yourself.

On a tread mill, you cannot stand still and gain the same velocity as the belt because you run out of room very quickly. If you take that same belt and stretch it out, to say a hundred feet (think of a long conveyor belt in an assembly line) you would be able to stand still on it without falling off. Then if you jumped you would land in the same spot on the belt. Just like on the train, its exactly the same.

[j.j.putz]

Thanks for correcting him, Sully. You saved me the time.