How To Properly Use A Treadmill

The treadmill is a great alternative to walking or running outside and having to deal with distracted drivers on their phones, rabid dogs, slow-as-shit moving pedestrians, blind curbs, and car-swallowing potholes. As if that weren’t enough when it comes to outdoor activity, you also have to contend with hoe-ass mother nature in the form of rain, hail, sleet, or snow, hot or cold temperature, and bears or mountain lions popping up out of nowhere to give chase. The treadmill saves you from having to bother with any of that shit. Most importantly, the treadmill offers these benefits while also improving your overall health and providing the same calorie burn and muscle activation as walking or running outside. But that’s only if you use it properly!

So how do you properly use a treadmill?

Well, before even hopping on a treadmill, you should consult with your doctor or healthcare professional to get the medical go-ahead, especially if you have a history of conditions regarding your bones, joints, or respiratory system. From there, they can advise you to perform low-impact training on the treadmill or high-impact activity, if your body allows for it.

Once given clearance to engage in a workout program that includes the treadmill and you’re aware of any limitations that should be placed on your use, the next step is to lace up your sneakers and hop on a machine.¹Wear shoes that are cushioned, support your arches, and have a wide enough toe box to give your little piggies room. To avoid blisters, you should also wear socks with extra padding on the soles. If you don’t want to wear shoes, that’s alright but there are risks to barefoot training or wearing socks only.

When wearing socks only, there’s a greater chance of slipping and falling, particularly when the surface of the walking belt is worn out and isn’t coarse enough to provide a grip. Wearing non-slip socks and using a treadmill that’s still abrasive can minimize this risk. With barefoot training, the risk is exposure of your feet to fungus and other germs. As serious as that risk is, it’s mostly reserved for shared treadmills. Another issue with barefoot training on the treadmill is the increased potential for blisters, cuts, and abrasions because your feet aren’t protected from the friction caused when they strike the belt and move against it. Finally, when training barefoot, joint pain, stress fractures, and tendinitis are possibilities on account of your joints receiving the direct impact of each foot strike instead of shoes that are specially designed with padding to absorb the shock. But that’s only after familiarizing yourself with the treadmill’s components and features, which vary by brand and model!²Many treadmills have the same components but when it comes to features like their top speed, available buttons, or display information, manual treadmills and entry-level motorized treadmills typically have less than more expensive higher-end models.

 

Water Bottle Holder

Specially designed cup holders are available on most treadmills and are usually located toward the front of the machine on either side of the control panel. When using the treadmill, you should take advantage of the cup holders by having a water bottle at hand. A water bottle nearby will not only keep you hydrated to help you power through your workout but it’ll also prevent you from having to stop to go get water elsewhere, which can disrupt your intensity.³On the subject of hydration, you should drink anywhere from 8 to 24 oz of water in the period before your treadmill workout. As for not disrupting your workout, it’s also advised to use the bathroom before beginning. A bottle that holds at least 16 oz of fluid should do. For convenience, it should also have an integrated straw. If not that, then a leak-proof flip top lid for your safety.

Heart Rate Monitor

Often in chrome and located on the handrails on the side of the treadmill or on their own crossbar by the control panel, the heart rate monitor is designed to take your pulse as you exercise. All you do is grip the bars for several seconds and then your heart rate is displayed on a readout on the console via the electrical signals from your palms and fingers. With that information, you can then ascertain what your beats per minute (bpm) are, which can help you determine if you’re walking, jogging, or running at the appropriate intensity during your warmup, workout, or cool down.⁴The heart rate monitor function on an activity tracker serves the same purpose. Studies, however, have found that heart rate monitors on treadmills and activity trackers are largely inaccurate. For a more accurate reading, you should use a heart rate chest strap. They usually have to be purchased on their own but some treadmill manufacturers include them with certain models.

Safety Key Clip

The safety key is a tether that connects to one end of the machine with a prong or magnet. The other end has a red clip that attaches onto your clothing. The end that connects to the machine serves as a circuit breaker and without it in place, the treadmill won’t operate. So before using a treadmill, you always have to make sure the safety key is in place. Apart from having to use the safety key just to operate the treadmill, you should make it a point to attach the clip to your person to prevent serious bodily harm if you were to slip or fall.⁵Don’t attach the clip to your top. Instead, attach it to the waistline of your shorts, joggers, leggings, etc. In the event of a slip or fall, the cord will detach from the treadmill and the belt and motor will immediately stop. While this feature won’t save you from the humiliation of busting your ass in a roomful of people, it’ll definitely save you from burns and abrasions!

Handrails

Always hold onto the handrails when stepping on or off the walking belt. Another exception is when you change the speed or incline and need a moment to adjust to the change. And if not using a wearable device, you have to get your heart rate by holding the handrail or crossbar as you’re walking, running, or jogging on the belt. For your own safety, you may do well to also hold onto the handrails when that cute guy or girl walks by and you have to get a double take. Other than for those temporary reasons, you should never — NEVER!!! — hold onto the handrails while using the treadmill.⁶NOTE: If you have special needs or balance issues, then ignore this advice because handrail holding may be necessary as you perform your workout.

Now, why don’t you want to hold onto the treadmill like your life depended on it? Well, you don’t want to hold onto the treadmill for dear life because it’s designed to simulate all forms of ambulation. With that in mind, ask yourself when was the last time you held onto something as you walked or ran? You more than likely haven’t. Moreover, handrail holding makes cardio easier by helping to transfer your body weight from your glutes, quads, and hamstrings to your arms and shoulders. What that does is reduce muscle engagement, which results in the burning of fewer calories.⁷You also shouldn’t lean over the display while engaging in exercise on the treadmill. Doing so robs the lower back of working and can seriously fuck up your spinal alignment.

Walking Belt

Although the treadmill will start at its lowest speed setting when using the manual program with the “start” button, you shouldn’t stand on the belt. Instead, you should straddle the belt by placing your feet on the side foot support platforms while also holding the handrails. Next, take one hand and press “start” then return the free hand to the rail. Once the belt is moving at the slowest speed, support your weight on the rails with each arm and step on the moving belt. Hold the rail with one arm and use the other to make any necessary adjustments to the speed or incline. Let go of the handrails completely and proceed with your workout when you feel balanced and stable.

When walking or running, make sure you’re in the middle of the belt and maintain good posture by keeping your chin up and gaze fixed straight ahead so you’re not looking down at your feet. Additionally, your abs should be tight and your body straight and upright so your chest, shoulders, rib cage, and pelvis are stacked on top of each other. Bend your elbows at 90° and allow your arms to swing forward and backward in a straight line as opposed to swinging across your body. When in motion, your hips, knees, ankles, and toes should also align. That’s the most efficient way to walk and run on a treadmill when facing forward, which is recommended for beginners. More advanced individuals may choose to set the treadmill at a controllable speed and walk with their hands above their head, walk sideways or backwards, perform lateral or posterior leg lifts, power walk with dumbbells, or do a heavy farmer’s carry or overhead carry.⁸It’s usually best to avoid these variations for safety reasons and some of them may not be allowed in certain locations for fear of liability or damage to the equipment.

To get off when your workout is over, wait for the belt to come to a complete stop before holding the handrails and stepping onto the side foot support platforms. When the belt is moving fast and you need to get off the machine to catch your breath or attend to some other emergency, use the handrails to support your body weight as you quickly lift your feet up and place them on the side foot support platforms. Once straddling the belt, immediately lower the speed of the treadmill. The moment you’re ready to start your workout again, don’t crank the speed up to where you left off. Instead, keep the belt at the reduced speed. When you hold the handrails and step on the belt again, raise the speed as desired.

 

Control Panel

The control panel, a/k/a control board, on a treadmill is where the buttons are located to adjust the settings. It’s usually located on a console in front of the treadmill. The most common buttons and information about what they do when pressed are provided below. It should be noted that the names of the buttons, their functions, and descriptions about their appearance, location, etcetera, may vary depending on the brand and model of the treadmill.

Start

Pretty self-explanatory, the usually green start button gets the treadmill going at its slowest speed.⁹This button is sometimes labeled “Quickstart” or “Manual”. After you press it, you can then change the speed, incline, and time, as well as input your age, weight, and any other information that you’re prompted to enter on the display screen.

Stop

The red stop button serves as another emergency failsafe, as it stops the belt and motor immediately upon its pressing. However, because the button will be out of reach if you slip or fall, it’s recommended that you always wear the safety clip and rely on that instead.

In addition to being an emergency feature, “stop” also doubles as a pause button. When using it for that purpose, hold onto the handrails and step off the belt onto the side foot support platforms. Once you’re safely straddling the belt, press “stop” and the treadmill will come to a complete stop and the time on the display will pause. After a certain amount of minutes that depends on the machine’s make and model, the workout will automatically end if it’s not resumed by pressing “start” or terminated with another push of the “stop” button.

Time

Once “start” is pressed, you have the ability to set the amount of minutes you plan to exercise for. When that time elapses, the treadmill will automatically go into cool down mode, which gradually reduces the treadmill speed to help decrease your body temperature and level out your heart rate.¹⁰Some treadmills have a “cool down” button that initiates this action. And some treadmills automatically go into cool down mode after 30 or 60 minutes of activity.

Speed

The walking belt can be adjusted by pressing the up or down arrow on the control board.¹¹Often located on the control panel, some treadmills have the speed buttons on the handrails so there’s less effort reaching for them while exercising. Sometimes, speed may be represented by a plus or minus sign. Whatever the case, pressing the speed button will change the speed by increments of 0.1 mph/kph. To change it faster, hold the button down until you arrive at the desired speed then release your finger. To change speed even faster, some machines have preset speed buttons with numbers on them. All you do is push the number you want and the machine will gradually increase the speed from the one you’re currently on. From there, you can make an incremental adjustment if necessary.¹²For example, if the treadmill speed is at 2 mph and you want to go to 9.5 mph, you can press “9” and then push the up arrow (or “+” sign) five times. That’s a faster process than holding the up arrow or plus sign until the speed reaches 9.5 mph.

Speed Interval

After pressing “start” and entering your workout time, you can push this button and enter the speed you’ll be using for the upper and lower intervals of your workout. Once set, you can press the speed interval button to toggle between those speeds instead of having to make the change manually each and every time you have to.¹³While handy, not all treadmills have this feature.

Incline

Wherever the speed buttons are, the incline buttons will be on the opposite side. Pressing the up or down arrow on the console, or plus or minus sign, will adjust the gradient of the treadmill, or how vertical the machine is.¹⁴On some treadmills, you may find the incline buttons on the handrails instead of on the control board. On the monitor, this will be displayed by a number or percentage and the higher it is, the more the treadmill will simulate the feel of a hill. Like with the speed buttons, some treadmills have preset incline buttons that take you directly to your desired gradient with less fingerwork.

Regarding incline, walking or running on a treadmill on a zero percent incline is easier than doing so outside. For this reason, the machine should always be set at an incline of at least one or two percent. That elevation is comparable to performing activity on a flat sidewalk. To replicate hills, adjust the incline to 4 percent or more.

Programs

It’s common to find treadmills with preset programs that determine the speed, incline, and duration for you. Common presets include hill climbing, fat burning, cardio, strength, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and distance runs. By simply pushing a button with the name of the program, you can get the type of workout you want without having to make a majority of the adjustments yourself. Beginners are typically advised not to use this feature until they’re comfortable with the manual settings so they can customize programmed workouts to their fitness level and other needs.

 

Display

In addition to being where the buttons are located to adjust the treadmill, the control panel is also where the display screens are located to view a number of metrics associated with your workout.

Time

Once you begin your workout by pressing “start”, the time starts and the display shows a reading of how many seconds, minutes, or hours the treadmill has been in use during that given session.

Distance

Measured in miles or kilometers, distance is the amount of space you’ve covered during your workout and is tracked by the number of revolutions the belt makes. Towards this end, it doesn’t matter if you’re walking or running at an incline. That will only have an effect on the intensity of your workout, not the distance. However, because the belt makes more revolutions the higher the speed and vice versa, adjusting the speed will have an impact on both the intensity and distance.

Pace

Not to be confused with speed, pace is the inverse. Speed refers to how far something moves over a specific time and is represented by miles (or kilometers) per hour. On the other hand, pace refers to the amount of time it takes to move over a specific distance. On a treadmill, it’s displayed as the number of minutes per mile.¹⁵If your treadmill doesn’t have a separate readout for pace, you can figure it out on your own. To do so, divide 60 (minutes) by your speed (mph). For example, if you’re walking at 5 miles per hour, your pace is 12. What that means is you’re going at a pace that’ll have you complete a mile in 12 minutes. As an illustration, suppose the display shows 12:00. All that means is that you’re moving at a pace that would have you complete a mile in 12 minutes. If you’re training for a timed mile or some other goal like that, then this information will be pertinent to you.

Calories

Shown here is the number of calories burned during your workout. The figure is based on the speed, incline, and distance, as well as your height, weight, age, and any other personal information that was entered after pressing the start button. In some cases, the heart rate monitor may also be used in the calculation.

Regardless of what inputs are used in the measurement of calories, it should be noted that the calorie count shown is nothing more than an approximation and that it can be off by as much as 10 to 15 percent in either direction. Such inaccuracy is because not every machine asks for age, sex, height, and weight. And even if a machine did and all of those fields were punched into it correctly, the treadmill still wouldn’t be able to take into consideration everything else that accounts for energy expenditure, such as body composition, fitness level, and overall health.

METs

Aerobic activity raises energy output and increases oxygen consumption, particularly when said activity is intense. Metabolic Equivalents (METs) is a measure of that consumption, as it’s the estimated amount of oxygen that’s burned during activity. The speed and incline settings and personal details like your height and weight are used to calculate this figure, which can be translated into a representation of your intensity level. As to how to interpret METs, that’s simple.

At rest, the average person burns 3.5ml of oxygen per kilogram of body weight each minute. That translates to 1.0 MET. So when the display reads 5 METs, for example, all that means is that the activity you’re doing has you working five times harder than you do at rest. Regarding intensity levels, less than 3.0 METs is defined as light activity. Activity performed at a moderate intensity should fall anywhere from 3.0 to 5.9 METs. Lastly, any activity that’s 6.0 METs or beyond is classified as vigorous.

While METs can be used as an indicator of intensity level, it’s among the factors that play into the calculation of calorie burn by the treadmill’s computer. Whatever weight that was entered at the beginning of your workout is plugged into an equation with the METs value.¹⁶Calories Per Minute = [METs value × 3.5 × Weight(kg)] ÷ 200
Total Calories Burned = Calories Per Minute × Minutes Of Activity

Example: You weigh 200 lbs and run on the treadmill for 1 hour at 8 METs.

Calories Per Minute = [METs value × 3.5 × Weight(kg)] ÷ 200
Calories Per Minute = [8 METs × 3.5 × 91kg)] ÷ 200
Calories Per Minute = 12.74

Total Calories Burned = Calories Per Minute × Minutes Of Activity
Total Calories Burned = 12.74 Calories Per Minute × 60 Minutes
Total Calories Burned = 764 Tabulation of those figures results in an estimation of calorie expenditure.

 

Precautions:

(1) Always make sure that the treadmill you intend to use at the gym or at home is at least 6 to 8 feet away from a wall to prevent serious injury in the event of a fall. The desired treadmill should also have a rear guard to prevent you from getting pulled underneath.¹⁷A rear guard is a safety feature that’s pretty much standard nowadays. However, there are still instances where it’s not found on treadmills. Such an example is Peloton’s Tread+. Originally launched as the Peloton Tread in 2018 but renamed Tread+ in September 2020, Peloton’s treadmill came into market without a rear guard to prevent users from getting pulled underneath the machine. At a price tag of $4300 for its treadmill, I guess the cost wasn’t enough to expect the addition of that safety feature.
⁣
On account of that particular design flaw, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued an urgent warning in April 2021 about the dangers of the Tread+ following the death of a 6-year-old child and numerous reports of adults, children, pets, and/or objects becoming entrapped underneath the rear of the platform and suffering second- and third-degree abrasions, broken bones, bruises, and lacerations. Ordinarily, such a warning from the CPSC would immediately result in a voluntary recall but Peloton refused to take action and dismissed CPSC’s claims as “inaccurate and misleading”. It wasn’t until a month later in May that Peloton finally announced the recall of 125,000 Tread+ treadmills. By that time, there were 150 injury reports.

In January of 2023, Peloton was fined $19M, one of the largest civil penalties in history, for its failure to notify federal safety regulators about problems with its Tread+ treadmills, which the company began receiving complaints about as early as 2018 but violated the law by not disclosing.

With this information in hand, are you still living in a fantasy world where corporations don’t value profit over consumer safety or do you need more proof?!?!⁣

(2) Treadmills are responsible for more emergency room visits per year than any other piece of cardio or strength training equipment. One of the most common causes of injury on the treadmill is distraction from cell phone usage. To avoid ending up in the hospital, normal precautions should be taken like making sure your shoes are tied and you don’t exceed your capabilities by using the treadmill at too fast a speed or steep an incline. But in addition to those measures, you should also leave your phone somewhere far away from your reach, such as in the locker room or in your gym bag on the floor. If you use your phone to listen to music while working out, set it on airplane mode and consider getting an arm strap to clip it to. With the analog voice and data services disabled, another option is to keep your phone in your pocket or face down on the treadmill console. Whatever you choose, you shouldn’t see or hear any notifications coming through, which can then tempt you to direct your attention away from your workout toward your phone.

(3) Don’t hang towels and articles of clothing over the handrails. Such items present a hazard because they can easily fall with the motion of the machine and get tangled up in the belt or with your feet.

There are many features and components on a treadmill. Outlined above are details about their purpose and best practice of use to make your workout as effective as possible. Also included are precautions that should be taken to ensure your safety while walking, jogging, or running on the machine.

Now, if you still don’t know how to properly use a treadmill after all that information, then I don’t know what to tell ya!

Glossary: abs, arms, calories, cardio, chest, dumbbell, exercise, glutes, gym, gym bag, intensity, leggings, muscle, program, treadmill, work out, workout

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