Treadmill for Weight Loss: Does the Treadmill Help You Lose Weight?

Treadmill for Weight Loss: Does the Treadmill Help You Lose Weight?

In my career as a personal trainer, I’m often asked about various different forms of exercise and they may or may not help with weight loss.

Today I am answering the question does the treadmill help you lose weight?

The Treadmill can assist in weight loss by helping you burn calories and create a calorie deficit. However, achieving this solely through exercise can be challenging as it’s difficult to out exercise a bad diet.

Besides helping with weight loss, using a treadmill offers other advantages:

You can use the treadmill throughout the year.
You can watch your favourite TV show while exercising.
The treadmill comes with handrails, which is helpful if you’re recovering from an injury.
Like any intense cardio workout, it can reduce your risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions, improve sleep, elevate your mood, and enhance brain function.
You can increase or decrease the incline level on a treadmill.

Treadmills are found in nearly every gym, making them a convenient option for all fitness levels. Additionally, if you prefer working out at home, treadmills can easily become part of your home gym.

Without further ado, lets take a look at the basics of using the treadmill for weight loss, along with potential workout plans and tips.

1. Continuous Steady State Cardio (LISS or MISS)

In recent years, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been in the spotlight, with Tabata sprints and HIIT spin classes gaining popularity. These workouts typically involve alternating between intense sprints and recovery periods.

Despite the undeniable health and fitness benefits of HIIT, traditional steady-state cardio still deserves a consistent place in most people’s training routines.

Continuous steady state cardio means continuous aerobic exercise at a constant effort level, maintaining the same pace without varying intensity or taking breaks.

During a steady-state cardio workout, your heart rate remains in a consistent zone, and you don’t significantly adjust your pace or effort level.

Although there are no strict rules on the duration of a steady-state cardio session, most workouts last between 30 to 60 minutes.

Anything under 15-20 minutes is usually too short to yield significant benefits, as it takes at least 5 minutes of continuous exercise to reach a physiological steady state.

In terms of intensity, steady-state cardio exercise has two tiers: low-intensity steady-state exercise (LISS) and moderate-intensity steady-state exercise (MISS).

Both involve keeping your heart rate lower than the peak levels reached in high-intensity interval training (usually at least 80% of your maximum heart rate).

This allows you to choose between LISS (typically walking at 57%-63% of your max heart rate) or MISS (usually a powerwalk or light jog at 64-76% of your maximum heart rate).

You can calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.

2. High-intensity interval training (HIIT)

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) means doing intense exercise and then taking a rest.

According to a study from 2017, HIIT workouts can help reduce body fat and burn calories in a shorter time.

The idea is to work really hard for short periods and then rest between those intense exercises. This burns a lot of calories, helping with weight loss.

After a HIIT workout, your body tries to go back to normal. To do this, it uses body fat for energy.

Here’s how to do HIIT on a treadmill:

Set the treadmill flat and walk at 2 mph for 5 minutes to warm up.
Run as fast as you can for 30 seconds.
Walk briskly for 60 seconds.
Repeat this 5 to 10 times.
Walk at 2 mph for 5 minutes to cool down.

For a tougher workout, switch between jogging and sprinting. You can also make the high-intensity sets longer. Your rest breaks should ideally be twice as long as your intense periods.

3. Uphill – Using the Incline Treadmill Option

To make your treadmill workout more challenging, incorporate inclines. Walking briskly or running uphill burns more calories because your body has to exert more effort.

In addition, it engages more muscles, helping to build lean muscle mass. This is beneficial for weight loss since muscles burn more calories than fat.

If you want to try an inclined workout on the treadmill, follow this sequence:

Set the treadmill flat and walk at 2 mph for 5 minutes to warm up.
Set the incline to 1 percent. Jog at 4 to 6 mph for 1 minute.
Increase the incline by 1 percent each minute. Repeat until you reach an 8 to 10 percent incline.
Decrease the incline by 1 percent each minute. Repeat until you’re back to a 0 to 1 percent incline.
Walk at 2 mph for 5 minutes to cool down.

Normally, jogging speed falls between 4 to 6 mph. You can make the workout more challenging by increasing the speed or adding more minutes.

For a gentler version, raise the incline by 0.5 percent each minute. Repeat until you reach a 4 to 5 percent incline, then reverse the process.

4. Change Things Up

Changing up your treadmill routine offers several benefits for fat loss.

Firstly, it helps decrease the risk of injury by reducing stress on your joints, which is crucial in avoiding overuse injuries that could potentially set you back.

Additionally, varying your workouts prevents hitting a plateau, as the body needs new challenges to continue progressing and yielding noticeable results.

Furthermore, this approach adds an element of variety, preventing boredom and making it more likely for you to stick to your exercise routine.

Consider incorporating different treadmill workouts into your plan, such as High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), light jogging, and strength training on different days to keep your routine diverse and effective.

Monday: treadmill HIIT routine for 20 to 30 minutes

Tuesday: light treadmill jog and strength training

Wednesday: rest, leisurely walk, or gentle yoga

Thursday: light treadmill jog and strength training

Friday: treadmill HIIT routine for 20 to 30 minutes

Saturday: boxercise class, spin class or bodyweight workout

Sunday: rest, leisurely walk, or gentle yoga

Treadmill Benefits

Apart from aiding in your fat loss goals, engaging in cardio activities such as a treadmill workout provides a range of benefits. It can contribute to:

Enhanced endurance
Blood sugar regulation
Increased levels of HDL (good) cholesterol
Improved memory and cognition
Protection against Alzheimer’s
Healthier skin
Strengthening of muscles
Reduction of fatigue
Alleviation of joint stiffness
Relief from stress and anxiety
Promotion of better sleep
Heightening of energy levels
Boosting of the immune system
Improvement in sexual arousal

Does the Treadmill Help You Lose Weight? – Summary

The treadmill is a fantastic way to burn calories and achieve weight loss through cardio exercise.

If you’re unsure about the best treadmill workout for you, consider talking to a certified personal trainer who can design a personalised treadmill weight loss programme tailored to your specific goals.

For optimal results, it’s beneficial to combine treadmill workouts with resistance based training.

Both types of exercise complement each other, supporting not only weight loss but also overall health.

However it’s important to also remember that weight loss is occurs as the result of a consistent calorie deficit (calories in vs calories out).

If you consume too many calories, you simply won’t burn enough calories on the treadmill to lose weight.

Take the example of an average male who trains hard for an hour and manages to burn 400-600 calories.

If this individual then decides to eat a pizza that evening containing 1000 calories, he’s still in a 500 calorie surplus!

He would then have to train for double the amount of time to counteract that one meal.

Thanks for checking out does the treadmill help you lose weight?

That’s all for today.

Speak soon.

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