As the rainy season is about to begin in the subcontinent, you will have a hard time going out in the early morning for your weight loss cardio routine. With all those parks and roads drained with water, you got to switch to the alternative – Treadmill. Trust us, you will feel like you are actually running outside. So why wait? Let’s get started with top treadmill workouts for weight loss curated by MyFitFuel team.
Few Things to Keep In Mind Before You Get Started
- To lose weight using the treadmill and other running exercise, you need to make sure that your heart rate is in the fat burning zone, i.e. 75% – 90% of your target heart rate for at least 30 minutes.
- You can calculate your target heart rate with this general formula –
Max. Heart Rate for Women = 226 – age
Max. Heart Rate for Men = 220 – age - If you don’t wish to do any of the calculations by yourself, then you should look for treadmills that allow you to input your age and weight in its console and calculate your maximum heart rate on its own.
- For beginners who are eyeing for weight loss using treadmill should concentrate on building stamina and endurance first up and then switch higher intensity workouts for better results.
Week 1: Simple Treadmill Workout
It is the starting phase of your treadmill workout routine and hence during this week you don’t need to push yourself way too much. All you need to do is to stick to the basics and get familiarized with the program. This treadmill walking workout is to lose weight
How to perform:
- Start with 10 minutes light walking so that you get used to the surface of the treadmill.
- Now set the incline at 0 and start walking at a speed of 1 mph for two minutes.
- After every two minutes, increase the speed by one mph and reach up to a maximum speed of 5 mph.
- As you complete 10 minutes, decrease the speed back to 1 mph and walk for 5 minutes to end the workout.
- If you wish to increase your time limit from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, then you should start with a speed of 2 mph and go as high as seven mph then decrease back to 2 mph in final minutes. After every two minutes, increment the speed by at least one mph.
Week 2: Incline Treadmill Workout
After the successful initial week of your treadmill routine, it’s time to do some challenging stuff – Incline treadmill.
How to perform:
- Start with 5 minutes light walking on a treadmill set at an incline of 2 and with a speed of 3 mph.
- Then set the incline at 3 for next two minutes for a speed of 3.5 mph.
- Increment the incline by 1 and speed by 0.5 after every two minutes till you reach an inclination of 7 and speed of 5.5.
- Perform cool down for at least 5 minutes with a speed no more than three mph and at an incline of 2.
- Keep in mind, like speed levels, incline levels too should be reduced slowly as you approach towards the end of the workout.
Week 3: Sideways Treadmill Workout
Apart from using the treadmill for weight loss, there are a bunch of other things you can do like strengthening your hips, thighs and calves. In the third week of your treadmill weight loss routine, you are now going to perform sideways walking.
How to perform:
- Begin with a 5 minute light walking at a speed of 1 mph.
- Once you have warmed up, turn right side and walk sideways at 1.5 mph speed for 1 minute. Switch to the left side for next minute.
- After first two minutes of side walking, switch to the right side again but now walk at a speed of 2 mph for 1 minute.
- After 1 minute, switch to the left side and perform the same for next minute.
Once you are done with it, face forward and perform forward walking at a speed of 4 mph for next 2 minutes. - Repeat the above steps till you reach a 25 minute total on the treadmill console. Be hard to miss the cool-down in the end.
Week 4: Alternate Walk and Jog Treadmill Workout
By the end of the third week, you will find it quite easy to spend 30 minutes on a treadmill. So, the next thing you got to do is to increase your endurance levels by increasing the time spent on a treadmill to a total of 45-50 minutes and do this interval treadmill workout.
How to perform:
- In this workout, you will have to switch alternatively between brisk walk and jogging.
- For instance, start with a speed of 3 mph then slowly increase the speed to 8 mph so that you start jogging.
- Beyond this point, increase the speed only if you think you will be able to handle it.
- After jogging for 5 minutes, return to speed where you can do a brisk walk for next 2 minutes.
- Shoot up to jogging speed for next 5 minutes and return to brisk walk for next couple minutes.
- Repeat this cycle for at least 45-50 minutes.
Related Article: 20 best aerobic exercises weight loss at home
Week 5: The Sprint Treadmill Workout(Interval Workout)
High-intensity Intermittent Exercise (HIIE) aka Sprint Interval Training (SIT) is well known for its benefits regarding improvement in sports performance and faster results in fat loss regime. See how you can perform the sprint workout on a treadmill –
How to perform:
- Start with a warm-up walk for about 5-7 minutes.
- Once you are thoroughly warmed-up, sprint for next 20 seconds. Your primary target should be achieving 80% – 90% of your target heart rate.
- After 20 seconds of sprint, get back to brisk walking for next 2 minutes and meanwhile get your breath back.
- Sprint for next 20 seconds followed by 2 minutes of brisk walk.
- Switch between this cycle of sprints and brisk walk for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 6: The Total Treadmill Workout (including all the techniques discussed above)
During the final week of your treadmill weight loss routine, you will have to accommodate all the methods mentioned above in a single workout. There will be a lot of timings to calculate in this workout. Hence a stopwatch or a workout partner to guide you through will be very helpful.
How to perform:
- Begin with a warm-up walk of 5 minutes.
- Kick off the workout with 2 minutes of side walking on each side.
- After completion of sidewalks, sprint for 10 seconds (get near to 80% – 85% of your max. heart rate) followed by a brisk walk for 1 minute.
- Repeat this cycle for at least five times.
- Alternatively, you can also increase the incline by two on completion of every cycle.
- Don’t forget to perform a 5-minute cooldown at the end of the workout to minimize blood pooling in legs.
Now you know all 6 treadmill workout for weight loss, share your experience or ask your question in the comment box below.
Also published on Medium.
