Motorised Treadmill Benefits and Types

Exercise Equipment - Motorised Treadmills

What is a motorised treadmill?

Basically a motorised treadmill sometimes incorrectly spelled tredmill is an item of exercise equipment in the form of a conveyor belt on which you walk or run in order to remain in the same place. Does that sounds nuts ? Well yes and no. Treadmills are an excellent form of home gym equipment if you want to keep fit but you don't like the idea of walking or running in the street or in a park or if the weather is bad. It is interesting that the first treadmills were introduced in the nineteenth century in prisons ! Now we see them all over the country in gyms and at home in home gyms.

(A Proform Treadmill)

The more sophisticated and expensive versions of treadmills have a motor in them and are therefore called motorised treadmills or motorized treadmills. Treadmills without a motor are called manual treadmills.

What are the Advantages of Using a Treadmill?
A cardiovascular exercise (cardiovascular means involving the heart and blood vessels):
Walking or running on a treadmill is a good way of working out. Regular use of a treadmill increases endurance.
All treadmills include some form of shock absorption (unlike streets) and therefore reduce impact and strain on your knees, ankles and lower back.
People who prefer not to run/walk outdoors for whatever reason can use a motorised treadmill.
People who don't want to join a gym can buy their own treadmill and use it at home.
You can do other things while using a treadmill, such as watching TV or reading, or walking the dog.
A motorised treadmill allows you to calculate and adjust the slope and speed of your exercise.
Also the energy used up can be calculated.
Some treadmills have features that count the number of steps made, monitor your heart rate and the calories burned.

What are the disadvantages of using a treadmill?
You may find treadmills boring.
There is a cost involved in buying and for the electricity to run the treadmill, whereas you can exercise outside for free.
A treadmill will take up space in your home, although there are some folding treadmills.
There is always the possibility you may injure yourself, but that possibility exists outside too.
Treadmills are sometimes noisy.
A treadmill offers no wind resistance, so they are not ideal for training for outdoor races.
The degree of slope offered by treadmills, even expensive treadmills in gyms is not the same as that of medical treadmills used for stress tests.
The strict pace imposed may cause you to lose balance.
Using a treadmill is a form of cardiovascular exercise, the risk of cardiac arrest is therefore significantly increased. This risk may be greater with a treadmill as comforts such as air conditioning may cause you to feel more comfortable than would otherwise be the case.
Using a conveyor belt removes the need of any lateral force against the ground, which in turn limits the effectiveness of training on a treadmill.

The popular brands are Proform treadmills, Bowflex, Horizon, Merit, Stamina, Weslo. Prices can range from $100 for a manual treadmill to several thousand dollars for a sophisticated motorised treadmill.
treadmills advantages motorised treadmills proform treadmills