The Benefit of Treadmill Running at fixed incline.

Running your constant variable?

Running a constant variable is exclusive to World Gym Challenge - we use

• 400 m at 10% (Intermediate)
• 600 m 10 % Advanced.

The above graph shows 4 circuits based on a 168 max heart rate routine. The Shark Fin is 400 m at 10% incline without gassing out (at 8 kph)

The circuit is 2 km Bike / 400 m 10% / 750 m Row / 1 minute recovery.

The basics of a constant variable are that the heart rate increases, against the incline remaining the same.

• The speed is variable.
• The incline is constant.
• The heart rate is variable.

Most people run on treadmills wrong.

If you want to run then go outside and let Mother Nature take its course.  Use your speed and length stride to increase performance, use the terrain to challenge you, use the climate for variation, use set courses to benchmark your results – use a watch and record it all. Your years of endless bounding on hard surface will take its toll eventually, so take care. Your joints will be affected by impact strikes eventually. That’s not to say don’t run, do. It’s mainly about risk and reward anyway. If it makes you feel good – then do it.  Running is one of the best methods to maintain a healthy lifestyle and it’s highly recommended that anybody continues a running program that is right for them. Whether it’s fast or short, hilly, straight, round in circles up or down, do it. It’s a great way to get fit and remain healthy. 

So why use the treadmill in a gym ?

Firstly the cost of many treadmills you see in the gym are out of the price range of the home model edition and there is a reason for this, they are better. Treadmills are amongst the most common piece of equipment used in the gym used by the novice and professional alike, they are used up and down the country to test for medical conditions, mainly in lab conditions; they are used by Armed Services and Professional Sports teams. Their use is numerous. And now we have the motor less treadmill, which is powered by momentum.

Use your environment (the gym) to train

At World Gym Challenge, we base our workouts in a gym. So when we recommend workouts, we look at the environment and use the equipment on offer in most gyms. What we suggest is getting in a habit of working outside of your comfort zone, but treat each session as single challenge. That means every time you visit the gym, there is some sort of reward for you. Also using the Upright Bike, Treadmill and Rower you will predominantly be doing weight baring exercises and lessening the impact forces on your body. 

Constantly changing to weight bearing exercises and minimum running on an inclines surface is designed to let your body recover both in terms of impact and fatigue.

That’s why we use the Rower, Treadmill and Bike for a considerable amount of our challenges.

But why run on a treadmill?

Technically its not running, the ground moves (revolves) and you stay static in the confines of a space designed to test your fitness. That’s why it has bright displays on it, so that you can calculate your response to stress. Your muscles move differently, your arm motion is different, your gate changes slightly and your posture is different – there is in fact a magnitude of differences from running outside to that of running on a treadmill. But make no mistake, the effect of a successful training regime on a treadmill can make significant changes to your overall fitness.

Challenges are set at 600 m 10% incline and 400 m 10% incline for the Gym X Training Series

Isn’t that repetitive and looking for injury?

No, that is simply not the case. If you continually do the same training format and constantly run the same training pattern, then you will plateau and not see any gains. But The challenge format for the Series is more about heart rate control, and the training is variable in its entirety.

• The distances are designed for gym challenge formats.
• There are too many sessions based on cycling, rowing , weights and Bodyweight exercises  as well as treadmill for it to be repetitive and add to risk of injury.
• Your training is based on hours attended at the gym – your sessions and the outcome of each session, how did you do – how did you perform, what were your results?
• 600 m and 400 m 10% incline running is just the generic distance, so that others can gauge their own performance and also plan their runs, set to certain speed patterns.
  
  This will come over time as you understand your own body and its limitations.

You can find out so much about you running on a treadmill

Using the treadmill for your challenges is quite daunting as you learn about yourself too. For those of you who know what a 2000 m row feels like for as fast as possible time, you know there will be pain. Intense pain. But you are programmed to deal with this through your training and  with previous attempts.

Running the 400 and 600’s at 10% incline is similar to this. It’s the knowledge beforehand of trying to figure out a race plan. The motion must never revert to gassing out (stopping or slowing down the speed) its about maintaining a pace that does not allow you to stop But allows you to continue at a pace y0u can maintain while your brain is screaming at you to stop.

This is the challenge we seek – to overcome and persevere through the complexity of stress.

The treadmill therefore should not be ignored – it is a valuable addition to any gym.