6 Treadmill Workouts to Make Your Cardio More Fun

Treadmills are one of the most famous exercise equipment. Most people use them to help them lose weight, tone their muscles, and maintain their cardiovascular health. Usually, these exercises are considered too hard and people miss out on their effectiveness.

They get even harder when people imitate reality shows and run at intense speed for 30 minutes, becoming exhausted. But that does not have to be the case if you use the right strategy and choose the following treadmill exercises to make cardio fun instead of a trial.

Best Treadmill Workouts

1.   The Endurance Building Workout

The endurance-building workout is made up of prime exercises that can benefit you in multiple ways. It involves enabling your body to perform well under extended periods of time. However, in this case, the key is to change the speed instead of running at a consistent pace.

According to Andrew Slane who is a coach at Equinox Precision Run, varying the speed in every set helps your body deal with higher levels of intensity with each new set. In other words, it helps in increasing stamina, weight loss, and improvement in the overall lifestyle. You can do this workout indoors.

Before starting this workout, you must warm up for 5 minutes by walking at a moderate pace. After that, face one side of the room and perform a side shuffle for an interval of 15 to 30 seconds on each side. After performing this, you must perform quick steps, butt kicks, and high knees for 30 seconds each. Right after doing these, jog for 5 minutes.

After warming up, start your workout run for 5 minutes by increasing your speed by 0.5 mph every minute. After that, do a 2-minute recovery jog to cool down. You should repeat this workout six times by increasing the starting pace by 0.5 mph more than the original starting speed.

2.   The RPE Run for Beginners

The other treadmill workout that can make your cardio more interesting and useful is the RPE run. The Rate of Perceived Exertion is a tool to help runners measure the intensity and workload used by endurance athletes specifically. So, if you are preparing yourself for a marathon or a race, this RPE run is the best way to meet your goals and increase your stamina. Experts have stated that people feel exhausted due to psychological aspects, not just physical limits. Basically, it is about the maximum level of professed effort that your body is willing to endure. With an RPE run workout, you can increase that level which helps increase your strength and vigor.

First of all, you have to set your specific RPE for a workout. It will help you understand how much effort you are willing to put in. With time, you can upgrade your RPE scale to improve your strength and empower your will. Specifically, using this strategy or tool while running helps beginners in winning their races and increases their confidence.

Related Article: BEST 20 MINUTE HIIT TREADMILL AND BIKE WORKOUTS

3.   Descending Ladder Treadmill Interval Workout

The other trick that you can use to make cardio enjoyable is to increase your level of effort and decrease the length of the intervals. This workout not only improves your stamina but also helps you regain speed after short recovery periods. In other words, this helps you practice changing your gears as quickly as possible. As the interval gets smaller, it allows you to put in more and more effort without getting exhausted.

To perform this workout you should stick to the following routine:

• Warmup for 10 to 20 minutes by jogging
• Run for 3 minutes at 75% of your maximum effort followed by a 1-minute recovery walk or jogging.
• Run for 2 minutes at 80-85% of your maximum effort trailed by a 1-minute recovery walk.
• Run for 1 minute at 90% of your maximum effort along with a 1-minute recovery jog or walk
• Cooldown yourself with 10 to 20-minute easy jogging

4.   Pyramid Treadmill Interval Workout

 Whether you are working out on a treadmill or a track, this workout can help you practice good pacing strategies. This allows you to overwork yourself in multiple ways while enabling you to maintain control of your pace at different intervals of speed. Going for this workout also improves the length of strides, increases the burning of calories, and strengthens muscles. This is an enjoyable workout strategy for the treadmill. However, it requires a stiff warm-up. You have to perform 3-minute drills including high knees, butt kicks, and leg swings. Also, run for four minutes with a little faster pace than jogging on the treadmill with a 1% incline.

• Run for 90 sec at fast speed with 1 % incline and proceed with a 45-sec recovery walk.
• Run for 90 sec at a fast pace with a 2% increase and follow up with a 45-sec recovery jog or walk.
• Run for 90 sec at rapid speed with 3% raise and proceed with a 45-sec jog or walk.
• Run for 2 to 4 minutes with a 5% incline following a recovery walk of 45 sec after each interval.
• Run for 2 to 4 minutes with a 3% incline following a recovery walk of 45 seconds after each interval.
• And 3 times run for 1 minute with 5% incline along with a 45-second recovery walk.
• Then jog for 3 minutes to cool down.

Related Reading: What Are Pyramid Sets? Guide to Pyramid Workouts and Training

5.   Race Pace Treadmill Interval Workout

 To prepare for both long and short races, the race pace treadmill interval workout is the best strategy. This workout is very effective in strategizing your pace and setting your goal pace without getting completely exhausted. This allows you to conserve energy for harder efforts to meet the thresholds.

Before performing this workout, do a warm-up by jogging for 10 to 20 minutes. When you are done with your warm-up, run for a mile at a marathon pace. Then run for 90 seconds four times at 80% of your maximum effort or a 10K pace for 90 seconds each. Again, run for a mile at a marathon pace. Now perform four sets of running at the rate of 90% of your maximum effort or a 5K pace for at least a mile while running at a marathon pace. Then, jog for 10 to 20 minutes to cool down.

6.   Alternating Float Treadmill Interval Workout

An alternating float treadmill interval workout is specifically designed to push you through discomfort while maintaining your pace. To do so, the easy recovery jog is removed from this workout. This workout is quite helpful in improving running and increasing physical strength.

If you insist on sticking to your interval-based workout patterns, you may face troubles on your race day. But going for an alternating float workout without intervals can really help you win the race. This workout consists of two types of intervals: on and float.

 Intervals are challenging and should require 80 to 90 % of your maximum effort. Float intervals should require 60 to 65% of your maximum effort, unlike recovery jogging.

To perform this workout, you need to start with a 10 to 20-minute warm-up jog. Then should perform two sets of 2-minute intervals followed by the 2-minute float interval.

In the next round, perform four sets of 1-minute intervals along with 1minute float intervals. Then go complete four 30-sec on intervals followed by a 30-sec float interval. And lastly, do four sets of 15-sec on intervals followed by a similar number of sets for the float intervals.

Repeat the whole exercise after having a 3-minute recovery walk. After completing the workout, jog for 10 to 20 minutes to cool down.

These are six of the amazing treadmill exercises that can help you make your cardio more fun than a hassle along with helping you get the best workout results possible.

The Endurance Building Workout

The key to endurance building is changing your pace instead of running at a consistent speed.

The RPE Run for Beginners

Set your goals. Increase your self-confidence and improve your level of perceived exertion to beat your psychological barriers.

Descending Ladder Treadmill Interval Workout

Increase your effort and shorten your workout intervals. It will help you recover at a faster rate.

Pyramid Treadmill Interval Workout

Overwork yourself. Increase your incline percentage of maximum effort and improve running economy, strengthen muscles, and improve your strides.

Race Pace Treadmill Interval Workout

Get better control over your pace. Increase your level of effort and pace at a conversational pace in short intervals to prepare for winning marathons.

Alternating Float Treadmill Interval Workout

Switch gears but don’t rest. Use on and float intervals to build endurance and get fit for any running challenge.

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