Treadmills of the biggest brands

The Benefits of the Treadmill

• The treadmill is an easy-to-use fitness machine.
• The running belt represents a predictable surface which is much easier to negotiate than sidewalks, curbs or paths and therefore the risk of falling is reduced.
• All aspects of training can be perfectly controlled by the user: speed, incline, warm-up period, cool-down period, energy expenditure.
• Users can design personalized programs and adapt to the time they have to practice.
• Several practitioners can use the same machine without the need to make complicated adjustments.
• Some treadmills have special features such as step counters and heart rate monitors so that the practitioners can keep track of their progress.
• Using a treadmill usually burns calories faster than most other forms of exercise on fitness equipment, such as crosstrainers.
• Users can do something else while they are on a treadmill (watching television or reading, etc.), which makes exercise less painful, especially for those who play sports out of necessity.

The disadvantages of the treadmill

• These are among the most expensive fitness machines.
• Even if the running belt is cushioned, it can still generate impacts on the back, hip, knees and ankle joints. For this reason, it is always best to test the cushioning of the running belt.
• A treadmill takes up a lot of space. The most sophisticated ones can be more than 2 meters long and almost 1 meter wide and cannot be folded up to save space.
• Like many equipment with computer programs and motors, the maintenance of a treadmill generally requires a trained professional.
• Some treadmills have noisy motors, which interfere with other activities near the machine.
• The treadmill offers limited exercise possibilities (walking or running) which can make it boring after a while.

What to Check Before You Buy a Treadmill

Like stationary bikes or ellipticals, treadmills can be quite expensive. So, it's a good idea to try out different models to find the one that will offer the right combination of features.

Some factors and characteristics that should be considered include:

1. The power of the engine. Low to mid-range treadmill models will have a continuous power generally between 1.5 HP and 4 HP. A higher rating generally indicates a smoother, faster and quieter movement of the engine.
2. The running belt. It must be both long enough and wide enough to accommodate the steps of a walker or the stride of a runner to avoid falling or tripping.
3. The quality of the cushioning. It should provide enough absorption to minimize the impact on the joints, but not too much rebound to the point that you feel unstable.
4. The controls. whether electronic or manual, they must be easy to use, read and program.
5. Noise pollution. It is recommended to test the noise in both idle (walking) and fast (running) modes.
6. The quality of the finish and the stability. They are essential, including whether the equipment has handrails and, if so, securely fastened.

If your main concern is fitness and/or weight loss then the treadmill could be the best machine for achieving these goals. Indeed, a recent study opposed practitioners who believed that they had trained vigorously either on bikes or on treadmills; those who used the treadmills burned 25% more calories…