Treadmill Woes

Hi! Welcome to a 10:00 pm blog post; let's see how this goes ;) Hope you've been having a spectacular week! Its about to be Friday so good things are yet to come.

Meanwhile, let's talk treadmills. Its no secret I prefer outdoor running to treadmill running in a big way, but sometimes I choose the treadmill when I'm sort of being a pansy. Today's 37 degree, sleet-infested weather brought out the pansy in me and I found myself on the treadmill at the gym. It didn't take long (it never does) before I snuck just one (okay, probably like eight) inch too close to the front of the treadmill and SLAM I punched the crap out of the digital reader part. I did my usual look-around to see how many other gym rats witnessed my pain before gazing dejectedly at my blue knuckle; then spent the rest of my run acutely aware of the short distance between my hands and the treadmill.

Am I the only one with these crazy treadmill scenarios? Perhaps I've ran outdoors for too long and am not of the treadmill-breed, so I must struggle alongside those who have used them daily for a decade. Adding in self-made hills is the silliest idea, but I force myself to as I think of the reality that is hills when running outdoors. Tell me some of you out there feel the unnaturalness of the treadmill too?? I sometimes find myself suddenly taking a step a little too far to the left and doing an awkward hop back to the middle of the treadmill. I know the guy on the stairstepper thinks I'm nuts but he's on his Bluetooth and I keep thinking he's talking to me so its already weird between us you know? Here's to the prospect of few more days with awful enough weather to drive me inside, or to the halt of my bad-weather pansyness (I wish that were a real word). ;)

Part two of our treadmill talk: getting a good walking workout. We've all seen that girl or guy on the treadmill  with it raised to an incredible incline as they hang onto the handles for dear life and lean forward with all their might. I totally understand their thinking behind it: "the higher the incline, the more cals I'm burning! Bring on the uphill battle!". But that's just not the case. Holding on with your hands places some of your weight in your arms, and having your arm muscles working rather than your leg muscles doing all the work actually burns less calories. Its better to have the incline at a doable level so that you can walk with arms off the rail and by your sides like you would at a normal pace. Plus, hunching over due to an extreme incline puts pressure on your low back in a bad way, and throws off your gait.

Moral of the story? Lower those inclines and get moving! The same applies to other cardio machines, such as the elliptical and the stairstepper. Anytime you catch yourself hunching over as you haul up those gosh darn repeating stairs, check that your core is activated and straighten up that spine! :)

That's all I've got for tonight! My contacts are getting blurry so my typing could soon get ugly. I owe you a healthified recipe, so I'll bring one back with me :) If you have any ideas, let me know! I'm always open to recipe suggestions to make a bit healthier. Sleep tight!

--KQ