Treadmill for Beginners

Beginners to the gym,
looking for which exercise to start with amongst the various types of machines you see in the gym?
Do not worry! You could always start off with light exercises - on the treadmill!

Treadmill

There are a few possible reasons you would want to use a treadmill:

1. To keep fit or lose weight- treadmill exercises (walking, jogging or running) are a type of cardiovascular exercise which helps to increase metabolism and hence burn calories
2. To stay healthy - you might not like strenous exercises and prefer light exercises, then the treadmill would suit you
3. Just to look cool or just to boast that you went to the gym to your female/male friends

So how do you start off with the treadmill?

An example of the screen of a treadmill

1. After stepping on to the treadmill, look at the screen on the treadmill (it should be quite similar in terms of basic functionality to the above picture). Hit start to begin.
2. Firstly, warm-up with the initial speed the treadmill sets for you (probably around 2kmph). It's our normal walking speed.
3. Then, gradually increase the speed as desired. This differs from people to people, so decide on this yourself by trying out each range of speed. Remember, if you have not been exercising for very long, please do not expect yourself to be able to run at a high speed (e.g. 20kmph for 30minutes) when you first begin. (My suggestions: 4-5kmph would be a slightly faster walking speed, 6-7kmph for brisk-walking, 7-10kmph for jogging, 10kmph and above for running.)
4. Once you start to feel unusually tired or that your legs are slightly painful/sore, be aware that you should be stopping sometime soon. If you feel uncomfortable (e.g. dizzy, nauseous, or leg cram), please stop immediately. If you were jogging/running, please gradually slow down the speed before you hit the Stop button. This action of cooling down is important (as described by the previous post).

Important things to note:

• Keeping a good posture helps. A good posture is by pumping your arms as you walk/jog/run, while keeping your head up and looking forward
• STOP IMMEDIATELY if you feel uncomfortable (e.g. dizzy, nauseous, or leg cram). Do not outstretch yourself especially if you haven't been working out for a long time.

I hope these advices would be good for you beginners! Once you're good with the treadmill, try taking new self-challenges by increasing the speed or increasing the slope. Or you might want to venture on to abs blasting exercises/machines to look even cooler!

Have fun!

TeamNotSoCool
Sinn-Shun