When it comes to running on the treadmill, most people don’t come close to maximizing their cardio workouts. Like so many other things in fitness, you get out of the treadmill what you put into it. Once you step on the treadmill, it’s time to envision your fitness goals, work hard, and train like an athlete to achieve them.
These basic treadmill workout formats are crucial for bringing about results and keeping you mentally stimulated. Get leaner, faster, and stronger by incorporating these four treadmill workouts into your regular strength and conditioning program.
Directions
You can modify these workouts by making the component parts shorter or longer, adding intervals, hill repeats, etc., but the basic format should always remain the same. Here is a sample week of treadmill workouts for cardio that works:
Monday: Intervals
Wednesday: Tempo
Friday: Hills
Saturday: Endurance
30-minute tempo workout
This workout has three parts: A warm up, the tempo section, then a cool down. The key is to run the middle section at a “comfortably hard” pace, one where you’re not dying, but it’s challenging.
10-minute walk/light jog
10-minute tempo [roughly a 7 intensity on a scale of 1-10]
10-minute cool down
30-minute interval workout
This is a HIIT workout. Since the intervals will be significantly shorter than the tempo section in the previous workout, they should be run at a much higher intensity. Walk or jog slowly to recover.
10-minute walk/light jog
8×1-minute hard intervals [a 9-10 intensity] with 1-minute recovery
5-minute cool down
30-minute hill workout
Running hills is one of the most powerful ways to maximize your treadmill workout. You torch major calories, strengthen your entire body, and improve your running form and efficiency. Run at a 7% incline for the work portion.
10-minute easy warm up
5×2-minute hills with 1-minute recovery
5-minute cool down
30-minute endurance workout
Although it has been much maligned over the past few years, there is still great value to performing slower steady-state treadmill runs. These workouts force the body to add new capillaries and increase the number and size of the mitochondria, building overall endurance. They can also be used as “active recovery,” performed the day after a harder session, such as an interval workout.
3-minute easy warm up
25-minutes steady-state, easy aerobic pace. [5-6 intensity]
2-minute cool down
