♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Hi folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- We are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion of course, Bob.
- Today we're gonna talk about treadmill workouts,
are they five star
or do they do more harm than good?
You must see this.
- Yeah, Bob and I have used treadmills
extensively over the years
and we both decided separately
that we're gonna stop using the treadmill this winter
because there are some concerns we have about it.
So we're gonna give you the advantages and disadvantages
so you can decide for yourself
if you wanna continue to use one.
- We'll give you the lowdown.
- That's right.
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- All right, here we go.
Let's go, Bob.
So as I mentioned, we both use treadmills a lot
and we decided not to this year.
My biggest concern was,
last year I really used it a lot
and I started getting hamstring-
- Problems, yeah.
- Problems and strains. And to be honest with you,
I don't know if it was from using the treadmill more
and more or not,
but it got me thinking about it,
maybe I should just try and then use other things
after I started doing some research on it
that I think it's gonna be really a good thing for me
to find some other options.
- And there are a lot of options
and we'll go over some of those in future videos.
- Exactly, I've got one.
I'm excited to give.
- So let's go through,
first we're gonna go through some advantages.
And we'll share the list
and then some disadvantages
and they kinda counter each other
in certain areas and some not.
Obviously big advantage,
no weather issues.
And that's why if you live up North
or Wisconsin, Minnesota,
lot of people don't like running in the snow. (chuckles)
- I don't mind running in the cold,
unless it gets really cold,
but I don't like slippery roads.
There's been years where it's been slippery
almost all winter long.
We've had a really good winter so far.
I run outside every day now.
- People in Florida don't care about that. (laughing)
- Yeah, they don't care about that.
- The next thing,
they're adjustable inclines,
so you can run up the hill if you want,
you can run on the flat if you want.
One thing I found out, I wasn't aware of
and maybe treadmill people are is,
you're running on the flat on a treadmill
and the motorized belt is kinda helping you,
so to compensate for that, you go up one degree in gradient,
1%, I'm sorry 1%.
So, you just-
- Yeah, we're just talking about it, on my treadmill,
I don't know if that's 1%,
but I have always naturally gone up one level.
- To compensate for that.
- I don't know.
It's just, I felt like I was almost falling forward
when it was level,
I had to get good grip,
I had to actually- - Okay.
They're saying that you're gonna do that 1%.
Slight increase to compensate for that.
More resistance than you would naturally have outdoors.
Number three, less impact.
Some treadmills are better than others
but I think in my mind,
all treadmills because they're suspended a little bit
they're gonna have a little give
as opposed to running on concrete or blacktop.
If you're- - You know what?
I broke three treadmills.
I broke the deck on it.
'Cause I weighed two- - You gotta be careful Bob.
- I know, but I weighed 200 and some pounds
and I'm pounding,
and all of a sudden it would give way in the middle,
(indistinct) off the deck
- If the treadmill is accepting that kind of impact,
just think what your joints are.
It works both ways.
But anyways, less impact on a treadmill
versus hard concrete or blacktop, if you're a road runner.
Number four, now this is a theory,
I read about it in an article
and I could see where it may be true,
but I don't know for sure.
They actually promote a 4' running,
leaning forward running with a shorter stride length,
which is all consistent with improved speed
with your running and less impact
on your joints. - Less impact on the joint.
- So it's a good thing again, that's a theory.
- I'm not sure if I buy that one or not, but--
- When you were just saying you elevated yours a little bit
because it made you feel like you were-
- So maybe it does.
- Yeah, anyways, the next one,
good objective information.
I don't think anybody can disagree with this.
- Yeah, you know if you're improving and 'cause you--
- You look at your speed. - Everything's the same.
- I used to do interval work on it.
I would run fast, run slow, run fast.
And I could do that very specific distances
and keep an accurate and consistent workout,
which is really nice.
I think there's a big advantage
and I really did enjoy that,
and plus it made it less boring for me.
And nowadays, actually another point,
is you can do whole programs with a TV screen
and run through the Alps if you want,
you see the pictures there
and then have different speeds
and have a whole program already interjected
into the software that may last 10 or 12 weeks.
And keeps you motivated to stay with it.
And then of course cardio.
They're gonna get your heart rate up,
you're gonna get good cardio benefits
just as you would outside.
Now let's go to the disadvantages.
- I wanna tell one more advantage Brad.
This is just anecdotally, but patients that I had
that would use a treadmill versus a bike,
a stationary bike,
they seemed like they stuck with the treadmill
longer than the-
- Oh really? - Yeah.
Again it's anecdotally, but it was almost across the board,
people got a treadmill, they'd use it.
- Now in general were- - But, they were walking.
- Walkers, yeah, they were walkers.
- And I think there is,
- [Both] A difference.
- Between the walker treadmill users
and the non-walkers but still most of these apply to both,
less impact when you walk of course.
And of course the whole thing about the body running form
when you walk is, not exist.
- So, for walkers
maybe more advantages to treadmill.
Disadvantages.
Everyone probably agrees with this is they're boring.
Everyone.
They're just boring and you get a TV, it helps,
but you're still, you can't pay attention
to the TV too much
'cause you gotta pay attention
where you are on the treadmill.
- Yeah you do and it's funny 'cause I'm looking down,
looking up, I'm looking down, looking up.
- Which leads me to point number two,
and this is, I got some facts on this,
they're dangerous, they can be very dangerous,
people can fall.
In 2015, I couldn't find anything from '18 or '19,
and so I pulled this up from '15.
I have a feeling it's consistent, similar,
24,400 doctor visits from treadmill falls.
- This the United States or what?
- Yeah, United States.
That's a lot.
- I fell and this is why I fell,
there's a key on there, a safety key.
- Oh sure.
- And you're supposed to clip it to you by (indistinct)
but it just came loose, and so I'm running
and also just stopped.
And I remember, I just like, what happened?
And also I fell right down and I'm like,
then when I hit the floor,
I was thinking I was gonna Scooby back, but it didn't.
I was like, why did it stop?
- You didn't get hurt?
- I didn't get hurt.
- You were one of the fatalities-
- I was 59 years old when that happened
- Oh really?
Quite a few years ago.
(laughing)
- Just kidding. - Wait a minute.
Anyways, yeah, so they are dangerous.
If you go on YouTube and hit falls on treadmills,
you're gonna see all kinds of falls on them.
They're not even funny, but I guess it's very dangerous.
So anyways,
kids go on them and play with them and they fall.
But they bounce off usually pretty good
but I'm sure sometimes they do not.
So there is that part to think about.
The next thing, the belt is motorized,
we alluded to this before.
So that changes your running form or changes the muscle,
how do we call it?
The muscle synergy, how things should work.
- This is different than running outside.
So in some ways it could weaken your muscles
so that when you change to outdoor running
you don't get the crossover that the maximum possible-
- I know there's always a big challenge
going from the treadmill to outside again.
- In the spring.
- Yep, absolutely.
- So, you don't get that good crossover,
the leg and the foot, particularly the foot and the ankle.
Now this is something that I hadn't thought about before
but once I thought about it and read it, it's like,
it makes perfect sense.
You're running on a very consistent flat surface.
When you're running outside, it's not true.
You're running on, especially if you're trail running,
there's all kinds of variations on the surface.
- Or even just the camber of the road
- Camber of the road, you're running uphill,
you're running downhill. - Uphill, downhill.
- Very much different.
- So even from a proprioception, you have sense,
being able to tell where your foot is
without looking at it, it's putting more tax,
it's taxing it more.
- You're gonna lose strength in muscles,
in your ankle that deal with lateral motions
versus that consistent treadmill motion.
So there's that to think of.
Number five, lack of outdoor stimulation.
- That's what I miss when I can't run outdoors.
And I love that-- - And it's not just
a psychological thing, there's other benefits.
- Studies on it.
If especially if you can run in nature,
that's the biggest-
- You get away from all the hustle and bustle
and the cars going by.
- You get your vitamin D from the sun,
little harder in the winter but, it's just so much better.
I even like, we call a cryotherapy,
my wife and I, that you don't cry.
(chuckles)
It's cold therapy. - Cold, yeah.
- And it's good you. - In cooler weather
you get out, I'll usually run without shorts on,
unless it gets below 20 and it's not,
if it's windy, I'll put pants on.
- I've got shorts
but my legs- - I'm glad to hear that Brad.
- My neighbors talk sometimes, but anyways,
the outdoor, the visual stimulation, that sun, the air,
all that, things to me is just so relaxed.
- I miss it so much (indistinct)
- And I like running up a hill is just a lot better
than tilting the treadmill up I think.
And of course, another big disadvantage,
if you're thinking about buying one for your house.
there's the CRS and it's not, can't remember,
it's closed rack syndrome.
Liz and I were talking before this and we decided
that at least 50% of the people probably a lot more
end up after six months or a year,
they hang their clothes on to dry more
than they're using it.
You could easily spend $500, $1,000,
on a good treadmill
and you don't wanna have it for a clothes rack.
So, go out and use one at a gym somewhere
before you buy them. (laughs)
- We had a running joke,
among I and a bunch of friends,
we had all bought dip bars.
And so our joke was yeah,
you're hanging your clothes on it now
(laughing)
- I think there's other things you could use
for that dip bar that would be really handy.
So treadmills, they're fantastic,
some disadvantages, some advantages.
But hopefully this will get you thinking
of different things you haven't thought of before
that may help you out in making a decision
to continue or to start or to buy one.
So be aware on that purchase.
- Sounds good, thanks Brad.
(gentle chiming)