- If you're treadmill virgin, and they can seem
a little bit daunting, especially if you go into a gym
and they're all lined up in a row, and there's people
pounding away on them.
But don't worry, we're here to help and we're going to
guide you through using a treadmill for the first time.
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Before you get started, it's important to come prepared.
So, make sure you bring some water 'cause it does get
pretty hot, and if you want your phone or your headphones,
there's a pocket on the treadmill to place them.
Also, if you're running indoors, you're gonna
naturally get hotter, so make sure you've got
less layers on than you have if you're outside.
And with that in mind, it's quite often a good idea
to bring a towel just to mop up any extra sweat.
A lot of treadmills will actually have their own
headphone port so you can listen to the TVs or the music.
Or otherwise, you can just use your own
and then pop it down in front of you.
All of this will help the time go that much quicker.
Before you start, you do actually need to know how to stop.
This button here is vital if you've got an emergency
or you suddenly want to get off, then if you hit this,
the treadmill will slow down and then eventually stop.
And another safety measure is this little clip here.
You can just clip this onto your clothes if you're a
little unsure of using a treadmill for the first time.
And then when you're running, if you do go too far back
or you fall off, it'll pull this button and that
also will stop the treadmill.
Most treadmills actually have a heartrate capability.
You can see this one here.
So if I did have my Polar heart rate belt on
when I'm running, I would see my heart rate on the screen,
and if you don't have a heartrate belt
you can use these little pieces here.
They're not as accurate, and I wouldn't recommend
using them whilst running, but if you're doing intervals,
or you want to just step off, you can pop your hands on here
and you get a rough idea of your heartrate.
Well, we're ready to get started.
And every treadmill can be a little bit different,
so just familiarise yourself, but pretty much
all treadmills will have a quick start button.
So I'm just gonna press that. (treadmill beeps)
It turned it on, and then to start moving, I need to
increase the speed (treadmill beeps)
just a little bit.
Nice and slow to start with so you've got a little bit
of movement, and then you can add in the incline.
(beeps)
Now, as a rule of thumb, it's good to have a 1% incline
as that roughly replicates the same amount of effort
as if you were running on the flat outdoors,
'cause obviously inside you don't have the wind resistance.
The next step is to increase your pace,
and the best way to do this is gradually using
your arrows on your treadmill,
so just slowly start to move (treadmill beeps)
the numbers up.
There is a bit of a lag, so don't get too carried away as
you'll suddenly find yourself sprinting without realising.
But when you're comfortable with that, move it up to
a fast walk until eventually, (treadmill beeps)
eventually, you have to start into a jog.
So we talked about the safety buttons,
but there's another way to stop and actually
take your legs off more quickly and safely.
If you feel like you're going too fast,
or you're getting a little bit tired,
then put your hands on the side rails,
and just hop onto the outside of the treadmill belt.
And there you're safe, and when it comes to
coming back on again, put your hands back,
so you take the main part of your weight,
and then find the pace the treadmill's going at.
Once you're happy with that, take your hands off,
and your full weight back on the treadmill.
It might seem obvious, but you need to position yourself
in the middle of the treadmill.
You don't wanna be too far forwards
and touching the board in front,
and you definitely don't want to be falling off the back.
And the same goes for side to side,
you wanna make sure you're in the middle of the belt
and you can reach the stop button if need be.
The most important thing when using a treadmill
for the first time is to be confident and comfortable.
So make sure you know where all the controls are,
and then you can concentrate on running.
And one final tip.
If for the first time on a treadmill you're running at
kilometres per hour, make sure when you
go to another treadmill, that it's in the same units
because if, say you've been running
at 10 kilometres an hour,
and you suddenly go up to miles per hour,
you'll have a nasty shock.
Anyway, if you've enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up,
like, and to subscribe to GTN, just click on the globe.
And if you want to watch our video on
how running indoors versus outdoors compares,
then click down here.
And if you want to watch a video on Kenyan Hills,
click over here.
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