Treadmill Walking: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Treadmills are the best workout equipment for your home gym. You can perform various exercises on a treadmill apart from running and walking. These exercises help in building muscles to enhance your overall strength and fitness.

However, we often tend to make certain mistakes while working out on a treadmill. These mistakes adversely impact our safety and body posture. This article provides a guide to the most common treadmill walking mistakes. These mistakes should be avoided to obtain the benefits of a treadmill.

The following points will help you remain safe during your workout. Also, they help you enhance your overall workout session. So, let us now dive into the article.

Avoid stepping on the treadmill when it is in full speed

This is an essential factor to keep in mind when it comes to your safety. You should never get on a treadmill when the belt is moving at full speed. Keep your feet on each side of the treadmill and start it at a low speed.

Ensure that the safety key is attached to the console while the other end is clipped to your clothing. It stops the treadmill in case you stumble. You can step on the treadmill once you check the speed.

These points will keep you safe from unwanted injuries. Also, you can gradually increase the speed once you are on board.

Avoid holding on to the handrail of the treadmill

You might consider holding on to the handrail of the treadmill due to lack of balance. However, this is not the ideal way of walking on a treadmill. It prevents you from maintaining a proper walking posture, which should involve the proper arm movements.

In case you lack stability, set the treadmill at a low speed. Walking on a treadmill with low speed ensures a better workout than walking on a high-speed treadmill while holding on to the handrails. Also, it ensures a better walking posture.

Avoid leaning forward while walking

It is important to maintain a good walking posture while on the treadmill. You should be upright and not bent. Avoid leaning forward by lifting your upper body straight off the hips. Ensure that your shoulders are not hunched.

Get on the treadmill when you are sure of having an upright posture. Always keep a check on your posture while walking on the treadmill. Do not forget to correct your posture every time you change the speed or incline of the treadmill.

Avoid Over-striding on a treadmill

While walking on a treadmill, we often tend to place our front heels on the surface far before our bodies. This refers to over-striding. It allows you to walk faster in general cases.

However, this is not the correct treadmill walking stride. You should instead, keep your front heel close to your body. Ensure that your back foot remains on the surface for a longer time. It helps in providing a powerful push-off for more speed and higher burning of calories.

Avoid opting for the same walking routine

Working out may eventually turn boring when you opt for your regular treadmill walking routine. Try challenging yourself by stepping up the workout session.

There are many other treadmill exercises based on walking. These workout routines will enhance your strength, endurance, and agility. You can also include ankle weights or dumbbells to your workout. They add more resistance to your training session for higher intensity.

Avoid Distractions

We often tend to get distracted by our surroundings. Avoid looking around while walking on a treadmill. Ensure that you look forward with your head held up to prevent any misstep.

Also, never use a phone for texting or calling while on a treadmill. This is one of the biggest causes of distraction. It may lead to accidents and injuries, which could be avoided. Focus on your posture and walking.

Avoid staring at the fitness monitor

The fitness monitor is similar to a fitness tracker. It tracks and displays the metrics, including speed, distance, time, heart rate, and calories burned. However, unlike a fitness tracker, the monitor is installed on the treadmill.

Staring at the monitor during a workout will require you to bend your neck. This leads to bad posture. Hence, you will be susceptible to neck problems and backaches.

Ensure that you look forward and walk with the correct posture to burn calories more efficiently. So, you should avoid staring at the monitor during your treadmill workout session.

Avoid skipping warm-up sessions

A solid warm-up is important during the beginning of any workout session. It prevents injuries by preparing your body for a high-intensity workout. Hence, you should warm-up for at least 10 minutes before you begin your treadmill walking exercise. It builds your speed and helps in loosening the muscles.

Treadmills are required in every gym. They provide low and high impact workout exercises that strengthen muscles, burn calories, and increase endurance. However, it is up to us to perform the exercises correctly. The article provides insight into the most common mistakes we make while walking on a treadmill.

These mistakes should be avoided for achieving your desired fitness goals. Ensure that you remain focused while walking with the right posture on a treadmill. Also, never compromise on your safety.

We now conclude this article. We hope that through this article, we could provide the required information to all of our readers.