17 Precautions for Exercising with a Treadmill

Nowadays, many people like to use treadmills to do exercise. You only need to press the power button to start running. It seems very easy and there is no operation at all. In fact, treadmill exercise is not that simple, there are really more knowledge to use a treadmill. In addition, treadmills are easily injured if used improperly. If you don’t pay attention to it in use, it will leave the root of the disease for a lifetime.

When running on a treadmill, the leg joints of the exerciser bear less impact. When the weather or safety conditions are not good, using a treadmill to exercise is a good alternative. Although we all know how to use treadmills, there are many cases of injuries and even sudden deaths on treadmills every year. Therefore, we must pay more attention to it in doing the exercise. In the following, I have summarized 17 precautions for using treadmills.

1. Warm-up before running
The human body is like a car. If the car is not warmed up before starting, it will easily cause engine damage. Lack of adequate warm-up exercise can also cause harm to the body. If you want to keep running, you must first have enough warm-up before running. You can move your wrists, ankles, waist, and neck before exercise. In order to avoid unnecessary harm to the body, ligaments and joints must be stretched.

Stretching after training is a kind of self-repair, which can make you be ready for the next training. Otherwise, your muscles are always in a tight state, like a rubber band, which will break after being stretched for a long time. After training, please be sure to do a certain degree of stretching exercises, and then you can gently massage your calves and thighs to relax the muscles.

Like all other fitness exercises, warm-up activities are also essential. Failure to do warm-up activities can easily cause muscle strains, joint sprains and other sports injuries. These conditions are more common in cold winters. Moreover, if you do not do warm-up activities, the heart cannot adapt to higher-intensity exercises at once, and you will experience physical discomfort such as palpitation and dizziness. The way to warm up is simply to do some stretching to let the muscles adapt, and then walk for three to five minutes to let the heart and lungs adapt.

2. Check the treadmill carefully
Before using the treadmill, you should first check whether the treadmill is placed stably and whether the surface is dry. Before you start exercising, make sure that your feet are standing on the footrests on both sides of the treadmill and clamp the emergency brake clips to your clothes. When everything is ready and the treadmill starts to rotate, you can put your feet on the surface of the treadmill. If you are using a treadmill for the first time, you need to put your hands on the handles on both sides.

3. No immediate acceleration
When running on a treadmill, you should allow the speed of the treadmill to increase slowly. When you first step on the treadmill, don’t to set the speed too fast. You can start with "3", gradually increase to "3.5", and then to "4". The gradual improvement can allow the body to have a process of adaptation. This is roughly equivalent to the state of walking.

If the treadmill can be set of the slope, it is required to adjust the slope to "0" at the beginning, and then gradually increase the speed or slope. When the speed increases to "5" or "6", you may be in a fast walking or jogging state, and your body has basically adapted. At this time, you can maintain or choose to increase the speed or slope as needed. When using a treadmill, you must first understand your exercise limits. If your physical strength is not good and the set speed is fast, you will fall easily.

4. Heart rate monitoring
Most people rarely use this function when running on a treadmill. Most people think that the heart rate monitoring function is a tasteless or even display. If you hold this view, it can be dangerous. What is the appropriate speed setting? In fact, it can be evaluated by measuring the heart rate. Many treadmills have a metal piece on the armrest. When you hold the left and right handrails with your left and right hands, the treadmill will record the number of heartbeats.

When running, if you want to achieve a satisfactory exercise effect, you need to control your exercise intensity within a certain range. If your exercise intensity is too small, it will not be able to cause enough stimulation to the body organs, promote its function improvement, and fail to achieve the purpose of exercise. If your exercise intensity is too high, the breathing and circulatory system cannot meet the oxygen demand of the tissues and organs, and it will transition to anaerobic exercise.

According to the analysis and research of a large amount of data by aerobic experts, it is found that heart rate is closely related to age. The maximum heart rate gradually decreases with age. The simplest algorithm for effective heart rate is: maximum heart rate for men = 205-age, maximum heart rate for women = 220-age. For example, the maximum heart rate of a 40-year-old man=205-40=165 beats/minute, and the maximum heart rate of a 40-year-old woman=220-40=180 beats/minute.

Generally speaking, controlling the heart rate during exercise at 60% to 80% of the maximum heart rate can achieve the effect of fitness. This is the so-called effective heart rate range. The effective heart rate of 40-year-old men=165× (60-80)%=99-132 beats/minute, and the effective heart rate of 40-year-old women=180×(60-80)%=108-144 beats/minute.

If your cardiopulmonary function is better, you can increase your control heart rate. If your cardiopulmonary function is poor, then you should roughly control your heart rate lower. At the same time, you should always pay attention to how you feel. If you just feel "a little tired" while running, the set speed is right. If you feel “very tired”, it means that your running speed is too fast.

5. Do not exercise for more than 60 minutes on the treadmill
Your running time should also be controlled. Most people run for fitness. How long does it take to run to achieve the fitness effect? In fact, this varies for different person. The most common way is to warm up at a slower speed for 5 minutes, then run at a faster speed for 20 minutes, and then relax at a slower speed for 5 minutes. This way, a run lasts about 30 minutes.

Generally speaking, exercise for about 30 minutes can have a good exercise effect. Under normal circumstances, more than 30 minutes of continuous, non-tiring exercise can be simply understood as what we call aerobic exercise. Of course, if you have higher demands on yourself, running for 45 to 60 minutes is even better. Ordinary bodybuilders generally do not spend more than 60 minutes each time, because too long time will easily cause excessive fatigue, and at the same time will wear joints excessively.

6. Avoid holding the armrest in running
Some people think that they need to put their hands on the armrests when they walk or run on the treadmill. This view is actually wrong. The armrests are just to help you get on and off the treadmill. When running, your arms should be bent 90 degrees, just like running outdoors. Excessive dependence on armrest has a great impact on cardiopulmonary function. In this case, even if you return to running outdoors in the future, it will be very unnatural.

7. Avoid watching videos in running
Many treadmills today are equipped with displays. Of course, there are also many runners holding iPads in front of the treadmill and watching while running. The screen can provide more information and even has a video playback function. Can I watch videos while running? The height of the display screen of the treadmill is about 1 meter to 1.2 meters. If you watch the video while running, the runner will bow his head and hunch his body forward.

This will cause excessive pressure on the lumbar spine and easily lead to lumbar strain. Also, watching videos while running can cause distraction. If you watch too much, you will forget that you are running, which can cause danger if you run too fast or too slow.

8. Listen to music with strong rhythm
Listening to music is much better than watching videos, but there are certain problems when using headphones. When running, the exerciser will have more vigorous physical movement and the earplugs and the ear canal will have continuous friction. Coupled with sweating, exercisers are at risk of ear canal chafing. However, there are also waterproof headphones, such as sports headphones with ear hooks, which can solve these problems to a certain extent. You can choose some inspiring songs, so that you will not watch your watch and feel that time will pass faster.

In addition, the rhythm of music may also affect the tempo of running, so be sure to choose fast-paced music. It's best to adapt the music to the running tempo, avoid being fast and slow for a while. Sudden changes in music can easily adversely affect the rhythm of running. In addition, runners must avoid listening to particularly lyrical, slow pure music.

9. Step firstly with heel in running
If you step on the treadmill belt and make a loud noise while running, it is likely that there is a problem with the running posture. A common mistake is that the runner touches the ground with the full sole of the foot. This puts excessive pressure on the ankles and knees, which can easily cause joint damage. The correct approach is to touch the ground with the heel first, and then roll to transition to the full sole. In this way, the arch of the foot can be used to cushion the lower limbs.

Running on a treadmill is somewhat different from running on the road. If you want to run faster, you usually touch the ground with your front toes first, which makes it lighter during running. Therefore, you must be aware that this is different. However, if you are used to running like this, the problem is not too big. At the same time, you also need to pay attention to the abdomen and chest, use the strength of the waist and abdomen to control the movement of the body.

10. Pay attention to your pace
Your running steps should be small and fast to minimize the impact on your legs. Do not touch the ground with your heels first, as this will bring impact to your knees, but try to touch the middle of your feet to the ground. The more steps you take per minute, the more efficient you run. A good runner runs 180 steps per minute. When running, you should try to make the steps smaller and faster, and you must keep your feet close to the conveyor belt to increase the number of steps. In this way, not only will running not be too boring, but it can also improve outdoor running performance.

11. Use the slope function flexibly
You can adjust the slope of the treadmill to 1 to 2 degrees to simulate an outdoor slope. Adjusting the front of the treadmill slightly higher can reduce the risk of injury. However, the slope should not be too large, as this may cause injury to your foot tendon or calf. In addition, runners cannot run for too long with a steep slope. Under normal circumstances, runners should not run for more than 5 minutes with a steep incline. It should be set to run at an incline for a few minutes, and then run without an incline for a few minutes, which is safer.

12. Timely water supplement
It is best to add a certain amount of water every 15 minutes during exercise, but not too much at once. Due to limited indoor air, running on a treadmill loses more water than running outdoors. Therefore, when running, you should keep the water within easy reach. You can drink some energy drinks in moderation before or after running to improve the running effect. A big advantage of treadmill running compared to road running is that you don't need to carry water on your back, and you can replenish water at any time.

13. Avoid looking down in running
Although it is difficult to not look at the watch or see the remaining distance while running, if you look down, you will change your running posture. In addition, you should not stare at your feet, it is easy to bend over and run, which will cause back and neck pain. Whether you are running on a treadmill or outdoors, looking forward is the safest way to run. Feel free to run forward boldly.

14. Slow down gradually in finishing
It is not appropriate to get off the treadmill immediately after running. When running, the blood in your body is mainly concentrated in the lower limbs. The rhythmic contraction of muscles can help squeeze blood from the lower limbs back to the heart. However, if you stop immediately after running, the effect of this squeezing disappears suddenly, and the blood will not be able to flow back to the heart well.

In this case, the heart does not have enough blood to eject, which may cause insufficient blood supply to the brain. If the situation is serious, symptoms of shock may also appear. Therefore, when you are going to stop running, you need to slow down slowly. When is the right time? You can refer to the heart rate. Generally, it is enough to drop the heart rate below 120. You need to slowly transition from running to walking, giving your body time to adapt.

15. Don't jump down the treadmill when it is in operation
One of the biggest causes of injury from running on a treadmill is jumping off when the treadmill is running at high speed. If you have to jump off the treadmill during exercise, you can lower the machine speed and decrease the incline. Remember, it is very important to bring a safety clip, it is to prevent this situation. Therefore, you must not neglect this small move, but develop a good running habit.

16. Abdomen in and chest out, tighten the muscles on the waist and back
It should be reminded that running is an aerobic exercise. When running, your whole body is involved. When running, if you hunch your chest, or keep holding your handles, not only will you not be able to achieve the effect of exercise, but it will also increase the pressure on the lumbar spine. This will cause lumbar muscle strain over time. Therefore, when exercising on a treadmill, you must maintain abdomen in and chest out, tighten the muscles on the waist and back.

17. Other precautions
When running, do not practice backward walking on the treadmill, and the frequency of running should not exceed 4 times a week, preferably one hour after a meal. The training intensity should not be too high, and you don’t have to practice sweating profusely, which doesn’t turn to have good results. Friends with heart disease or high blood pressure are not suggested to use treadmills for large amounts of exercise. In addition, it is necessary to maintain indoor air circulation, and the air conditioner should not be too high.