Treadmill Training
By Dwayne Hines II, CPT

Get on the fast track to fat loss.

Are you having fun this winter? Eating well, enjoying the parties? Maybe you’re planning to take some time off during the holidays. Well, guess what — your body fat won’t take time off. It just keeps accumulating and accumulating and … you get the idea. In fact the fat-storage process never takes time off, not even for Christmas!

Adding weights to your treadmill training is another way to boost your energy expenditure and reduce your workout time.

Winter is when most people pack on the pounds. Unlike a bear, you can’t hibernate and expect your fat to disappear. Just because the weather gets nasty is no reason to slack off on your fitness routine. You can bring about a significant fat loss even in the dead of winter if you’re serious about trimming down; you may just have to move indoors to do it.

An Excellent Fat Burner

When it comes to indoor workouts, the treadmill is the premium tool. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association notes that among indoor-workout equipment, the treadmill provides the most efficient way to burn calories — it’s up to 40% more effective than other machines. Treadmills permit a higher rate of energy expenditure at a given level of perceived exertion than do the stationary bike, stair-climber, rowing machine or cross-country skiing simulator. Another factor in favor of the treadmill is its handy access — a treadmill can be found virtually everywhere, from the local gym to your hotel’s exercise room.

Once you get accustomed to treadmill training, there are a few things you can do to enhance the fat-burning process. For instance, an increase in the slope angle of the treadmill boosts its calorie-burning potential. When a 150-lb man walks on a flat surface at a brisk pace (4 miles per hour), it takes approximately an hour to burn 300 calories; at a moderate 5% incline, the 300 calories are burned off in less than half that time (just 25 minutes). Most treadmills offer a variety of angles that range from flat to fairly steep. Each increase in angle raises the intensity and the caloric-burn rate.

Great Fat-Burning Supplements

You can boost your fat burning with a few choice supplements. Chromium is one of the most popular. Why? Avery’s Sports Nutrition Almanac (Avery Penquin Putman, 1999) notes, "Chromium supplementation can improve the body’s insulin use. Improved insulin use in turn leads to decreased fat deposition as well as an increased amount of amino acids and glucose entering the muscle cells. The result is a change in body composition that favors the loss of fat and maintenance of lean muscle mass." Brewer’s yeast is an excellent source of chromium, and tablets are also available. The recommended dosage is 200 mcg per day.

Creatine is another beneficial supplement, particularly if you are sprinting on the treadmill. It helps your body to restore the level of ATP, which is a vital energy molecule. Creatine has been shown in numerous studies to increase strength and performance in activities involving intense bursts of energy. The greater workload that creatine permits also results in greater lean muscle mass over time, which in turn burns more fat each and every day. Take 3 to 5 gm per day depending on your exercise intensity.

Another major fat-burning supplement is the ephedrine/caffeine stack. Known as the king of the fat burners, this stack boosts

Timing and Other Fat-Loss Tips

You can maximize your fat loss by training at specific times during the day. The best time to train is early in the morning. "That’s when you have your lowest glycogen-storage levels," notes professional bodybuilding champion Porter Cottrell. "Therefore, your body’s going to use stored fat as a source of energy much more quickly than if you’d just eaten a big plate of pasta." Fitness celebrity John Basedow, host of the best-selling "Fitness Made Simple" videos, says you can burn 200% to 300% more body fat when you do early-morning cardio on an empty stomach instead of after a meal later in the day.

Another ideal time for burning fat is right after a weight workout. The body will have expended its glycogen stores in muscling through the weight training and will readily switch over to using body fat for fuel during the treadmill session. This is a trick used by personal trainer Charles Glass, who has competed at the Master’s Olympia contest and trained numerous celebrities.

Adding weights to your treadmill training is another way to boost your energy expenditure and reduce your workout time. Marathon champion Alberto Salazar employs a weighted vest while pounding out the miles on the treadmill to increase the difficulty of his training. And what about using dumbbells while on the treadmill? Personal trainer Julie King, MS, senior manager at Life Fitness, points out that using dumbbells is not recommended. "The risk of injury far outweighs the slight increase in caloric expenditure," she says. This is because you could lose balance trying to lift the weights and fall off the treadmill.

Treadmill Training at Home

A University of Florida study found that overweight people who exercise at home actually lose more weight and stick to their training regimen better in the long run than those who exercise at a commercial gym. Indeed, personal trainers point to the January effect: Seventy-five percent of those who start off the year with great hopes at the gym are gone by spring.

If you want to increase your odds for keeping the fat off, consider buying a treadmill for your home. Consumer Reports rates Life Fitness T3, Reebok ACD4 and Precor M9.33 as the top three models. Prices for these treadmills range from $1,850 to $4,000.

The Ideal Length and Intensity

How long should your treadmill workout last? To burn significant amounts of fat as fuel, the body needs 15 to 20 minutes of nonstop action on the treadmill. That’s because the body primarily uses glycogen for fuel during the first few minutes of treadmill activity. The longer you continue, the more fat you burn as a percentage of total energy consumption.

Gym owner Bobby Kelly, creator of the "Treadmill Conditioning" and "The Baby Boomer Treadmill Workout" videos, says the ideal treadmill workout is one that "lasts no less than 25 minutes and no longer than 40 minutes" and is centered on high-intensity action. Running and walking on a treadmill are both effective for fat loss. The ideal approach is a mixture of both, according to Kelly.

Julie King concurs, noting that such interval training provides "maximum caloric expenditure, fat loss and cardiovascular conditioning." If you really want to melt the fat off, get your arms involved in the action instead of holding on to the treadmill.

A heart-rate monitor can be a big help in hitting and staying within the target zone for aerobic activity. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends the range of 55% to 90% of maximum heart rate for maximum effectiveness. Once you get beyond the beginner stage, King suggests aiming for a range of 70% to 85% of this rate. Kelly favors changing intensity every minute or so, working up from the 55% range to the upper 80s, then backing off.

The Treadmill Tops Them All

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee studied the most popular indoor cardio machines to see which one was the most effective. They found that exercising on a treadmill at a fairly high level of effort burned 705 calories per hour. This compared to 627 per hour on the stair machine, 606 per hour on the rowing machine, 595 per hour on the cross-country ski simulator and 498 per hour on a stationary bike. So if your goal is to burn fat fast, stick with the treadmill for your cardio workouts.

Advanced Fat-Loss Workout

A cutting-edge technique for employing the treadmill as a fat-loss tool is to elevate the intensity to extreme levels — but only for brief periods of time. The goal here is to increase growth-hormone levels in the body, which in turn causes body fat to be burned off more rapidly.

Phil Campbell, author of the book Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness (Pristine Publishers, 2002), points out that four benchmarks need to be attained to stimulate significant growth-hormone release. These include an elevation of body temperature by a degree, an oxygen debt, an adrenal response and a lactic-acid buildup that causes muscle burn. Moving along at a moderate, steady clip on the treadmill won’t do this; more intensity is necessary.

Campbell and others have come up with a strategy of using eight sprints with rest intervals in between to reach these growth-hormone-releasing levels. First, perform a sprint on the treadmill at top speed for 20 seconds. Then slow down to a walking pace for 1 1/2 to two minutes, repeating this cycle eight times. Campbell points out that some people may need to hold the handrails of the unit while sprinting (particularly during the initial learning curve). So for the ultimate trim and muscular physique, give interval treadmill training a shot.

Get Ready for Spring

If you want a fast track to fat loss, consider the treadmill. It’s the most effective indoor exercise, and you won’t have to worry about being run over by a car or bitten by someone’s overzealous dog. Start off your workouts at a moderate pace, but quickly move on to techniques that can really torch the body fat. Try adding a combination of jogging, brisk walking or even sprint intervals to your workout. Increase the slope angle, and focus on early-morning workouts for the best results. With a bit of effort, you’ll start melting away the fat at a rapid rate. And when spring gets here, you’ll look great!

Dwayne Hines, the author of nine fitness books, likes to work out on the treadmill he keeps stashed in the corner of his garage.

Selected References:

Zeni A, Hoffman M and Clifford P "Energy expenditure with indoor exercise machines" Journal of the American Medical Association (1996) 275: 1424-1427 • Campbell P Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness (Pristine Publishers, 2002) • Sweetgall R Fitness Walking (Perigee Books, 1985) • Perri MG, Martin AD, Leermakers EA et al "Effects of group- versus home-based exercise in the treatment of obesity" Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (1997) 65: 278-285