At-Home Treadmill Workouts To Boost Your Quarantine Fitness
These at-home treadmill workouts are the most impactful exercises you can perform to see fast and productive results during the quarantine.
Since quarantine has become commonplace throughout the United States, most gyms have shuttered their doors until further notice.
Those who are fortunate enough to have a treadmill in their home have a great advantage over the unfortunate souls who have to rely on their gym being open.
At the end of the day, we all need to do the best we can with what we have.
With a treadmill at your disposal, even a basic one, there are plenty of workouts for you to perform to come out of quarantine as an even better version of yourself.
How To Measure Your Heart Rate
The most important thing that you can do first is to learn how to measure your heart rate.
This is measured as beats per minute (BPM) and is calculated by subtracting your age from the number 220. The number you get afterward is your maximum suggested BPM for health reasons.
For example, someone who is 42 years old would perform the following equation:
- 220 – 42 = 178 max BPM
If you’re targeting belly fat, it’s best to keep your heart rate between 60% and 70% of your maximum BPM. This is considered the ideal fat-burning zone.
If you are attempting to improve your aerobic capacity and overall cardiovascular endurance, then you should target between 70% and 80% of your maximum BPM.
This also serves to make your heart rate when resting more efficient, as each stroke of your heart muscle will move more blood and oxygen more efficiently throughout the body.
The three best ways to gauge your heart rate are using a heart rate monitor strap, using any built-in heart rate approximation sensors on your cardio piece, or taking your pulse manually.
A telemetry strap will always be the most accurate and give you real-time feedback.
The sensors that you may have already pre-installed on your treadmill give you an approximation generally within 10% or 15%.
Checking your pulse manually is very accurate and takes surprisingly little time to master. Simply place your index finger and middle finger on your jugular vein below your jawline and count the beats for six seconds, then multiply that number by ten to get your BPM.
Can’t decide where to begin? The following four at-home treadmill workout options are great places to start!
At-Home Treadmill Workouts You Can Try
Here are four types of treadmill workouts you can try at home, alone or with your family members, to maintain your fitness during the quarantine:
1. Steady-State Cardio
Steady-state cardio is a popular option across all age demographics. It can be done regardless of how much time you have, whether it’s all day or just an hour.
It involves working your heart rate up to a certain level of BPM and then attempting to hold it there for a minimum of 25 minutes. After 25 minutes have elapsed, that is considered one period of exercise.
Steady-state cardio is best for people who are interested in burning fat without putting a lot of excess strain on their joints and generally requires you to work well below your maximum ventilatory threshold (VO2 max).
2. Distance Training
Looking to improve your cardiovascular capacity while also having something else in mind like a marathon, hike or even just a family walk? Set your treadmill for a distance goal, and pace yourself until it’s achieved.
If you don’t have anything upcoming later in the year, you can easily make up an event yourself and have multiple family members in the household see how many steps they can take in a day or how many miles they can travel on the treadmill in a set period.
Make it a fun competition so that everybody can have something to strive for during the quarantine!
3. Calorie Burn Target
Do you finally have the time to tackle those extra folds of fat or that annoying muffin top? Then use the “calories burned” feature of your treadmill to make sure that you don’t spend your quarantine gaining any unnecessary weight!
Before you begin, make sure that you program into your treadmill your height and your weight. This is very important because the treadmill usually needs this information to give you the closest approximation possible for the number of calories burned for the work that you’re doing.
You don’t want to sell yourself short, oh, and you also don’t want to lie to yourself without even knowing it!
Have an extra sip of wine at dinner? Take a look at the number of calories per serving and adjust your treadmill schedule accordingly to annihilate any chance of it appearing on your waistline in the morning.
4. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
High-intensity interval training, frequently abbreviated as “HIIT”, is the way to get the most cardiovascular improvement and the largest most calories burned for your time spent on a treadmill.
It’s great for anyone focusing on explosive movement or exercises that would require them to increase their ventilatory threshold.
You would perform this by simply walking for 20 seconds, then sprinting for 10 seconds.
The periods of rest after work are important because they provide you a moment to breathe before you leap into the next working cycle.
This shocks your system and allows your metabolism to skyrocket to allow you to keep burning calories long after you’re off your treadmill!
HIIT is a very popular way to train for anybody who has a time crunch.
No matter what happens in the world around you, good fitness is always something to strive for. It will benefit you throughout any ordeal and will mentally relax you during stressful times.
Any of these four at-home treadmill workouts would do wonders for your entire body. You just need to be consistent and work out every day.
Therefore, stoke that relationship with your treadmill and it will stoke your spirit for the future!
