Am I burning the same amount of calories on a treadmill as I am running on a track or on the road?
It seems to me that the movement of the treadmill eases the effort you need to continue running. Like you are only lifting your legs and bringing them forward, not actually propelling yourself.
Are the 2 the same or no?
According to this site, no they are not the same (second paragraph), but for a vaiety of reasons/factors.
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dietandfitness/experts/fitexpert/qas/0,9582,281_178060,00.html
I was curious about this as well. I have gotten myself to running for 3 miles @ 7 MPH (former smoker so this is a big deal to me) on the treadmill and I am a little nervous that this will not translate into being able to run the same distance/speed outside. I have to get to a track to see if I can do it but I want to get used to going further than 3 miles on the treadmill to build up a little more endurance. I think the hardest part will be pacing myself at the same constant speed as when I am on the treadmill.
Damn it Jim, I’m a programmer, not a doctor.
From what I’ve heard/read it goes like this, if your goal is to burn calories, all you have to do is get your heart rate up in the appropriate range for the appropriate amount of time. Check here:
http://www.fitresource.com/Fitness/HeartRat.htm
So it doesn’t matter if you’re running or playing basketball or soccer or whatever. As long as you have your heart rate up.
As far as overall fitness, it is much harder to run around streets, and even to a greater extent, trails. I know, because after running on the treadmill for a few months thinking I was the man, I tried to run outside and was sore for days. Hills and roots and rocks that make you go up/down/left/right use many more muscles than running in straight line on a level or slightly inclined treadmill. That tells me that if your goal is fitness, outside is better. But for just burning calories, it doesn’t matter.
Or I could be wrong.
Well, I was half right 
Hmmm, for the last 3 years, I’ve been running on a treadmill,[sub](yeah, I’m really tired, smartasses[/sub]) and recently broke the damn thing. So I mapped out a course on a back road out here in the sticks, and I find it’s a lot easier. Plus, dodging vehicles really gets the ol’ ticker to pumping.
This isn’t quite the whole picture. Your heart, like any other muscle, adapts to the workload its given. If you have it beating at 130 bpm for 20 minutes a number of times, your heart will eventually be able to do that without working as hard as it used to. In order to get a good workout over a long period of time, you need to keep upping the intensity or the duration.
Right idea, but bad example- You do need to keep increasing the intensity, but exercising at a constant heart rate REQUIRES you to keep upping the intensity week to week- as your heart adapts, your heart rate for a particular amount of work will drop. So exercising at 150BPM for 20 minutes week after week is fine, but exercising at 7.0mph for 20 minutes won’t work forever, as your heart rate will slowly drop over the weeks and months that you workout (assuming no health problems, and reasonable nutrition and recovery)
Also, I believe running on a road should be faster than on a treadmill (though it might SEEM harder), because the road absorbs less of your energy on each footstrike (the treadmill “gives”)- of course, this is going to make running on the road hurt more at first.
Thanks for the correction.
You are working just as hard to stay at the same spot on a treadmill as going forward on a track…
However, the ending effect on you from running on the road is harder because of 1)wind resistance and, 2) Slight up and downhills which must be adjusted to constantly on the road and which take a lot of energy to deal with because you are changing your energy output and pace constantly. This takes a toll over the miles.
Also, treadills are usually padded so that takes some stress off the joints making it “easier”.
I’m not disagreeing, but wouldn’t the use and eventual loss of sugar in your bloodstream and liver(?) inherently make it more difficult the longer you run? Along the same lines as why “they” say lift weights before running because if you do it the other way around you won’t have enough blood sugar (sex majik) for the short bursts of effort when lifting.
jacobsta, so is it better for me to increase my MPH for the same distance or maintain the speed but increase the distance?
I have been setting goals for myself and I am curious how I should increase my workouts. Should I increase speed first and then distance once I am used to the speed or visa versa? To me it is more about increasing my enduance. I can afford to loose a few pounds too but that is just the added benefit.
I know I can try to increase both speed and distance together but I am try to be realalistic and not set my goals too high too quick.
Since your goal is endurance and cardiovascular health, increase both speed and distance incrementally. Ultimately, you don’t want your heart rate to raise a lot from one workout to another, so check the heart rate and make sure it’s coming along nicely, adapting sometimes to the increase, and somtimes struggling to keep up with the increase. Get a wrist wrap HR reader.
You are a very smart person for getting in shape. Dumb for smoking in the first place but smart nonetheless.
I forgot to add my favorite principle in cardio and weights: Trick your body into doing what you want. In your case, add very small incremental increases from one day to another, but try to make the end result a longer running time each time.Speed, distance and time should all increase. Sometimes one variable will not increase from one workout to another, but in the end they should all increase.
Gotcha Fuel and sorry for the hijack newcrasher.
Thanks.
I have found I can run 1.5 miles outside, but running on a treadmill for .5 miles is practically impossible. For some reason running outside seems much easier, perhaps because more of your energy goes toward the forward motion.
Remember that glycogen is being used as fuel. The more work you can get per unit fuel, the less fuel you need to do a certain amount of work. As you increase the distance and get into better cardiovascular shape, you’ll burn less sugar per mile.
10-4
I’m a pretty serious runner, so perhaps I can add a few things.
First, as far as whether a treadmill is easier than the road or trail, the treadmill is easier. I know this to be a fact, because I was one of the guinea pigs in a running study, and that was an issue. (The measurements were made on a treadmill, but we ran outside.) Part of the difference is wind resistance. On a treadmill, there isn’t any, but your forward velocity relative to the earth implies that you average more wind resistence outside. It also seems to me that certain strides allow you to use the treadmill as an energy source. If any part of your stride pulls your body forward, as opposed to pushing it forward, then the treadmill does the pulling for you.
That is mostly psychological, although it can be due to overheating. Running indoors, especially with no breeze, it is easy to overheat. Of course, it is also easy to overheat running in the blazing sun. However, even though I can comfortably run sub 3 hour marathons, I have trouble running more than a mile on a treadmill. Partly I get bored, and partly there generally isn’t much else to do than to continually check and see how far you’ve gone.
If you have to trick your body, it is time to start alternating hard and easy days. Recreational racers generally have one track workout, one “tempo” run, which is the speed at which lactic acid slowly builds up - you can’t maintain it for much more than 40 minutes, and one long run a week. In between, they have casual, easy runs. You don’t have to take things this seriously, but the principle is the same. I would actually slow down from what you are currently doing, on alternate days. One day a week I would add 10% to your current distance. Two other days a week, I would increase the speed by 10 seconds a mile. Hold the speed constant until you are comfortable, but you can increase the distance for three consecutive weeks, and then hold for one. You can keep that up until you hit a 20 mile run. Then start increasing the length of your easy runs.
Perhaps you should change your user name to FastLegsRunning?
Sorry…I couldn’t help it!!
I’m would have said, theoretically, the only differences is wind resistance. Is that noticably different? Of course, there are a a startling number of practical differences already mentioned (different surface, obstacles, enclosure, wind cooling?, scenery, etc)