I’m planning to start working out using a treadmill, and I’d like some suggestions and critiques of my current plan. First some background of where I’m starting from. I’m 43, overweight / obese at 220 lbs, 5’4", and have never been the athletic type. I was a skinny kid, gaining most of my weight in college, but even as a skinny kid I was never very fast. I’m trying to both improve my fitness and lose weight. I realize that there are many other aspects to achieving those goals, but for this thread I’d like to focus on treadmill workouts. I’ll be working out from home, so there is no need to worry about gym hours or Covid-19 restrictions.
Let’s get to my current plan. Since I’m starting from a pretty low baseline, I plan to start with 30 minute daily walks at 2.5 MPH. I’ll be starting at 0.0 degrees of elevation, and increase the elevation by 0.5 degrees every day for 7 days, so that after 7 days I’ll be doing 30 minutes at 2.5 MPH and 3 degrees of elevation. The next week I’ll increase the speed by 0.1 MPH, so my walks will be at 2.6 MPH with the same plan to increase the elevation from 0 to 3 degrees over the week, the week after that 2.7 MPH, and so on. I’m hoping to be able to reach 4.0 MPH after 15 weeks using this strategy. Depending on how I feel at that point, I’ll probably slow things down as far as the weekly increases in speed. I’m thinking increases of 0.1 MPH every 2 weeks might be better at that level. I’m hoping to eventually be able to do 6 MPH for at least 30 minutes, but recognize I may not get there.
What do you all think of this plan? Is it too conservative or aggressive? Would you all recommend a different strategy altogether? Any suggestions are appreciated.
You are to be commended for embarking on this kind of program.
My first thought: have you been medically cleared for something like this ? Seems like a prudent first step.
My second thought: I wonder if staying in a target heart rate range for a set amount of time might not be a ‘better’ approach. This, to me, would also be something to get a physician’s guidance on.
In the absence of HR measuring equipment, perceived effort works well. Also, it’s better to not have a rigid schedule of advancement. At this point, your personal rate of adaptation is unknown. As your fitness improves, your HR/perceived effort will stay the same while speed/distance will increase and you will be less likely to over do it in the beginning.
The other aspect that I’d keep less rigid is the constant advance that you’re planning on. You’ll generally do better by varying the intensity and duration - push yourself harder or longer some days, sometimes allow your body to recover with a gentler day.
Some treadmills have a program for interval training, so you could try that some of the time, even just for fun. Anyway, as for heart rate, there are all kinds of approximate average formulas (that a person can apply in lieu of going to the doctor and getting a cardiac stress test), but in any case you don’t need to be that precise, you can vary between 60%–85% intensity (for example) depending on the intensity of the desired workout. I agree that you do not really need a rigid speed schedule; eventually you will just feel like adding an extra 1 or 2 or 5 mph.
The treadmill is a great tool, but I would also mix it up with walking outside. A treadmill can get monotonous very quickly. A few walks outside on nice days really breaks things up well. Assuming you have a smartphone, there are plenty of apps that will track distance, time, etc.
Secondly, exercise is great for you. Both physically and mentally. But it generally doesn’t make much difference to weight loss. That mostly comes from changes in food consumption. Yes, cardio burns calories, but it’s pretty easy to out eat your exercise. Mixing in some weight lifting, building muscle, is very beneficial for overall health and helps sustain weight loss.
Finally, 4 MPH is about as fast as most people can walk. If you are going faster than that you’ll need to run. If you’re going to do that it pays to go to a reputable running store and get fitted for good quality running shoes to go with your gait, size, and cushioning needs. It’s really easy to get injured when you start out running, either from bad form, overuse, or poor equipment.
While this is true, in practice I think there’s a strong correlation (which you’ve noted by saying “mentally”). When you are active it often helps create a better psychological framework for eating sensibly too.
Get a heart rate monitor and use that to know when to make it harder. Until you get fitter, your heartrate is going to be abnormally high for the effort since your body isn’t optimized for working out. But as you workout more, your HR will come down and that will be a good time to increase the effort.
I would also recommend starting out by walking around your neighborhood rather than on a treadmill. It will be more interesting and it’s easier to set a goal of walking a certain loop rather than doing X minutes on a treadmill. As you get fitter, you can walk the loop faster and walk longer distances.
Also keep in mind that walking is a great way to get fit but not necessarily lose weight. It’s not going to burn enough calories to cause the weight to melt away, but don’t focus on that. At your age, lack of fitness in itself is a huge health risk, and regular walking is a great way to get healthier. After a few weeks or months of walking, you’ll feel much fitter and can consider doing more intense kinds of exercise.
I always remember the old adage “You can’t outrun a scale”.
When deciding to get back in shape a few years ago my mindset was: Eat correctly to be the weight you want, lift weights to have the body shape you want, do cardio for your respiratory/circulatory health you want.
Some things that come to mind since it sounds like you’re going from “couch to treadmill”.
Start at a pace where you can walk without holding onto anything - no front grips, no side grips. Just arms dangling/swinging by your sides. Whatever pace or incline you set, be sure you can do your whole time not holding any of the handles.
Your increasing pace and incline at the schedule you describe sounds a bit aggressive. My recommendation would be to find an “easy” pace, 0 inclination that you can do for 30 min… Do this every day for at least a week, if not 2.
Then start doing a warm-up (10 min)->increase (10 min)->cool down (10 min), where you increase the pace a bit. Not a whole lot, but just something you “feel”. The warm-up and cool down pace is where you left off at an “easy” pace.
As you get stronger, always keep the warm up (10 min), but now start stretching the “increase” part - either stepping up more, or going longer (like up to 15 min, and shorten the cool down).
I would work this way before starting to change the incline. But you can approach increasing the incline in the same manner.
Be flexible. Do “some” workout every day - even if it is the “easiest” pace and incline. Don’t get down on yourself for “regressing”. Everyone has good (high energy) days and bad days. It is more important to simply stick with it - make a part of your routine. So it is okay to do a much easier workout (pace and/or incline) than you have been doing, or even shorter (20 min instead of 30). The exception being if you get sick or injured. You don’t want to make things worse by forcing yourself to workout.
I second the recommendation for swapping in “real” walks outside. Treadmills provide a very “set” environment for you to walk on. But you want to get your feet/ankles/legs also used to different types of terrain. If you have access to a beach or just sand, that is a great variation to mix in. But even around the neighborhood, you should find changing terrain.
I’m gonna join the walk outdoors sayers; treadmill will get boring very quickly if you are not an “I like to exercise” type.
Just go for a walk. Start with half an hour if you can; just turn around if you feel stressed. Walk a little farther the next day. Pay no attention to your speed; just gradually add a little distance until you are up to about 45 minutes a day. Do take a day off once in a while, but make your daily walk a part of your routine – you will feel better and after a few weeks you will find that you really miss your walks when you don’t go out.
The human body evolved to walk. Walking makes us feel good. Get some comfortable walking shoes and clothes appropriate for the weather. Walk around the block or in the park or down the road or find some nearby easy hiking trails.
Losing weight and exercise are two entirely separate things. Moderate exercise is great for general well-being – it will not bring about weight loss. Losing weight comes by consuming fewer calories. You can lose weight and never exercise. You can exercise and never lose weight. It is unfortunate that the two things seem to be connected in the minds of so many people.
Music might help for something boring like jogging on a treadmill, or even outside. Just get an iPod Shuffle or whatever they still make that’s lightweight, and fill it up with music of an appropriate tempo (but not something that makes you sit down and listen to it carefully
It’s true that consuming fewer calories will lead to weight loss, but you may find that all the intense exercise works to suppress your appetite.
