Have your treadmill workouts become routine? Maybe you need to mix things up – changing up your routine can supercharge your treadmill workouts with additional motivation to kick your routine back into high-gear!
1. Tone up on your treadmill: Grab a 3-5 pound dumbbell in each hand, and set your treadmill to the speed of a brisk walk. One a one minute set for each of the following: shoulder press, bicep curl, tricep extension, side laterals, and front laterals. Doing this – can give you a great upper body workout while you’re getting your cardio in, as well as help you improve your overall balance.
2. Add Wall-Sits to your routine: After each run, lean against a wall, with your feet shoulder width apart. Squat to a sitting position, with your upper legs at a 45 degree angle, keeping your back pressed against the wall and your feet pushed flat on the floor. Hold this position for 30-60 seconds, working up to 10 sets. This additional workout strengthens your hamstrings, quads, and glutes – and can help your overall running speed and endurance.
3. Add Plyometrics to your routine: Adding a plyometric box to your workouts can help improve both your overall strength, but also your cardio endurance and accelerate fat loss. And, you’ll sculpt your glutes, hamstrings, and quads as well! Find a sturdy box, at least a foot high – and stand in front of it. Squat down, and explosively jump upward onto the box. Jump back down. Repeat for a total of 20 reps.
4. Try sprinting rather than long-distance runs: Unless your planning on running a marathon, you might want to consider changing the program on your treadmill to periods of fast sprints, as sprinting builds more muscle. Add a few 30-60 second sprints to your routine!
