Treadmill Workouts to Burn Fat

Treadmills are one of the effective fat burning machines. There are many options which can be incorporated to design workouts on treadmills to burn fat. Some of the options available include speed, incline and resistance. With resistance, you will be able to test your own fitness level as well as push your fitness level higher.

According to a number of people, treadmill exercises can be boring. However, there are a number of ways to make them interesting.

These days, there are treadmills which come with 'fat burning zones'. With the fat burning zone, it is implied, that there are settings for intensity and/or speed. As a matter of fact, the body is able to burn a greater percentage of fat at a slow place. The fat burning zone can also be seen after a 90 minute workout.

Calories burnt are dependent upon the speed and intensity of the workout. Exercising at a slow rate will burn about 60% fat and 40% glucose while at a higher intensity or duration, there will be 30% fat burned and 70% glucose.

It is very difficult to label a workout as the best fat burning workouts on a treadmill as what may work for one person may not work the same way for the other. Fat burning depends upon the body composition of the person. Having said that, let's take a look at some treadmill workouts that help in the fat burning process.

This is a 10 minute treadmill fat burning workout. Start with walking or jogging at medium speed to warm up for about a minute. Follow this up with another 1 minute walk with a single increase in inclination but walk at medium pace. For the third minute, jog at a medium pace without any inclination.

The next minute is going to be tough as you will have to sprint but on zero inclination. Follow up the sprint by a jog at a medium pace. For the next minute, you will have to do side shuffles with your right leg.

After this, do side shuffles with the left leg. Now you can breathe as you will walk at medium pace for the next minute. However, you will have to increase the inclination to the second level. You did get a break, hence, now sprint at zero inclination again. You have now reached the last one minute of your workouts.

For the first 30 seconds of the last minute, jog on zero inclination with medium pace. In the last 30 seconds, walk at a slow pace to cool down.

There are strength moves which can also be done on the treadmill. This is a three-minute sequence which will have to be performed with the treadmill at a speed of 0.5 to 1 mph^*.

The first of the strength moves is side-stepping. Keep the right hand on the console and turn towards the left so that your right shoulder is facing forward. As the belt moves your feet to the left, you will need to step your right foot to the right and then step the left foot towards the right. You will have to continue doing this for 30 seconds.

For the next 30 seconds, repeat the same by facing the right side. This is a wonderful exercise to work the inner and outer thighs as also the hips. ^{* - miles per hour}

You can also include some lunges. To do the lunges, hold the front rail and let your feet move back till your arms are extended. Then take a large step forward with the right leg. As you bend your right knee, slowly lower your left knee towards the belt. Now slowly press off with the left foot and stand back up.

The last of the exercise are the squats. Stop the treadmill and straddle the belt and make sure you are standing on the frame. Rest your hands lightly on the front rail, positioning yourself as though you were going to sit on a chair. When you do that, make sure that your knees do not go past your toes. Press on to your heels and stand up to repeat.

Some exercise tips which you should keep in mind when you are working out on a treadmill to burn fat are as follows:-

• Always stretch your muscles before you get onto the treadmill.
• Before you actually start the workout, you may want to walk at a speed of 1.5 to 2 mph for a couple of minutes.

• After a certain period of time, if you have increased your fitness level, you may want to warm up a little faster at a speed of 4 mph. This will either be like a power walk or a light walk.

• It is good to stay at the same intensity level for four weeks. If you do it otherwise, there are chances of you injuring yourself. Like is the case with any other workouts, you will also have to cool down after a treadmill workout. If you do not cool down sufficiently, there are chances of getting muscle cramps.

With your creative imagination, you can include a number of other exercises in your treadmill routines to burn fat. The only point to remember is not to increase the pace all of a sudden, else you might injure your muscles.