Treadmills, along with exercise bikes and home gyms, are one of the most popular pieces of fitness equipment purchased for weight loss and improved fitness.

In this article we discuss the top ten reasons people buy treadmills for their home so that you can assess whether a treadmill is the right piece of fitness equipment for you and your family.

The top 10 reasons are:

1. Weight loss and improved fitness.

Treadmills have helped millions of people to achieve their weight loss and fitness goals and they may be able to help you too.

Walking, jogging and running on a treadmill can help you burn a lot of excess calories and can improve the strength and health of your heart and lungs.

Walking at 5 kilometres per hour (3 miles per hour) burns nearly 8 kilojoules / 2 calories per kilo of body weight every half an hour. For a person weighing 100 kilos, that equates to 800 kilojoules or 200 calories every 30 minutes.

Jogging at 10 kilometres per hour (6 miles per hour) burns 21 kilojoules / 5 calories per kilo of body weight every half hour. For a person weighing 100 kilos, that equates to 2100 kilojoules or 500 calories every 30 minutes.

Running at 14 kilometres per hour (9 miles per hour) burns 30 kilojoules / 7 calories per kilo of body weight per half hour. Again, for a person weighing 100 kilos, that equates to 3000 kilojoules or 700 calories every 30 minutes.

Walking and jogging on a treadmill is also great for raising your heart rate into the zones most appropriate for weight loss and fitness.

2. Treadmills can help prevent you from training too hard.

One of the most common mistakes people make when they first start exercising is to walk, jog or run too fast.

Training too hard in the beginning of your walking or jogging program can lead to injuries and may encourage you to quit because you feel it's too hard and not worth all the effort.

By helping to regulate the speed at which you walk, jog and run, treadmills can help you avoid this common exercise mistake.

Some treadmills are even sophisticated enough to adjust the speed of the walking belt by monitoring your heart rate.

What a great way to make sure you're always training in the right heart rate zone!

3. You can make small adjustments as your fitness improves.

Because the speed of most treadmills can be adjusted in very small increments, treadmills are perfect for training at increasingly higher intensities once you've built a base level of fitness.

Because making treadmills go a little faster or a little slower can be done with the touch of a button, they are also great for including interval training into your routine where you walk, jog and run at various speeds within the same workout.

4. A treadmill can be used at anytime.

One of the greatest benefits of owning a treadmill is that you can exercise when you want, day or night, hot or cold, sun or rain.

Many of us today lead hectic lives and find it hard to fit exercise into our busy schedules.

What we need is the ability to exercise when we want and for as long as we want.

Having a treadmill at home can be better than joining a gym in this respect because we don't need to worry about gym opening and closing times and having to share our treadmill with a hundred other time-poor exercisers.

5. Make maximum use of your time.

Owning a treadmill allows you to get your daily exercise done while you're doing other things, like watching your favourite TV show or listening to your favourite music.

Watching TV while walking or jogging on a treadmill often makes your workout seem a lot shorter and even a little easier.

6. The whole family can use it to exercise.

One of the great things about having a treadmill at home is that the whole family can use it to lose weight and get fitter.

Research shows that when the whole family has similar goals and is committed to losing weight together, each family member is more likely to succeed.

7. You can save money.

Buying your own treadmill can be cheaper than paying gym fees, especially if more than one person in the family wants to exercise.

Gym fees can be expensive, and for some of us, that money may be better invested in a good quality treadmill that will serve us well for many years.

Most treadmills today are very well built and come with good warrantees so we can be sure to get many years of exercise out of them.

8. Treadmills can simulate walking uphill.

As well as being able to adjust the intensity of your workout by adjusting the speed of the walking belt, many treadmills come with the ability to adjust the incline of the walking belt as well.

This means that with the touch of a button you can simulate walking or jogging uphill which helps increase your heart rate and of course, burn more calories for every minute you exercise.

If you are training for a fun run, it also means that you can simulate the undulating terrain you're likely to encounter on your run.

9. Exercising in private.

Many people who want to lose weight are very self conscious and don't necessarily want to exercise in public.

Having your own treadmill allows you to exercise in the privacy of your own home so you won't need to feel embarrassed working out at your own pace.

10. Strong tummy, shapely legs and tight butt.

Let's face it girls and guys, many of us would kill for stronger abs, more shapely legs and a tighter tush.

Having a treadmill at home and using it can help us achieve these things so we look great in t-shirts, midriffs, 'shortish' skirt, pants and jeans.

If you would you like any of these, maybe it's time you went out and invested in a treadmill for your home.

Conclusion

Treadmills, along with exercise bikes and home gyms, are one of the most popular pieces of fitness equipment purchased by people who want to lose weight and improve their fitness.

In this article we discussed the top ten reasons many people buy a treadmill so you can make an informed decision about whether they are right for you.

Good luck with your weight loss and thanks for visiting weightloss.com.au.

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