The treadmill is a favorite exercise machine that stimulates the most natural and basic aerobic exercise, walking, with options to either slow or quicken your pace depending on the fitness goals you’ve set or how you feel.
Better yet, the treadmill machine offers versatile, indoor exercise options which can provide a venue for either walking or running. The benefits of using a treadmill as part of your fitness program are wide-ranging and here are a few of them:
Bone Health
Weight-bearing exercises, like walking or running on a treadmill, can increase the density of your bones. An increased bone density strengthens the skeleton and minimizes your risk of suffering from bone-thinning diseases such as osteoporosis.
Besides, research has revealed that regular endurance training on a treadmill has significant benefits on the bone quality of people above 50 years of age. Better yet, treadmills play a significant role in the development of healthy bone material.
Cardiovascular
Just like any other aerobic exercises, running on a treadmill has lots of cardiovascular benefits. The single action of treadmill walking or running requires that you repeatedly move the major muscles in your arms, legs, and hips.
As a result of this physical effort, your heart rate and breathing increase, and blood flow between the muscles and lungs increases. In the long run, aerobic exercises will strengthen your heart, improve your resting circulation, and keep your arteries clear thus minimizing the risk of stroke or a heart attack.
Emotional and Mental
Apart from its excellent physical benefits, treadmill training has several benefits relating to your emotional well-being and mental health. Aerobic exercises performed on a treadmill prompt the release of endorphins that give you an overall sense of well-being.
Besides, treadmill training can help you to relax and alleviate the symptoms of depression. If you are constantly battling mental tension and anxiety, treadmill training at an aerobic level of intensity can mitigate these symptoms.
Motivation
A treadmill’s running surface provides you with a low-impact option for jogging or running as compared to a rough, outdoor surface. If unsupervised outdoor training is unsafe for you due to health concerns such as seizure disorders, morbid obesity or heart disease, the treadmill machine allows you to perform aerobic exercises in a safe indoor environment.
What’s even more exciting about the treadmill is that it gives one the ability to control the climate, incline, and speed during a workout, which may increase your motivation to do more treadmill workouts.