Although the treadmill has it's drawbacks, it also has it's strengths.
Unfortunately, the biggest drawback of the treadmill is a huge one.
People need to be pretty athletic to get on and off a moving treadmill. As we began to train more middle school kids this danger became really obvious.
Before you can even think about treadmill interval training you need to teach the art of getting on and off a moving treadmill. For a good athlete, this is a really simple skill but, don't underestimate how quick someone can get thrown on the floor when trying to step onto a moving treadmill.
Many reading this might even be saying “Get on and off a moving treadmill, why?”
The why is simple.
It's faster and you can get more athletes through a program if you can simply leave the treadmill on at a set speed and, a set incline and, let the athletes get on and off. Three athletes can now run intervals at the same time if you teach the fine art of getting on and off the moving belt. This means you can do conditioning with 12 athletes at a time with four treadmills.
Just remember, this is potentially dangerous!
Rule 1
Hands stay on the handrails until the feet catch up. I personally like treadmills with side rails. We teach athletes to basically support themselves with their arms until their legs get up to speed. This usually only takes a second or two.
Getting off is the reverse process. Hands on the side rails and then feet off.
Initially you may see some clumsy stumbles but, better athletes will quickly get it.
Note- make sure the area behind the treadmill is clear. If by chance someone goes off, we don't want them being thrown into either a group of waiting athletes, or worse a piece of equipment like an exercise bike or a rower.
Note 2- Stability balls and treadmills don't mix. Gyms now often have both stability balls and treadmills in the same space.
DO NOT let your stability balls anywhere near your treadmills.
Years ago one of my players inadvertently kicked a stability ball in the direction of a treadmill that was running. Luckily, no one was on the treadmill at the time. The ball went under the treadmill and tilted the treadmill up on a 30 degree angle. If you had asked me to guess what would happen next, I would have said the treadmill would tear the stability ball into pieces. However, the treadmill kept running and the ball did not burst. Scary stuff. I hate to think what would have happened had someone been on the treadmill.
Recently one of our StrengthCoach.com members was nice enough to post a chart from the book Daniels' Running Formula, written by the other Jack Daniels. The chart goes a long way to solving a big problem. As the treadmill gets moving faster, things get a bit dicey. The chart allows us to use incline for progression vs just speed and, increasing incline is a much safer choice than increasing speed.
A good athlete can easily do treadmill intervals at 15 MPH, providing they didn't have to get on and off the belt at such high speeds. Things can get a bit scary past 10 MPH but, 10 MPH is only a six minute mile.
What the chart does is allow us to use incline to create overload instead of using speed.
In reality, 15 MPH is only a 30 second pace for 220 yards and, most good athletes can do that but, the risk getting on and off the treadmill far outweighs the benefit of running at 15 MPH.
However, 8.5% grade and 10 MPH gives an almost identical load based on the chart . (the chart shows a 4:01 mile)
To be honest, I'm not sure how Daniels came up with these times but, they are going to allow us to create the programs we need!
For simplicity sake I came up with my own, simpler chart.
| 7 MPH and 10% Grade |
40 sec. pace for 220 yards, a 20 sec 100 an 80 second quarter mile |
This pace would be considered relatively easy for athletes but is a nice start. |
| 8 MPH and 10% grade |
35 sec. for 220 yds 18 sec. for 110 yds |
This would be a medium pace |
| 9 MPH and 10% grade |
32 sec. for 220 16 sec. 110 |
This would be a hard pace |
| 10 MPH and 10% grade |
27 sec. for 220 13.5 sec. for 110 |
This would be a very hard pace |
Although these might not be exact, they are close enough.
Now, to start a treadmill running program we can begin with something like 4 x 30 sec.
Beginners will get 1:30 seconds rest and run at 7 MPH and 10% grade.
Advanced athletes can usually start at 10MPH and 10% grade if they are familiar with the on/off process.
We can now build a similar running program to the ones we use for field based running.
A 150 shuttle is a 30 sec interval so for Week 1, 4 x 150 equals 4 times 30 sec.
Week 2 is 5 x :30
Week 3 is 6 x:30
Week 4 is 1 x :60 and 4 x :30
Week 5 is 2 x :60 and 4 x :30
Basically, we will follow the same progressions we would use in our summer conditioning, just using the treadmill and finding the right speed.
As I mentioned in the thread that gave me the idea for this article, MAS (Maximum Aerobic Speed) tends to be a about 5 yards per second or, 60 seconds for 300 yards so, you can see that a fit athlete should be able to jump in at 10/10 potentially with no problem.
With that said for Week 1, start at 7 MPH, move to 8 MPH, then 9 and finish with 10. Allow the athlete to develop the skill of getting on and off the moving belt.
For kids and adults, start with a walk pace of 3 MPH and let them get comfortable. You can get the effect of a six minute mile at 6 MPH and 10 grade.
The key is to use the chart to find speeds that allow easy on and off while creating overload through incline.
Last Step-
I often get questions about the treadmill fitness tests we use with our athletes. Basically we had two tests that we liked. Both were difficult “run to exhaustion” type tests. The first, the 10/10 Test, is for athletes or highly trained individuals and should not be used to evaluate beginners.
10/10 Test
The 10/10 test was borrowed from an NHL training manual a decade ago. I regret that I cannot properly credit the developer. I can only say that one of our athletes was told at training camp that he would do a 10/10 test.
Description- the 10/10 test begins with the treadmill running at 10 MPH ( 6 min mile pace) and 10% grade. The athlete must mount the moving treadmill and run to exhaustion.
Fit males will be about 2 minutes. Fit females just over one minute. This is a scary and potentially dangerous test. Failure comes fast and, people have face planted on the belt. It is not recommended.
7 MPH Treadmill Test
A safer modified test uses a speed of 7 MPH and begins with a 2% incline. The treadmill grade is raised 2% every minute until 10% after 10% the incline is raised one degree at a time. This test is safer as the speeds are slower. I first was exposed to this test via Strength Coach Ray Bear of the Atlanta Thrashers.
Record- 13% Incline ( 8 minutes)
The test also included a VO2 relationship chart although this is suspect at best.
10% = 52 VO2
11% = 54
12% = 56
13% = 58
(*We have found huge discrepancies in estimated VO2 readings from test like this so we never use estimated figures.)
In any case, treadmill interval training can be a great way to condition if you are limited by facility space and/ or weather. Although there are drawbacks, the pluses of treadmill intervals far outweigh the minuses.