Treadmill Walking for Weight Loss
By: Fred WatersOnly about 20 percent of the U.S. population engages in some type of physical activity on a regular basis according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturer Association International (SGMA). That leaves approximately 80 percent of the U.S. population living predominantly sedentary lifestyles!
These sedentary lifestyles have produced a high number of adults who are overweight or obese. To be more precise around 65 percent of U.S. adults weigh too much according to the results from the 19992002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.
If youre one who is sporting some extra body fat there IS a solution! BECOME MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE!
In order to lose fat and pounds you must burn more calories than you consume! Now if youve never exercised you certainly do not want to try to go out and run a marathon! But an exercise that just about anyone can engage in...one that is relatively safe and requires no special skills...is walking!
Walking is a great way to rid your body of fat tissue and to build muscle mass. It is a lowimpact exercise with minimal risk of injury. And when done regularly it improves cardiovascular health as well as endurance.
David A. Rives in Walk Yourself Thin is a formerly overweight individual who walked his way to a leaner fitter body. He discovered from his own personal experience that increasing ones level of activity to overcompensate for the number of calories consumed each day can lead to loss of excess fat.
How long and how far should you walk Rives says that you should walk just as fast and as long as you comfortably can each day if youre striving to replace fat with lean muscle tissue. As you become fitter youll be able to walk faster longer and farther.
Treadmill
Walking
Of course where you walk is entirely up to you! However there are many benefits to walking on a treadmill.
When you walk outdoors youre at the mercy of Mother Nature. Lets face it! Sometimes she doesnt cooperate and the weather conditions can be less than ideal for walking outdoors. On those days you either brave the weather or you simply dont go out to walk!
If you get your daily walks done on a treadmill however you dont have to miss a workout! You may walk in a comfortable controlled environment any time of day or night! Now how convenient is that
When you walk on a treadmill you have no obstacles to watch out for to walk around or to trip over. Thus your chances of injury are reduced. And treadmill walking is relatively simple to do!
Treadmills typically have display windows that show your speed incline level intensity level as well as the length of time youve spent on the treadmill and the distance youve traveled. These displays allow you to monitor your workouts more closely.
Most decent treadmills today have preprogrammed workouts with various workout levels from which to choose. This makes the treadmill perfect for beginning walkers up to advanced walkers.
You get a more consistent lowimpact workout on a treadmill.
Conclusion...
Whether you have only a few pounds of fat to lose or you have lots of extra fat to shed walking is a safe healthy way to get in shape. Treadmill walking is simple convenient consistent and sensible!
Fred Waters worked in the treadmill industry for a number of year. He is author of the Treadmill Rating and Review site. Check out the latest reviews on over 75 of the most popular treadmills and get important buying tips from the Treadmill Buyers Guide.