Congratulations on your decision to purchase an Endurance treadmill! You have a key to a new healthier and happier you: more energy, less stress, better health, sleep better, look better in your clothes and feel better about yourself. All you have to do now is use it!

 This article is going to help you make the most of your Endurance treadmill so you can lose some weight and burn some fat to look and feel your best!

Hit the Afterburner

Let’s get real. Most people who buy a treadmill will either never use it enough or not get the results they want. But that’s not you, right!? If you really want to make it count: lose some weight and feel great about yourself - you will need to do one very important exercise before you start on the treadmill. You will have to do some mental exercises.

Brides are the most motivated people to exercise because they want to look fabulous for their special day. They have a specific goal with massive motivation to achieve it. You too must have some clarity on what you want to achieve and why. Spend some time thinking about why you bought the treadmill. What are your goals? What do you want to achieve but more importantly WHY do you want to achieve them? Having a goal gives you a reason to act. Understanding ‘why’ you want to achieve them helps you to exercise when you don’t feel like doing it. With no goal and no clear benefits in mind, it is too easy to let the treadmill gather dust and your waistline expand.

Topp Tipp: Get a picture of you the way you use to look or a photo of someone who you’d love to look like and pin it on the fridge. Look at every day. This will help with two things. It will nurture your mindset to stick with your exercise program and it will help you to stop overeating by diving into the fridge whenever you are peckish.

Getting started

Once you have your goal clearly in sight you are ready to start. I am going to cover three levels of programs for you to follow, starting from a complete beginner. But first let’s cover some important safety tips.

Warming up and cooling down

A warm up is very important to reduce the risk of injury because it prepares the body for the real exercise ahead plus psychologically it gets you out of your day and into the frame of mind of exercise. Spend 5 minutes walking at a very comfortable pace and so some light stretches before you start exercising and when you finish. We will cover stretching in more detail in another article.

Don’t do too much too soon

It’s very common for beginners to over do it. Do not do too much too soon. Keep your exercise moderate. Too much intensity too soon only increases risk not return to you. In the first few weeks it’s better to under do it than over do it.

Listen to your body

Go with how you feel. The feeling of your heart beat in your chest and how hard you are breathing are great indicators of how hard you are working. You should aim to feel challenged but not overly strained. If you feel like your heart is about to jump out of your chest or you can barely get enough air in, you are over doing it!

Stop!

If you feel faint, STOP sit down or if needs be lay down with your feet elevated. Stay in this position for some time after you think you feel better. If you get up too quickly chances are you will feel faint straight away.

Walking and running paces

The paces set in each program are there as a general guide. You may choose to go slightly slower or slightly faster –depending on how you feel. Pick a pace that you find appropriate that you can sustain for the individual programs.

Time to get fit and burn some serious fat….

The Walk in the park - level one

About you: This program is for the complete beginner, you haven’t exercised in years, consider yourself very unfit and have lots of weight to lose.

Times per week: 3

Objective: Walking for 20 minutes

Pace: 4-6kpm

Duration: 4-6 weeks

Progress this program by increasing your time walking by 5 minutes each week. Increase the time you walk for before the speed. You want to build up to walking comfortably for 45 minutes before you increase speed.

The Jog around the lake – level two

About you: This program is for people who have completed the first program or can already comfortably walk for 45 minutes without undue exertion.

You have two programs. Repeat each program twice.

The jog around the lake

Objective: Walk for 5-10 minutes, jog for 10+ minutes, walk for 5-10 minutes

Pace: Walk at 4-6kph and jog at 7-8kph +

Progression: Increase the amount of time you spend jogging upto 30 minutes

Introducing the hills

Objective: Walk for 5-10 minutes, then increase the speed by 1kph every minute until you reach your maximum, return to walking for 5-10 minutes

Progression: Repeat the ‘climb’ exercise a second and later a third time.

Duration:                     4-6 weeks

The Sprint series – level three

About you: Do not progress to this program until you have completed level two.

You have a combination of three programs. Look to complete each program once and choose one program to repeat a second time.

Duration: ongoing

The run

Objective:                    Start with a light jog at 5-7kph for 5 minutes

                                    Run for 15 minutes + at a pace of 8-9kph +

                                    Conclude with a walk at 4-5kph for 5 minutes

Oval sprints

Objective:                    Start with a light jog at 5-7kph for 5 minutes

                                    Run for 2 minutes at a pace of 8-9kph

                                    Sprint for I minute at a pace of 10-12kph +

                                    Repeat 3-5 sets

                                    Walk for 5 minutes at 4-5kph

Hill Sprints

Objective:                    Start with a light jog at 5-7kph for 5 minutes

                                    Increase incline to 5%+ and run at 8-9kph +for 2 minutes

Return to flat and continue at same speed or reduce by 1-2kph for a slight recovery           

Repeat 3-5 sets

Conclude with a walk for 5 minutes at 5-7kph

You can progress these programs by performing the working runs and sprints at either or both higher speeds and for longer time frames. When working harder it is recommendable to spend more time warming up and cooling down.

 Don’t forget the diet

If you want to lose some serious weight you are going to have to clean up your ‘eating habits’. This is a whole another article. For now let’s get you started with these three key objectives:

• Before you even need to change what you, eat you must cut out the discretionary calories. These are calories you just don’t need: snacks foods such as crisps, chocolates, muffins, biscuits and junk food.

• Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at regular times each day. By eating regularly, you will keep your appetite satisfied and prevent the need to snack.

• Cut out alcohol. If you gave up alcohol you will lose weight. And drink plenty of water to keep your energy levels up and hunger cravings at bay.