Treadmill Fitness
Treadmill fitness differs slightly from outdoor running fitness. If you can run a certain distance on an indoor treadmill, at a certain speed, you may not be able to do it outdoors in the real world. This is due to a number of factors which make treadmill fitness different from outdoor running fitness.
- Treadmill fitness is gained on a very smooth surface, whereas outdoor running is usually over a variable, rough, or uneven surface. Running outdoors forces your body to adapt to potentially slippy, loose, or uneven surfaces. This makes your stabilizing muscles stronger. A comparison could be made to weight lifting. Running outdoors would be comparable to lifting free weights, while treadmill fitness would be similar to using machines to lift weights. Your body is stabalized by the machine so doesn't have to do the work itself.
- Treadmill fitness provides a slightly different body position from outdoor running fitness. This is due to the lack of wind resistance in indoor running. If you study the body position of indoor runners, vs outdoor runners you will often find that outdoor runners have slightly more forward lean, while treadmill runners usually are quite straight up and down. Experts recommend raising the incline of a treadmill one to two percent in order to better simulate the body position of natural running, helping your treadmill fitness better equal your outdoor running fitness.
- Treadmill fitness often leads to less joint problems from running. Almost all newer treadmills on the market today have some shock absorbing capacity. Outdoor runners rely soley on their shoes, the terrain they're running on, and their bodies for shock absorbtion. This leads to more impact on the joints, especially when running on hard surfaces such as roads. This extra impact over long periods of time can wear down joints.
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