Spending 30 minutes every day on a treadmill can keep the doctor away. I know, it sounds like that popular adage our moms used to tell us when we’re kids. But the thing is that spending half an hour on a treadmill can actually do so much for you than simply keeping doctors away. It’s great for burning fat, improve the health of the heart, and even help you train for that all-important sporting event in your life. And if you’re thinking you don’t have time to hit the gym, what if I told you I found a treadmill to buy under $1000 in Australia? You can now bring home one of these famed exercise machines so you, too, can enjoy the many benefits of doing 30 minutes of exercises on the treadmill.

Improved Heart Health

Cardiologists and sports medicine professionals say that 30-minute workouts done most days of the week can substantially maintain and improve heart health. The reason for this is pretty straightforward. When you walk, jog, sprint, or even run on the treadmill, you’re actually pushing your heart to adapt. Your leg muscles will require more oxygen and as such the heart will have to pump faster to meet the metabolic needs of the muscles. When you do this 30-minute workout on the treadmill on an everyday basis, your heart will have to find another way to supply the increased metabolic load without having to rely on a very rapid heart rate. What it does is that it strengthens its muscle fibres allowing it to pump more blood with each contraction. This way it doesn’t have to pump fast anymore. And this is how you improve cardiac capacity.

Increased Levels of Good Cholesterol

I bet you didn’t know that there is what we call ‘good’ cholesterol. According to the Mayo Clinic in the US, 30 minutes of brisk-walking on the treadmill can actually boost the levels of high-density lipoproteins or HDL-cholesterol in your blood. This is what we call the good cholesterol. It is called ‘good’ because it reduces one’s risk for the development of atherosclerosis, a condition whereby fatty plaques form in the inner lining of major blood vessels and lead to blockage of blood flow. When this happens you could suffer a heart attack. If the major blood vessel affected is the one supplying the brain, you could have stroke.  For maximum benefits, hit the treadmill and go for speeds of 6.5 to 8 kilometres per hour. If you’re looking at your heart rate, then you should aim for a heart rate that is 70% to 80% of your maximum. For instance, if you have a maximum heart rate of 140 bpm, then you should strive for 98 to 112 beat per minute.

Burn Calories

Weight watchers will love the treadmill. Consider a 70-kilogramme individual. If she walks at about 3 KPH, she’ll be burning about 90 calories in 30 minutes. Bump it up a bit to 6 KPH and you could be burning 150 calories in half an hour. Jog at a speed of about KPH and you’re guaranteed to burn 300 calories in just 30 minutes. Hit the speed settings of the treadmill to 12 KPH and you’re burning about 450 to 500 calories. Now, if you’re going to integrate high intensity interval training – say jog for 1 minute before going flat-out for 30 seconds and repeating the cycle after about 1-minute of rest – you could very well bump up these calories burned substantially. And you’re doing it without ever leaving your home.

Doing 30 minutes of treadmill exercises per day can help strengthen and improve your heart, burn calories, and increase good cholesterol levels. On top of it all, you’re doing it right in your home.

Read More »