I started this blog about treadmills because I love my treadmill.  So far though, I haven’t told you anything else about it.  I guess now is as good a time as any.

I have a ProForm treadmill.  More specifically, I have the ProForm 745CS. I don’t know if they even make that one any more. My husband bought it for me about six and a half years ago.  (I had expressed that I wanted one, so I count it as a loving gift, not a hint.)

My treadmill has a heart monitor, 6 built in fitness programs, inclines to a 10% grade at .5% intervals, and has quick speed selector up to 10 MPH.  That was some pretty impressive stuff back then, but it’s pretty standard equipment now. 

I’m thrilled with how well my Proform treadmill has held up over the years.  It has had some work done to it under the maintenance/service plan, but I haven’t done any maintenance on it in years. I’ve used it relatively consistently and my husband has used it too.  It has even been through two long distance moves on a moving truck. It really is a sturdy piece of machinery.

I will definitely buy another ProForm treadmill when the time comes, but for now mine is still going strong.  I plan to do some maintenance on it soon though.  It certainly is past due on a lot of care. (Stay tuned for details). 

There is a point where walking turns into jogging; the speed that is the fastest you can possibly walk before you must jog. For me and my relatively short legs, that threshold is 4.0 MPH. For my 6′4″ husband, that threshold is closer to 5.0 MPH. It is different for everybody.

One of my treadmill programs holds a speed of 4.0 MPH for five minutes. It is a very awkward speed for me to move at. I didn’t think I would be able to hold that speed. I did it though and it was difficult. I alternated between speed walking and slow jogging. When my legs couldn’t go that fast any more, I would switch and exercise my lungs until they had enough.

It’s a challenging speed, but I’m thinking that it is a very good speed to work on building endurance. Which leads me to another thought: If you build up enough endurance, will this threshold change? Or is it proportional to leg length? I guess I’ll have to test it out over time and see.

Does this “threshold” have a name? (If it does, can someone please comment and enlighten me.) For now, I’ll just name it my “endurance zone”.

I did a mini-poll a few months ago on a message board. Out of my 13 respondents, 62% said they work out at home. I don’t believe this is all due to preference though.

Reasons for using a home gym included time savings, money savings, convenience and privacy. I got the feeling that more people would be using the public gyms if time and money weren’t a consideration.

The social exercisers were big fans of the accountability and motivational factors that come with the public gyms. The group classes and variety of equipment were also important reasons. One person said she uses the public gym because she doesn’t have exercise equipment at home. Others mentioned that being at the gym helps them focus because there aren’t any household distractions.

I voted with the home goers. I find that exercising with others is too much of a social situation for me and my workout suffers for it. As far as saving money and not having equipment, those don’t apply to me. I’ve spent plenty of money on quality home equipment. It’s worth it to me. I prefer to sweat in private.

If you prefer to work out at home, you might like my other blog, Home Fitness for Women.

Are you having trouble focusing? Go for a walk and get some oxygen to that brain of yours!Seriously. I was overwhelmed this morning with my to-do list for the day. I needed to organize everything I had to do in the right order to make my day as productive as possible. I just could not focus. So, I actually used my exercise to procrastinate. What an excellent idea that was!

I got on my treadmill with no music and no TV and just started walking. I let all the thoughts in my head just roam around and sort themselves out. (Kind of like when you are trying to sleep at night and your brain won’t shut up.) Before I knew it, my thoughts organized themselves AND I had added 10 minutes onto my workout!

Try it!

“Never allow children on or around treadmill.”  This is written on the warning sticker on the bottom of my treadmill.  You can see it when the treadmill is in the folded position.

OK… Great… Easier said than done.  Right?

Actually, that doesn’t have to be complicated.  While I thought I would have a problem with that, I never really have.  The treadmill came into the house when my oldest was just a baby so it has always been there.  My children are used to it being there.  They’ve been told since they started moving around that the treadmill was for mommy and that they don’t touch it. 

Am I that naive?  NO!  But I have followed some guidelines which have helped a lot.

• Set boundaries around the treadmill and remind often that crossing those boundaries is forbidden. 
• Always fold your treadmill when not in use.
• Remove the safety key when you’re done.
• Let your kids watch you exercise.
• Give them something else to do.

Those last two may seem like conflicting statements, but they really aren’t.  They go together.  When the kids have the opportunity to watch you exercise, they get used to it and the thrill of that “toy” goes away.  They learn by watching that it is for exercise only.  The “something else to do” keeps them busy, but in sight.

When my children were babies, I always put their basinet or exersaucer near the treadmill when I exercised.  They would watch me for a while and then fall asleep.  I think the sound from the treadmill belt lulled them to sleep.  I would just turn up my walkman when they cried and keep on going.  (You are not a bad mommy if you do this!)

As they grew, I let the television baby-sit.  Shame on me?  No, I don’t think so.  A movie or Sesame Street for the length of time that I exercised certainly wasn’t going to hurt any body.  The benefits of the exercise and the me-time outweighed any negative television affects.  Now they are old enough to entertain themselves (most of the time any way).

Don’t be afraid to have a home treadmill because you have children.  Just be safe and responsible.  Be a role model and demonstrate a healthy lifestyle.