Whether you’ve committed to riding it out on the ancient machine in your parents’ basement or are in the market for one of the best treadmills out there, everyone comes to the treadmill for a reason. Sometimes, it’s for the pure sport of running when weather doesn’t allow you to get out, or the convenience of just slipping on your running shoes in the house and getting after it. Other times, you have a specific fitness goal in mind — maybe getting your steps in, improving your cardio training, lowering your blood pressure, weight loss, or even boosting mental health.

The real question is when will you get to enjoy all of these wondrous health benefits from treadmill training? Certainly, a single workout will elevate your heart rate and work your muscles tremendously — you might even get the oft-sought runner’s high. But what about the longer-term changes to your body? As a certified personal trainer myself, I chatted with running coach Lee Whitaker and fellow CPT Kate Meier to bring you the deets on the ultimate question: “When will you see results using a treadmill?”  

How to Spot Treadmill Results

Whenever you dive into a cardio workout — no matter which of the best cardio machines you’re cruising on — there is a lot going on behind the scenes in your body. As you start or continue your journey, you may be laser-focused on one set of results — like a reduction of body fat — without noticing your improved energy levels and increased lower body strength, which are fantastic results in themselves.

Our tester running on the NordicTrack EXP 7i treadmill.

To help you take rapid notice of the results as they begin to emerge, we’ll get insights from certified personal trainer and BarBend editorial team member Kate Meier. Whether it’s strength training or putting together a treadmill routine, Meier offers her insights into tracking both your specific goals and your overall health — and when it will all happen. It might not all be as simple as social media makes it look, but Meier will lay it all out in terms of what you can actually expect.

Look for Small Changes First

Some changes to your health and wellness levels will be impossible for you to visually track — like the breakdown of cholesterol deposits that might otherwise contribute to heart disease. Others are going to be easier to spot — like the growth of your leg muscles and the increasing ease of training. Even so, dramatic breakthroughs are rare, so you’ll have to be on the lookout for incremental improvements.

[Related: 5K Training Plan]

“If you commit to running on a treadmill three to four times a week, after just a few weeks, you might notice that the same workouts don’t feel as hard as they just did,” says Meier. “You might notice other small results, like you look forward to your workout or dread it less; you can run or walk further or a little faster than when you first started; or you generally feel better about yourself after a workout. Those are the small results that you notice first before the bigger results occur, like weight loss or hitting distance goals.”

Set Small Goals

It’s often the case that your improvements go unnoticed because you set the bar too high at first. For instance, if the only goal in your mind is to eventually run a 5K without stopping, you may not appreciate how you are now able to jog an entire mile without breathing heavily. In short, setting smaller, more achievable goals within the larger goal is a great way to take note of your steady progress.

Our tester using a steep incline on the NordicTrack Commercial X22i.

“Seeing these smaller results can keep you motivated,” says Meier. “This is especially true if your goal is weight loss. That kind of a goal is dependent on much more than just using a treadmill; what you’re consuming, how you’re sleeping, and your activity outside of the gym all plays a role in that. However, if you can track some smaller results, like how your clothes fit or how your workouts feel, it will make the journey to seeing a smaller number on the scale more enjoyable.”

Treadmill Workouts for Beginners

When you’re just getting started with your treadmill workout routine, it may actually be counterproductive to immediately go all out with high-intensity interval training (HIIT). The intensity of your workouts doesn’t need to be sky high in order for your workout routine to be beneficial. 

With that in mind, here are some of the best treadmill workouts you can use to get started if you’re a beginner when it comes to treadmill training. This list was put together with the assistance of certified expert running coach Lee Whitaker, who has even used treadmills to train for marathons.

Brisk Walking

The saying “You have to walk first before you run” is true in both literal and figurative settings. If you’re new to treadmill training, a fitness routine built around walking can be a perfect starting point. Brisk walking is possibly the best exercise for establishing a comfortable training rhythm and getting all of your muscle groups conditioned for what will come as you improve. 

[Related: Best Walking Treadmills]

Our tester walks on a Horizon 7.0 AT treadmill

The critical element here is that you should try to walk at a faster pace than you would if you were casually browsing a downtown shopping district. For most people, that will be at a speed between 3 and 4 miles per hour. There are study results that demonstrate how walking consistently at just over three miles per hour accelerated fat loss in study subjects. (1)

Brisk Walk: 1 x 30-60 minutes, 3-4.5 mph, 0% incline

With a workout routine like this, look for walking to become a lot easier after the first week or two. Traveling the same distance at the same speed might seem to require less effort. Results related to body composition will likely take longer than a couple of weeks if you’re balancing nutrition and fitness in a sustainable, healthy way.

12-3-30

While 12-3-30 may harken back to your high school locker combination, the 12-3-30 workout is a treadmill workout created by TikTok influencer Lauren Giraldo. According to Giraldo, she managed to lose 30 pounds (over an unspecified period of time) by doing workouts where she walked at a 12-percent incline and at a speed of 3 miles per hour for 30 minutes. 

This simple formula takes the guesswork out of treadmill training with a manageable workout that is easy to remember. In addition, walking at a treadmill incline of 10 percent or higher has been suggested to greatly increase the activity in the muscles of the quadriceps and hamstrings in comparison to lower inclines. (2) On the other hand, activation of the glues is lower when walking at a very high incline in comparison to walking at a moderate incline. (3)

Walk: 1 x 30 minutes; 3 mph, 12% incline

Because this workout takes you uphill, you might on the one hand see faster “results” in terms of body composition — your clothes may start fitting differently within a month or so if you’re doing this a few times a week and practicing sustainable nutrition habits. But on the other hand, it might take a little longer for workouts to feel “easier,” simply because this one is more intense than it might seem. So, be patient with yourself and give yourself plenty of recovery time between workouts.

Aerobic Walk-Run

Even in the beginning stages of treadmill training, it’s a good idea to help your body prepare to advance to a more challenging form of exercise. Since there is a different muscle activation pattern between walking and running, inserting running into your fitness routine can help to familiarize your body with a higher level of demand.. It will also help you to make progress toward sustained running throughout your workouts.

Our tester running on a treadmill

“For a true beginner, I’d set them up at a low incline and have them train at an aerobic pace,” says certified running coach Lee Whitaker. “Just that alone is probably going to be uncomfortable for someone who hasn’t been running. They could try to go for 5 minutes at first, with a 5-minute walk or recovery period, and then I’d have them repeat it like two more times for a 30-minute workout while inserting some running. Over time, I would have them progress to where they’re doing more running than walking during the non-recovery periods.”

[Related: Best Treadmill for Beginners]

Warm-Up: 5 minutes, slow walking, 2-2.5 mph, 0% incline

Incline Walk: 5 minutes, 3-4 mph, 2-4% incline

Recovery Walk: 5 minutes, 0% incline

Incline Jog: 5 minutes, 5-6 mph, 2-4% incline

Recovery Walk: 5 minutes, 0% incline

Incline Walk: 5 minutes, 3-4 mph, 2-4% incline

Recovery Walk: 5 minutes, 0% incline

Here, adjust the times as needed. If you’ve got some more experience or a higher base fitness level, your incline jogs or walks might be longer or a bit faster. If you can’t quite run for 5 minutes yet, that’s OK — shave it down to 2 minutes or even just a single minute. Add 30 seconds or a minute each time you repeat the workout. That right there is an amazing way to see your results — you are running more before tapping out. That’s an incredible result that you can likely see within a few workouts.

Treadmill Workouts for Weight Loss

Many people will come to a treadmill with the goal of reducing body weight: there’s a reason cardio and weight loss are connected on social media. To be sustainable and health, you’ll want to moderate the amount of time you’re committing to physical activity — and fuel yourself accordingly with food. Along the way, you might find yourself wanting to do high-intensity workouts to fuel body composition changes. These HIIT training sessions can help fuel strength increases, too, which are going to be a big deal for body composition.

HIIT Workout

High-intensity interval training is a proven tactic for quickly getting your body up to speed. Using short sessions of peak exertion on the treadmill, you can force your body to rapidly adjust to the heightened work load. Despite the brevity of the work sessions, HIIT treadmill workouts have shown themselves to be as reliable as sustained training at lower intensity levels when it comes to generating weight loss. (4)

Our tester runs on a Horizon 7.0 AT Treadmill

“You’re going to be doing 30 seconds of really heavy work and then taking a break,” explains running coach and elite ultra marathon runner Lee Whitaker. “You’re going to kick that thing up again to 6 to 8%, and then set the treadmill really fast so that you literally sprint for 30 seconds — and then take a break for 30 seconds. You need to be very careful doing a workout like that on the treadmill; it’s basically a 30-second hill sprint. For someone who just wants to lose weight and isn’t hyper-focused on running performance, 20 minutes is good.”

Warm-Up: 5-10 minutes of slow jogging, 4.5-5.5 mph, 0% incline

Sprint: 20 x 30 second sprint, 30 seconds rest, fastest maintainable speed, 6-8% incline

Cool Down: 5-10 minutes of slow jogging, 4.5-5.5 mph, 0% incline

If weight loss is a goal of yours, know that the “results” you’ll see from the treadmill are deeply impacted by lifestyle factors like stress levels, sleep, genetics, and nutritional habits. You can be doing a spectacular job in your workouts, but if you’re not sleeping, weight loss goals are bound to stall. While you can lose about a pound a week sustainably, you may more likely start noticing your clothes fitting differently after a a month or so of about three workouts per week.

Aerobic Pace Workout

Aerobic exercise is the bedrock of most runners’ training routines. Simply by being able to maintain a steady pace at an elevated heart rate, you’re going to improve any number of health conditions related to your heart and body composition — talk about results. The crucial thing to remember here is to stay the course and not overdo it.

Our tester on the ProForm Carbon TLX.

“For somebody trying to lose weight, I would want them to do an endurance-focused workout that would just be a steady state jog or run at that aerobic pace,” advises running coach Lee Whitaker. “You could start at 30 minutes and build up to an hour based on the fitness of the person. You want to stay at a low-to-moderate intensity, and for somebody that’s trying to lose weight, you wouldn’t want them to consider the workout difficult in terms of their effort level.”

Warm-Up: 10 minutes of slow jogging, 4.5-5.5 mph, 0% incline

Aerobic Run: 40 minutes of low- to moderate-intensity running, 6-8 mph, 0% incline

Cool Down: 10 minutes of slow jogging, 4.5-5.5 mph, 0% incline

The key here is keeping the intensity low. It’s tempting to think that if you’re not running fast, you won’t see “results” — that’s just not true. The result of running at a low intensity is that you’re building a tremendous amount of mental and physical endurance with each and every workout. You can measure this progress easily by noting how much better different runs feel over time. Grabbing one of the best fitness trackers is also a great way to track your progress. It’s quite satisfying seeing your resting heart rate decrease as your fitness level increases.

Incline Running

Running at an incline simply requires more energy than running at a level surface. What this means to you is if you can sustain the same speed and effort level at an incline that you can on the flat treadmill, you can prompt more physiological change. This also means that, if one of your goals is weight loss, your rate of fat loss may be higher if you can spend more time running at an incline.

Our tester walking at tallest incline on the NordicTrack X22i

“For this workout, you want your treadmill at 4 to 8%; something that’s steep but not ridiculously steep,” instructs running coach and ultra marathoner Lee Whitaker. “Crank it up to some kind of hard effort where you’re moving pretty well, but not at an all out sprint like you’re running from a bear. It should be a pace you could just barely tolerate for maybe two minutes. Your heart rate should get really high, your breathing is heavy, and legs should be burning a bit. After 2 minutes of that, quickly hop back down to a walking speed. So you could go 2 minutes of running, 2 minutes of walking, and repeat that all the way up to 30 minutes or so.”

Warm-up: 5-10 minutes of slow jogging, 4.5-5.5 mph, 0% incline

Incline Running: 8 x 2 minute run, 2 minute recovery walk, 4-8% incline

Cool Down: 5-10 minutes of slow jogging, 4.5-5.5 mph, 0% incline

After a couple of weeks, you’re likely to find that the same pace is easier to hold for longer at a given incline. When you switch to running on a flat surface, you’re likely to find that you’re running faster even after just a few sessions.

Treadmill Results FAQs

References

La New JM, Borer KT. Effects of Walking Speed on Total and Regional Body Fat in Healthy Postmenopausal Women. Nutrients. 2022 Jan 31;14(3):627. doi: 10.3390/nu14030627. PMID: 35276986; PMCID: PMC8840715.

Silder A, Besier T, Delp SL. Predicting the metabolic cost of incline walking from muscle activity and walking mechanics. J Biomech. 2012 Jun 26;45(10):1842-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2012.03.032. Epub 2012 May 11. PMID: 22578744; PMCID: PMC4504736.

Jeong DE, Lee SK, Kim K. Comparison of the activity of the gluteus medius according to the angles of inclination of a treadmill with vertical load. J Phys Ther Sci. 2014 Feb;26(2):251-3. doi: 10.1589/jpts.26.251. Epub 2014 Feb 28. PMID: 24648642; PMCID: PMC3944299.

D’Amuri A, Sanz JM, Capatti E, Di Vece F, Vaccari F, Lazzer S, Zuliani G, Dalla Nora E, Passaro A. Effectiveness of high-intensity interval training for weight loss in adults with obesity: a randomised controlled non-inferiority trial. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2021 Jul 20;7(3):e001021. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-001021. PMID: 34367654; PMCID: PMC8292807.

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