Thursday, January 29, 2009

How to Achieve Easy Fat Loss with Treadmill Walking

By Torii Tompson

Losing weight is not as hard as it may seem - one really simple way to work off weight and burn that extra fat is by treadmill walking. The key to easy fat loss is to simply burn more calories than you take in through your food.

The majority of people think that taking a short walk three times a week is enough for them to quickly lose weight, unfortunately though this is completely un-true! In order for walking to be an effective weight loss technique, you would need to walk for a minimum of 45 minutes at least five to six times a week.

The important thing to remember is to keep up to your walking on a regular basis. You will find it extremely hard to control your weight if you do not exercise consistently. It is also important to bear in mind that walking around your local area may not be enough, especially if you live in a flat area.

However, if you walk on a treadmill, you can get a more intense workout by elevating the grade, also known as the incline. Not only will the higher elevation increase your heart rate, but the muscles in your body will work harder and cause you to burn more fat.

By doing a treadmill walking session each day, you will easily be able to lose weight, and ensure that those pounds don't return! However, using a treadmill can mean that you have to stare at the same patch of wall every single day, so here are some top tips to help make your workout a lot more captivating:

Walk the Pyramid: This game challenges you both physically and mentally for a total of 30 minutes. Whenever you're walking on your treadmill, increase the speed by .1 mph every 15 minutes. Do this for half of your workout and then decrease the speed .1 mph for the other 15 minutes.

1,2,3 Counting Steps: Instead of obessing over the time clock on the treadmill display, count your steps. You can count your steps for one minute then take a break and do it again for another minute. It will pass the time and as you became more fit you'll notice the number of steps you count will increase, which should motivate you.

Step and Walk: This is an excellent technique because it combines all the benefits of using a treadmill with other forms of exercise. Split your workout into equal segments, chunks of 5 or 10 minutes are good. Now, walk on your treadmill for the first segment. Then get off the machine and do another exercise for the next segment - such as using a stepper, lifting weights or perhaps using a rowing machine. Then return to your treadmill for the third segment and repeat throughout your workout.

Travel the World: This is a fun little game where you map out the favorite routes through your neighborhood and then imagine yourself walking there while you're doing your treadmill walking. What I did was actually record my journey through a local park on my camcorder, and then I watch this while doing my exercise and it's like being outdoors no matter what the weather.

Don't be afraid to come up with your own games to make treadmill walking less boring. Not everyone is enthusiastic about exercise, but you can put a spin on things to make time go by faster. - 15438

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