treadmill and outside running

[carerof]

does anyone know why when running on a treadmill you do not burn as many calories as outside. I feel that i run faster on a treadmill as it is stable and you can adjust the speed you can go, whereas outside you have to stop to cross roads avoid people and dogs yet i always burn more calories!!!

[Hidden]

Hmm - I can't say either way whether that's the case or not, but I can imagine it's true. When you run on a treadmill, isn't there a certain amount of 'suspension' which helps bounce you up and therefore you actually put slightly less effort in, for the same pace/elevation outside ?

[beatricerose Graduate]

I think the stopping and starting, and having to cope with different inclines and weather conditions probably make the whole thing just more of an effort. I find dodging dogs and cyclists in the path always makes my run harder than just a steady straight run.. at least it gets more difficult at the end of an exhausting one haha. I suspect though you would need to take into account changing inclines to get the same calorie burn. What are you using to measure in each? How different are the amounts for equivalent runs? They might just use different calculating methods?

[Irishprincess Graduate]

running.about.com/od/treadm...

[rmnsuk Graduate]

The treadmill and outside are different. They use subtly different muscles etc. One big difference is wind resistance. If you try putting the incline at 1 you'll probably be close to the same effort. Outside you tend to run faster or at least I did.

[John_W Graduate]

With a treadmill, the ground is moving underneath you and actually propelling you forward - it's doing some of the work for you, hence less calorie burn.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

How do you know you are burning more calories?

[baronblaze]

Not sure that you can measure which burns off the most calories accurately. I would be surprised if it was running on a treadmill as you certainly use more muscle groups when running outside so you would be burning up more energy. Does it really matter ? The further or faster you run the more calories you burn. The harder the session the higher your metabolic rate - so you will continue to burn calories at a higher rate once you have stopped running - even the next day.

[Coddfish Graduate]

I have no idea about calories. Running outside Is probably going to be harder - wind, changes of direction, pavements, interruptions, uneven surfaces etc. But it's so much nicer than running on a treadmill.