Four-Week Beginners Treadmill Walking Plan (3% Incline)

[CBDB]

I thought I’d share my plans for getting used to my new treadmill, which is a basic, no frills treadmill with no automatic incline, but a foldable set of legs that allows it to be set either at 0% or at 3% incline. Feeling that I had to get used to the 3% incline, but also being a treadmill newbie, I needed a plan. Most treadmill plans include incline settings, so this was also the opportunity to add some other stepping equipment, which would give me similar workouts to walking at an incline.

The plan is able to be downloaded as a pdf from unwrapp3d.uk/wp-content/upl...

It is a rough and ready beginner's treadmill plan for those who have just received access to a treadmill without an incline function but want to use it more strategically to gain walking fitness and confidence on the treadmill.

For this plan, I used the aerobic step as an equivalent way to train, as one would do with inclines. The plan is loosely based on the MyFitnessPal plan at blog.myfitnesspal.com/4-wee... but uses alternative methods to gain similar fitness as one would using inclines on a treadmill. For those with a treadmill with incline functionality, you can use the MyFitnessPlan or replace the STEPPING sections with incline intensities, I would suggest adding 3 degrees.

It will also be useful to consider your current speed in relation to RPE to fill in your target speed under the Notes and Descriptions Column. It will be a handy page to print out and put somewhere readable close to your treadmill, as you will need to adjust your speed accordingly, specifically when reaching the interval sections.

What you will need:

1) Treadmill

2) Aerobic Step

.

RPE Scale

1-2: Easy, light pace (with 1 being anything other than sleeping/sitting)

3: Warmup Pace, able to maintain for hours. East to breathe and chat.

4-6: Moderate effort, conversation possible

7-8: Challenging, conversation difficult

9-10: Maximum effort, can’t sustain long (with 10 feeling almost impossible to keep going)

Either follow the image or you can download a pdf from

unwrapp3d.uk/wp-content/upl...

I’ll put the other three weeks as images in the replies and will post how I get on with this. But for anyone wanting to begin doing intervals walking and stepping workouts on a treadmill, feel free to join me!

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Week 2 of 4

Week 2

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Week 3 of 4

Week 3

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Week 4 of 4

Week 4

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Annieapple skysue16 If that fits what you are looking for (it’s very basic and possibly too beginner-y), feel free to join me!

I’m getting to know my trusty Treaddy! Balance is already improving, having done just the first 12 minutes.

[Annieapple in reply to CBDB]

🍏Plucking up courage to use my Treaddy 😄 love that name! Hopefully this will act as a wee challenge… thank you ☺️

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold in reply to Annieapple]

Yes, I just did my second day of 12 minutes. Did it without shoes. Music helps me immensely, and also to play around with your cadence (leaving treadmill speed the same but changing from quick little steps to longer slower gait). This helped me for my body to “understand” the treadmill motion, as I had some issues with balance in the beginning. Still a bit but this helped me.

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Day 3 done. I’ve also took some time to deep-clean a pair of my road shoes (Altra Paradigm) which I will use for the treadmill.

I think my barefoot (or socked) walks can be hard on my feet, as I felt a very faint plantar-fasciitis-like ache the next morning. So out came my foot-massage ball, and I will do more foot strengthening, but swapping to treadmilling in shoes will probably help.

I’m considering ordering some elastic shoelaces so the shoes can be slipped on and off much faster than when tying.

Upwards and onwards.

[CBDB Administrator Graduate Gold]

Wk1 Day 4: Still on week one, slowly getting used to Treddy. Walked in a different pair of shoes which helped with balance. Also joggled a few seconds here and there. I think I can get used to this!

Watopia was also bright and sunny, no rain in sight, even if in Scotland, but sidestanders cheering me on! Everyone had T-shirts on! Cute!

Watopia at lunchtime!