Find out why you won’t get results by holding onto a treadmill during sprints or hard runs.
One of the biggest mistakes in exercise is that of holding onto a treadmill, even when the user is “sprinting” or running hard at a fast clip. I’m a certified personal trainer.
I see this quite often: The user cranks up the speed at a zero incline, grips the bar in front and “runs” for a brief period, then slows the speed and releases their hands during their “recovery.” This is not the proper way to conduct interval training.
I like to point out the case of a lean, attractive woman who worked out from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Her workout included 7 mph one-minute runs on a treadmill, during which she’d plaster her palms around and over the top of the console.
Because of her tanned, lean physique, many naïve people thought she was doing things the right way.
She actually spent a lot of time on the treadmill, plus lots of time strength training. She watched what she ate.
But this didn’t excuse her from committing such a blunder on the treadmill.
Because her body was so used to that steel-hard clasp of her palms at 7 mph, there’s no way this would carry over to running outside where there’s nothing for her hands to latch onto.
Think about it: The harder or faster you run, without holding onto anything, the more your abs and low back become engaged, along with your butt and leg muscles.
This is why competitive short-distance runners have killer abs and wonderful glutes!
If you hold onto the treadmill (front bar or behind top of console), then the faster the speed, the tighter your grip will be.
The more locked up your arms and shoulders are, and the more deranged the motion of your hips are, the more you’ll set yourself up for possible future hip strain.
The foot strike becomes unnatural, increasing risk of plantar fasciitis (heel pain). The entire gait pattern becomes warped and will not carry over to running, especially sprinting, on the basketball court or outside.
There is a HUGE difference between sprinting while holding onto a treadmill and sprinting naturally with an aggressive arm pump.
Shutterstock/Den4is
“By not holding on the treadmill, you will raise the heart rate without having to increase speed,” says Jacque Crockford, MS, CSCS, an ACE certified personal trainer and an ACE exercise physiologist. “It is also not safe to hold the treadmill while running, as it can cause more balance issues or tripping.”
Listen to someone running very fast on a treadmill while gripping it. Their feet slam down with each step.
That’s because the gait pattern is disrupted. Their lower body is not keeping up with the fast speed.
What’s happening is that the bones in their arms, and their hand grip, are providing significant assistance.
If you cannot run a speed without holding onto a treadmill, then that speed is too much for you, be it 7 mph, 12 mph, 14 mph or 5.5 mph. Everyone, even top athletes, has a speed limit.
Sprint as hard and as fast as possible without holding onto the treadmill.
If you can do this for only 15 seconds, that’s good! This is your work interval.
Sprinkle in several of these intensity intervals during a walk or slow jog. By definition, a sprint is supposed to be very brief.
Jacque Crockford
