Help! My wife says she needs a treadmill!

[LoganBuck]

My wife is worried about a few extra pounds and is convinced she needs a treadmill. I know that it will be used for several months and then stored in a corner of the basement. She won't take no for an answer and if I don't want to make her mad, and my life a living nightmare she will get a treadmill. Any advice? I have sticker shock, looking around so far, Sears has a good deal on a Proform XP 550e that she likes. But I have no baseline for comparison. Any advice will be appreciated.

[Reds4Life]

Buy her a pair of walking shoes, natures treadmill.

[max venable]

Dude, I'd go with an elliptical trainer over a treadmill.

http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercis...elliptical.htm

Elliptical trainers allow the athlete to burn a similar number of calories as jogging...but without the risk of injury to the back, knees, hips, or ankles. Your feet never leave the pedals. As a result, this type of machine is quite low-impact and goes easy on the joints. In fact, whereas exercising on a treadmill requires your body to absorb the impact force of walking or running, exercising on an elliptical can be compared to running in midair.

But, WAIT! There's more! Elliptical motion machines ALSO simultaneously work the upper body (unlike the treadmill, which works only the lower body)! As the feet go through their elliptical motion, the hands grip the moving handlebars, exercising the arms. The movement of the dual handlebars mimics cross-country skiing. Now, this particular type of workout may not necessarily pump you up to look like a bodybuilder. However, because you are including the upper 30% of your body in your workouts, the results will be more efficient. (And, those arms will be toned in no time!)

Because elliptical trainers DO work the upper and lower body simultaneously, the heart rate climbs more quickly. Thus, less time is required to achieve more results. The amount of energy expended is optimized. As the legs are being worked, the back, shoulders, chest, biceps, and triceps are also working...making it possible to burn more calories in less time. (An optimal workout need only be about 20-30 minutes long.)

http://www.ellipticaltrainers.com/ar..._treadmill.htm

I've tried both (treadmill and elliptical) and have found that I use the ellipitcal more often. It's easy to hop on it and get a good 30 minute cardio workout while catching an episode of Seinfeld.

[westofyou]

I use a bike trainer, you need a bike though, a good one works better.

http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/tr...1_1663crx.aspx

My wife would like an ellipitcal

[LoganBuck]

She wants a treadmill. Any other suggestion is rubbish! She is pretty set on this one.

[LoganBuck]

Originally Posted by Reds4Life

Buy her a pair of walking shoes, natures treadmill.

She would refer me to roadkill, nature's all you can eat buffet.

[max venable]

She seriously need to investigate the difference between a treadmill and an elliptical. I GUARANTEE she'd use the elliptical more...and it's a better workout.

[Red in Chicago]

i have a proform treadmill from sears...i got it about 3 years ago and i think it cost about $600...when i first got it, i could barely run 1/4 of a mile...after using it virtually everyday for a few months, i eventually got myself up to 10 miles...it helped me to lose about 40 lbs and about 3 - 4 inches off my waste...

i no longer run everyday, as it does bother my knees and legs a bit too much...that said, i still run about 5 miles, three times a week and have kept the weight off...i've tried an eliptical, but just didn't seem to get the same results...

i give my proform a

for what it's worth, i've always kept my treadmill in a spot of the house where i could either look outside or watch tv while running...otherwise, i know i would never use it...i think the reason people stop using it is that they get bored...i typically run 5 miles in about 45 - 50 minutes and then walk a couple more miles which adds another 25 - 30 minutes...so we're basically talking about 70 - 80 minutes three times a week...if it weren't for the tv or a window to look out of, i would never make it...an ipod is just not enough to keep me motivated...

while the treadmill is not the most appealing thing to look at in the house, you have to ask yourself what's more important...your health or an eyesore in the living room

[TeamCasey]

I have a Proform Crosswalk. It was about $500.

Fabulous clothes dryer. :ughmamoru

[macro]

Originally Posted by Red in Chicago

for what it's worth, i've always kept my treadmill in a spot of the house where i could either look outside or watch tv while running...otherwise, i know i would never use it...i think the reason people stop using it is that they get bored...i typically run 5 miles in about 45 - 50 minutes and then walk a couple more miles which adds another 25 - 30 minutes...so we're basically talking about 70 - 80 minutes three times a week...if it weren't for the tv or a window to look out of, i would never make it...an ipod is just not enough to keep me motivated...

while the treadmill is not the most appealing thing to look at in the house, you have to ask yourself what's more important...your health or an eyesore in the living room

Very sound advice. When I was heavy into the treadmill, I would find a very good TV show or would keep some good movies handy. Otherwise, Red is right, boredom will set in and will be impossible to overcome.

The best thing that worked for me was talking on the phone. I was single at the time, and had two friends who would always be good for at least an hour-long conversation when they called. As soon as the phone rang and I saw one of their names on the caller ID, I would immediately grab my shoes and head to the treadmill. You can walk four miles without even realizing it when engrossed in a good conversation.

Another thing I did for motivation was that I made up a chart using Microsoft Excel and logged the distance I walked each day. Then I kept a record of most miles walked in one day, in two consecutive days, in three consecutive days, etc. all the way up to most miles walked in a seven-day period. My goal (until I finally leveled off) was to set at least on of those seven records on a given day, and often I would set more than one of the records.

Finally, one last thing I kept track of was most consecutive days of at least two miles. On those days when I just really didn't want to do it, I had my streak to think about. All of this was great motivation.

EDIT: I forgot to add that a $275 treadmill from Walmart will probably serve her just as well as a $800-900 one. The key to any equipment is to use it. The Weslo from the department store may not be as sleek or have as many features, but it will get the job done just the same, and for a lot less money. If she wears out a $275 model and is convinced that this is a part of her life that will never change, then perhaps a more advanced model might be justified in the future. But I would discourage anyone who has not proven their persistence at this kind of thing from sinking $1000 into a top-model treadmill, only to sell it to the neighbor three years later for less than half of that.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by TeamCasey

I have a Proform Crosswalk. It was about $500.

Fabulous clothes dryer. :ughmamoru

My wife just had to have an exercise bike about 4 years ago. The odometer doesn't even read a mile on it in all that time. It was just another article in the house that needed dusted.

[TeamCasey]

If you have kids in the house, make sure you get one with a safety key.

[SandyD]

Actually, maybe you and/or your wife should make a couple of one-day visits to a health club and let her try different forms of exercise equipment. Treadmill, elliptical, bikes, etc.

I use the elliptical because I feel like I'm getting a more balanced workout. I do weights also. May not lose weight as fast, but I feel it's a healthier workout, at least for me.

Note: I was actually on the elliptical machine when the Reds won on Opening Day last year. Watching the scores flash by on ESPN ticker or something. I think I let out a little yelp or something. People must have thought I was crazy.

Now, whatever she gets, I've heard that interval workouts are more efficient. That means 10-minutes at a time, with breaks in between, will burn more calories that 30-minutes staight. Never tested it.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Edit: I should add that the elliptical machine at my gym doesn't have the handles, so I'm simply moving my arms at my sides. Or I'm holding a book and turning pages. I go forwards and backwards on the machine at equal intervals, too.

[LoganBuck]

While that is sound advice Sandy, we live in the in a rural area and with both our schedules gyms are very impractical, I wish they weren't.

She went and got a proform 550 something or other last night.

My Dad gave me some helpful insight. If she uses it and loses the weight she is worried about, then she will be happy = good.

If she doesn't use it then next time she comes up with what I think is a bad idea I do have ammunition to use = good.

[GAC]

They built a brand new YMCA here about 6 years ago. It's a really top notch facility. I got the family membership that cost $55/month. It's only a stones throw from our home.

It never got used, except to take the kids swimming now and then.

My oldest boy has to have surgery on his legs here soon. They are gonna have to cut and extend the tendons on the back of both of his legs. He has walked on his tiptoes for years, and it now has caused problems.

It's gonna take 8 weeks (including rehab) per leg. But I have to get it done before he turns 18, and while he is still on our insurance. I'm thinking about re-joining the Y, and that this would be a good time to get him into a program that would work alongside his rehab.

The boy is over weight, does not exercise at all (thanks to video games). I'm hoping that this surgery, along with the rehab needed, will be a "tool" that I can use to wake him up.