If you want to use your training time as effectively as possible, add these beginner treadmill workouts to your gym routine. They’re both designed by Fran Bungay, head coach for the Training Today App and Goal Specific Coaching, and use the incline and speed settings on a treadmill to program interval runs that will get you fitter and help you lose weight.
While you can just step onto a treadmill and run at a steady pace for your workout, you’ll get more out of short sessions in particular by doing intervals which raise your heart rate and effort level, and burn more calories.
How To Do These Beginner Treadmill Workouts
Bungay has put together two beginner treadmill sessions to try, one with intervals based on speed and one on incline. You’ll be using the 1-10 RPE scale (rate of perceived exertion) to judge your effort, where 10 is maximum effort. This might feel hard to judge at first, but whatever you do will result in a great workout and you’ll get more adept at judging your effort levels over time.
Each workout begins with a warm-up and ends with a warm-down. Don’t skip either of these.
The main workout involves sections of work and recovery intervals. The instructions for each section are written as “5 x 1min at 8/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery”. This means you do five sets of the following: run for one minute at an effort level of 8/10, then recover for one minute while walking.
Beginner Interval Treadmill Workout
Do the entire workout with the treadmill set at a 2% incline.
Warm-up
5min walk
5min building up to jogging to finish at around 6/10 RPE
Workout
5 x 1min at 8/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery
3 x 2min at 7/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery
5 x 1min at 8/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery
Warm-down
2min at 6/10 RPE
2min at 5/10 RPE
1min walk
Beginner Incline Treadmill Workout
Warm-up
Set the incline to 2% for the warm-up
5min walk
5min building into a jog to 6/10 RPE
Workout
Aim for 7/10 or 8/10 RPE during the work periods, as you get fitter you might want to increase the pace on the lower incline section.
3 x 1min at 6% incline, 1min at 2% incline, 1min walk recovery
3 x 2 min at 4% incline, 2min at 2% incline, 1min walk recovery
Warm-down
2min at 6/10 RPE
2min at 5/10 RPE
1min walk
Find out which treadmills are worth buying with my guide to the best treadmills.
