<p>Yeah, I hadn’t thought about the size thing. He is a lot bigger than I am. I’m going to have to try to get him to the store on Sunday before the football games start. </p>
<p>He won’t run outside in the dark. There are no sidewalks where we live and no streetlights. (Okay he might, but he hasn’t thought of it and I’m not suggesting it! :eek: )</p>
<p>Weekend running used to be enough for him, but now we are mid-40s and he needs more excercie. He will do it if it is right there. But he’s not going to get on an elliptical, which he hates, for some reason, or go to the gym after a twelve hour work day.) I do believe he will get on the treadmill before he goes to work, though.</p>
<p>…great for biking, but it is not designed for running at competitive speeds or to illuminate the pitch black roads after 4 pm in December. Sorry, dmd. Good suggestion, but it will not work for the Bunsen family. :)</p>
<p>I’ll never forget how bloody mad I was when H spent $2000 on a treadmill in 1993. Now I say its the best thing he ever bought. Still going strong. True soft system 450.</p>
<p>BunsenBurner: I borrow my husband’s Showers Pass Storm jacket when I’m running the dogs outside in agility (and taking them for long walks). I’m off-road, though… I remember when I used to run on roads in Boston in the dark (back in the '70s)—impossible to see or be seen at night. I’d rather run trails!</p>
<p>For indoor home cardio, consider getting a trainer stand for a bicycle that you probably already have. Much smaller and lighter than a treadmill (no need to do powerlifting training for months before trying to move the treadmill), and you can always ride the bicycle outside if you like.</p>
<p>Another indoor home cardio option is a Concept 2 rowing machine. It is also significantly smaller and lighter than a treadmill, but it give you a full body cardio workout instead of a lower body only cardio workout.</p>
<p>ucb, with all due respect, one cannot train for a 5K (I’m not even talking about a marathon!) using a rower or a bike. :)</p>
<p>Bike stands are great. But… I will never let my DH bring his bike inside the house. Dirt, dead slugs, goose poop… Ewwww… That stuff stays with the bike in the garage.</p>
<p>We have had a Trimline for nearly 10 years and love it. Lots of use (wife, 2 daughters, and me) and still as good as new. Not THAT expensive compared to Precor. (tho Precor is way better)</p>
<p>Set your treadmill up so your husband can watch a TV to catch the morning news while he’s exercising on the treadmill. Get a comfortable wireless headset or earbuds so he can hear the tv over the noise from his running on the machine and so a blasting TV doesn’t disturb others. Some people don’t want tv during exercise; I like it because it’s one of the few times during the day I have opportunity to watch TV.</p>
<p>^^ It depends on the use. I have a friend who is a Team USA ultra runner (i.e. 24 hour runs, 100 milers etc) and he does 50 mile runs on his treadmill, if you can even imagine. He’s a big guy, and lives in a cold, snowy climate, so the dreadmill gets some heavy use. He’s been through several. :)</p>
<p>My former running coach/company CEO in Dallas broke a few at the athletic club. He would get the thing down to about a 5 minute pace and you could hear it whirrr, like a washing machine on spin cycle.</p>
<p>Before making a home fitness purchase, I would suggest stopping for a moment to define the goal. If the goal is to train for running or to train a young, fit athlete for a sport that involves running, then a high quality treadmill makes sense. If the goal is fat loss and/or general health and fitness, then a treadmill may not be the optimum purchase. </p>
<p>1) Running is one of the most dangerous forms of exercise – very high impact. Something above 50% of all runners will experience an injury this year that keeps them from training. This is a serious consideration in choosing fitness programs, especially as we get older. The old saying is that you can’t run to get fit, you have to be fit to run.</p>
<p>2) The most effective strategy for fat loss and weight maintenance is to include high intensity interval training in your program (short workout alternating between high intensity effort and low intensity resting). Although interval training on a treadmill is possible, it involves quite a bit of skill – jumping on and off the moving belt. A treadmill is probably not the best interval training machine for home use.</p>
<p>I look at running as a potentially useful component of a comprehensive fitness program, but probably not a good choice as the foundation of fitness program for most of us older folk. Injury is almost inevitable with high mileage, then exercise and fitness grinds to a screeching halt. Injury avoidance is probably the single most important goal in geezer fitness. We aren’t spring chickens anymore!</p>
<p>Many of the top athletic trainers around the country use these for their interval training conditioning. It’s almost impossible to get hurt on these:</p>
<p>50 miles on a treadmill? OMG. The longest I’ve ever ran on one was 12 or so, which was done in a hotel exercise room, on a beaten up treadmill. But after that, 8 miles on my home treadmill felt like a piece of cake. :)</p>
<p>MOWC-- you had me laughing so hard. The only thing my husband could do for 24 straight hours is trade or play no limit hold 'em! :D</p>
<p>thanks for the tips I-Dad. H is relatively fit, actually, and has a military regimen he does for strength, the pull ups and push ups and all the “ups”</p>
<p>He needs cardio and he does run outside on the weekends when it is light out, or at the gym on the weeknds when it is yucky weather. I just want him to add a little more cardio so we can still do fun things in our 60’s and 70s.</p>
<p>YMMV (means such a different thing on this thread.)</p>
<p>“YMMV (means such a different thing on this thread.)”</p>
<p>^^LOL. poetgirl, if your H is in good shape, has healthy joints, already figured out what shoes he needs to wear, etc. his short runs a few times a week are not going to lead to serious injuries.</p>
<p>Treadmills can be used for all sorts of running/walking. Set it up to a high incline for a hill climb or leave it flat and walk backwards (it is a great exercise, BTW).</p>
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<p>??? Sorry, idad, all good treadmills come with a speed button and an incline button. One does not need to jump off the belt to speed up or slow down.</p>
<p>The speed and incline adjustments work fine for longer intervals – say, fast for 1 minute or 2 minutes or 5 minutes, then slow. But, the treadmill takes too long to adjust for short very high intensity intervals (say 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds). For that kind of interval training on a treadmill, you have to jump on and off the moving belt. It’s funny, that’s what they have the fatties on The Biggest Loser doing. I’m surprised they don’t fall and bust their butt! I’m sure I would…</p>
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<p>Fantastic. If he’s doing pushups and pullups and strength-building exercises, then you should put your mind at ease. That stuff is the single most important thing any of us can do as we get older. Sounds like he’s a good candidate treadmill running. I worry when wives want to put fat couch-potato husbands on a treadmill to start a fitness program. Running’s pretty tough on the body. Lots of high-impact reps.</p>
<p>3 miles three times a week would be 13,500 impacts or nearly 7000 impacts per leg each week. That’s a lot of reps and a lot of repetitive wear and tear. That’s why the rate of overuse injury is so high. I can’t think of any other sport or form of exercise with a 50% annual injury rate. That’s really high.</p>
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<p>I wasn’t sure what the goal was for poetgrl’s hubby. I started with the Dan Johns quote, really as a starting point to think about whether a treadmill was the right tool or not. If someone had said I should get a treadmill when I was 250 pounds and hadn’t exercised in years, that would have been very bad advice. Since poetgrl’s hubby is already fit and already a weekly runner, then a treadmill probably does make sense.</p>
<p>The purpose of the survey was to determine the extent of injuries among junior tournament players, the kinds of injuries and their playing, practice and exercise routines. The survey was sent to 900 of the country’s ranked tennis juniors. </p>
<p>There were 492 respondents (272 boys, 220 girls) from 39 states, with and average age of 14.8 years. Their average numbers of years playing were 7.6 for males and 7.0 for females. Both groups practised an average of 2.3 hours per day. Their average number of tournaments played per year was 17. Of the 492 players, 453 were in a regular exercise routine and 298 used weights. 306 players (62%) had had one or more injuries that required a visit to a doctor and kept them out of tennis for at least three days, resulting in an average of 1.8 injuries per player per year. The most common injury locations were the ankle (32%), shoulder (31%), knee (30%), back (26%) and wrist (20%). </p>
<p>Those are ranked juniors, presumably with access to trainers.</p>
<p>A lot of beginners get injured too because of light, stiff frames that generate a lot of power but place a ton of stress on the body.</p>
<p>If you look at the video reviews of new racquets at Tennis Warehouse, you will see frequent comments by testers that they have elbow problems and they will talk about the relative comfort of frames and whether it bothers their arm. They do often wear Kinesio tape or compression sleeves for their arms. These are competitive players that test a lot of equipment for the company.</p>
<p>"> I can’t think of any other sport or form of exercise with a 50% annual injury rate."</p>
<p>Soccer. Football. Gymnastics. Tons of 'em. </p>
<p>“3 miles three times a week would be 13,500 impacts or nearly 7000 impacts per leg each week. That’s a lot of reps and a lot of repetitive wear and tear. That’s why the rate of overuse injury is so high. I can’t think of any other sport or form of exercise with a 50% annual injury rate. That’s really high.”</p>
<p>Walking 3 miles generates a compatible number of impacts. So we should not walk either? Is 50% applicable to ALL runners (which includes ultras, marathoners, competitive athletes, etc.) or is it 50% of the cohort that I singled out (relatively fit “weekend warriors” jogging 3 miles 3-4 times a week)?</p>
<p>“I wasn’t sure what the goal was for poetgrl’s hubby.”</p>
<p>The goal for the OP’s hubby was to find a sturdy treadmill for home use to run a few miles a week. ;)</p>