Treadmill Exercises (page 2)
It’s only an illusion if you think your running is improving while holding on.
One time I was beside a 50-something woman, who was fake-jogging at 5.8 mph, her hands clinging to the front bar. She said she’d been doing it that way for years, and asserted, “This works best for me!”
What works? After years of doing that, she’s only at 5.8 mph? Okay, so she appeared to be 50-something, but being that 70-somethings compete in the Ironman Triathlon, I hardly think being middle-aged is an excuse for holding onto a treadmill. She continued to pitter-patter, unaware that her neck kept jutting forward like a pigeon’s.
There’s a chubby man about 60 at my gym who’s been clamping his hands on the front bar for years while fake-jogging 6 mph. His feet slam down with each step as his body abruptly jerks. He has yet to lose a pound.
I have seen another man pulling the same stunt, except even worse: He was taller and maintained a crouched-over position while fake-jogging. The Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! could be heard everywhere in the health club. He was slumped over as though he were about to barf. You won’t find a chiropractor or orthopedic physician anywhere who’d endorse such warped biomechanics.
All ages and both genders commit this blunder, like the size 2, 20-something woman who’s on the treadmill an hour every day, hands sealed to the outer and upper edges of the display panel as her feet loudly bang down on a 7 mph tread five minutes at a time, alternating with complete stops for water. Despite her petite size, this woman would quickly fizzle out if she were to attempt an unaided, 7 mph run to chase after her puppy that just got loose.
One day we made eye contact, when she was on the revolving staircase and I was on the treadmill, and I went into my spiel about the pitfalls of holding on while running. A strobe light went on above her head as she listened to me. All this time, she was holding on because she didn’t know better.
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