Treadmills and Deciphering Conflicting Online Fitness Advice

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Do what you enjoy doing

Sounds like a very childish thing to say to someone when it comes to fitness and working out

Of course, it has its drawbacks… such as 18 year old Sean doing nothing but bench and biceps for years and now struggles to do overhead movements.

But Fitness Instagram (is that a thing?) is full of telling people what not to do. Finding conflicting advice on any exercise form won’t take long

And a reason for a lot of the contrarian information is simple: it gets more clicks.

More views, which leads to advertising, etc.

While picking a specific exercise, like a deadlift, to dissect, like whether you should have a rounded back, could be tedious through text, let’s pick something that most of you will have read before.

The treadmill

But there are many advantages to using a treadmill:

Shock absorption (on the good ones) where it’s easier on your ankles, knees and hips. This could help someone ease back into running as you can pick a slow, steady, flat pace.

It’s also not dependent on the weather. And when it seems like it has rained every day so far this year, that’s not a bad thing!

Where you live might make it hard or unsafe to go out for a run.

And it’s also a lot more time-efficient. When you’ve finished a 30-minute run, you are right back where you started. Outside, that might mean a few loops or running back on yourself to get your desired outcome… and that’s potentially the best-case scenario.

But it’s also called the ‘Dreadmill’ for good reason!

Just going outside and running would be the immediate counterargument. And that is sound advice.

A study was done in 2012 where people ran for three minutes outdoors, three minutes indoors, and three minutes outdoors again. The goal was to run on the treadmill at the perceived effort it took to run the three minutes outdoors.

The result?

The two outdoor runs were at similar paces, while the treadmill runs were much slower.

Treadmills are boring, and there’s not much to look at compared to what’s around the corner outdoors. The perception of increased difficulty can be all in the head.

It’s why running with music can be more manageable.

And also why you could struggle with a run but find an additional burst of energy, seemingly from nowhere, to finish strong.

A lot of fitness and working out is down to your mental approach to what feels difficult and what actually is. The workouts themselves may make you sporadic with your training. Maybe it’s the environment that needs to change.

More important than the specifics of the workouts is the consistency. Sometimes, you need to start by doing the things you enjoy doing.

ANY GIVEN RUNDAY PODCAST

This week on the Any Given Runday Podcast, the lads are joined by Ger Redmond (@GerRedmond5 on Instagram). Ger is an Irish Professional Athlete as well as a coach at Coolock Running Club and Oberstown Children Detention Campus.

From signing up for an Ironman 6 months in advance with no swimming ability to dealing with his childhood trauma, doing Hell Week, coming back from breaking his neck in a Triathlon, setting up Coolock Running Club along with Another Way 5k and much, much more this is an episode you don’t want to miss

You can listen to this week’s episode on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3uTPITnlSRCDZNHPvkpg9B?si=367d2e31e49a45eb

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ger-redmond-from-prison-to-pro/id1493778874?i=1000646828936

or wherever you get your podcasts from

You can also follow our podcast page on Instagram: @AnyGivenRundayPodcast

My Next Challenge

After this week’s episode of the podcast, my next challenge is officially set: Hellevation!

Sounds fun, right? Very similar to my event in the Dublin Mountains last April, it's a hilly Backyard Ultra where the goal is to run 6.7km on the hour, every hour until there’s one person left standing at the end.

If you can’t make it to the start line at the top of the hour for any reason, you’re out.

For idiots like me, this is an ‘easy’ way to set the bar towards getting new PBs in distance for running.

However, it is an easier way for anyone to achieve their first half marathon, full marathon, 50k etc.

6.7km over one hour (even in hills) is very achievable.

You will be just under the half-marathon mark in three hours, with long breaks and an opportunity to have food in between.

And running with others at similar paces makes this goal even easier. The person who wins this is not necessarily the person who passes you out on every loop you. You’re right back to an even playing field at the start of the next hour.

I finished 17th out of 80 plus people last year, and I was passed out regularly by people that lasted anywhere from 1 to 15 hours before I bowed out… bowed out is not the right way to describe how I felt during the 70-plus minutes it took me to do my last lap.

So, if you have a goal of hitting a certain distance this year in running, I would highly recommend a backyard ultra!

I have two planned for this year. The one in Dublin is sold out in May, but there are still tix for April in Tipperary, and I might see you down there!

In terms of my goals for that… we’ll save that for another day.

If there are any questions you would like me to answer in this newsletter, send me an email at sean@coachseanc.com

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Seán