Treadmill HIIT Workouts – Ideal Method To Build Endurance And Speed

According to experts, exercisers should practice treadmill HIIT workout at least once a week to get many unexpected effects on physique and health. Yet, finding out the relevant information will help you gain useful experiences for the practice and maximize the benefits for yourself.

This is exactly why we are here to help you. Let’s find out useful knowledge about these exercises in the article below.

How Does HIIT Work?  

HIIT (High-intensity interval training) – is a series of exercises with a higher intensity than usual, accompanied by short rest intervals (usually from 30 seconds to 1 minute). It is an effective method to help practitioners improve their physique, maintain physical and mental health.

Many sports like aerobics, running, cycling include this exercise program, suitable for those with limited time. The treadmill HIIT workout is among the most popular exercises today as it’s not too complicated.

Still, this high-intensity workout is not suited for beginners. People with low physical strength, cardiovascular and respiratory issues should also look for other low-impact workouts in order not to affect their health.

Benefits of Treadmill HIIT Workout?   

The treadmill HIIT workout offers athletes many benefits that are well worth their effort:

1. Burn A Lot Of Calories In A Short Time

You can burn calories fast with a treadmill interval workout. The calories burned in 30 minutes of this workout are about 25-30% more than other forms such as weight training, running, and cycling.

2. Increase Metabolic Rate

Not only are calories burned during exercise, but the process continues afterward. In addition, HIIT also causes the body to switch to using fat for energy instead of carbs as usual.

3. Help Lose Weight

Both HIIT and traditional low-, medium- and low-intensity training methods help reduce body fat and waist circumference. However, high-intensity exercises will bring noticeable and faster results than other methods.

HIIT workouts give the fattest loss effect in overweight or obese people. If you consistently do the 20 minute HIIT treadmill workout three times a week, you can lose 2kg of body fat in 12 weeks without changing your diet.

4. Helps To Gain Muscle

This exercise regimen can help increase muscle mass. This mainly occurs in the muscles used most during the workout, usually the muscles in the upper body and legs.

It’s worth noting that the effect of muscle gain when doing HIIT will be highest in people who have not been active before.

5. Lowers Blood Sugar Levels

You can lower your blood sugar with this exercise program in less than 12 weeks. Not only does it lower blood sugar, but it also improves insulin resistance more effectively than conventional continuous exercise.

As such, high-intensity interval training will be especially beneficial for people at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

6. Hormone Growth Booster

HIIT training aids in the production of Growth Hormone. This is very important if you want to optimize your health, strength, and vitality growth. It has the effect of improving the insulin jump. A regular workout also helps you maintain mental clarity, confidence, and perseverance.

5 Treadmill HIIT Workouts That You Can Do  

1. The Sprint Workout

The principle of this exercise is to make the practitioner put all his efforts into short sprints, then restore the breath at rest time. It helps you increase your fitness, respiratory capacity and makes your daily workout time more enjoyable.

Implementation steps:

• 5 – 10 minutes: warm-up by walking/running at a low speed
• 15 seconds: gradually increase speed and sprint (maximum heart rate 85 – 90%)
• 1 to 2 minutes: recover by walking slowly or running lightly to get your heart rate back to 120 – 130 beats/min
• Alternate the above two steps for 20-30 minutes
• Last 5 minutes: jog or walk gently, gradually reducing the speed to let the body cool down.

2. Side Walking Exercise

Is there a way to still have an effective treadmill HIIT workout without running? Sure. Never underestimate low-speed exercises because their effectiveness can be much more than you expect.

It’s a good idea to tap the rails as you go sideways for stability lightly, but don’t use your entire arm. Keep the foot to the side but not forward. Next, you can also alternate leg positions, cross legs, etc. Keep in mind that you should run at a low pace when doing this exercise.

Implementation steps:

• 5 min: warm-up, speed 2.4 – 3.5 mph
• 2 min: side-to-side walk, speed 2.2 mph (face to side, 1 minute on each side)
• 2 min: side-to-side walk, speed 2.4 mph (face to side, 1 minute on each side)
• 1 minute: walk forward, at 4.5 mph
• 1 minute: walk forward, at 3.5 mph
• 2 min: side-to-side walk, 2.6 mph (side-to-side, 1 minute on each side)
• 2 min: side-to-side walk, 2.8 mph (side-to-side, 1 minute on each side)
• 1 minute: walk forward, 4.2 mph
• 1 minute: walk forward, 3.5 mph
• 2 min: side-to-side walk, 2 mph + 5% incline (side-to-side, 1 minute on each side)
• 5 min: cooling by gradual deceleration 3.0 – 1.8 mph

3. Workout Focus

According to professional trainers, this is the ideal exercise to increase the focus of your mind. As the speed and incline change constantly, the body will have to learn to adapt to it. Using the phone is a no-no as you will need to be fully focused on your workout.

Implementation steps:

• First 5 minutes: walk at 2.5 – 3.5 mph
• 1 minute: jog with 4-7 mph steps
• 3 min: walk at 3.0 – 3.5 mph and 5% incline
• 1 min: 4.0 – 7 mph jog and 5% incline
• 3 min: walk at 3.0 – 3.5 mph and 8% incline
• 1 minute: 4.0 – 7 mph jog and 8% incline
• 5 min: walk at 3.0 to 3.5 mph, 1% incline to recover

4. Burnout for 16 minutes

This exercise gets your heart rate up and helps you train your body, especially the upper half. You can use it at the end of a workout.

Implementation steps:

• 1 minute: slow walk
• 1 minute: sprint (run slowly on the first lap, and gradually increase the speed)
• 1 minute: push the sled
• 1 minute: 1–2 mph plank walk
• Repeat: 4 times

Watch out for the sleigh push and plank walking steps here. It is suitable for treadmills with these modes.

5. Endurance Training

The goal of endurance training is to teach your body to function properly for a longer period. The important thing is that you need to change the speed instead of continuously running at one speed. 

By increasing the speed in each exercise, you are relaxing your body to the intensity and creating automatic memory to deal with the higher intensity level in each new exercise.

Implementation steps:

• First 5-10 minutes: walk or run slowly
• 1 minute: run
• 1-2 minutes: walk slowly to stabilize your heart rate at 120 – 130 beats per minute
• 20 – 30 minutes: run with a recovery
• 5 minutes: run or walk at a decreasing pace

Some Notes On Treadmill Hiit Workouts  

1. Don’t Start Exercising Right Away

If you are a passive person or just used to doing light exercises, you should not do the above exercises immediately. That’s because starting with heavy exercise (like a sprinting treadmill workout, for example) can increase your chances of injury and muscle soreness.

You should start with a warm-up for the first 5 minutes to warm up your body and get used to the increasing intensity.

2. Make Sure To Exercise Properly

Improper training is a major cause of injury. The nature of the treadmill HIIT workout may not allow runners to slow down even if they start to feel tired. The practitioner is forced to continue the exercise, which can make you feel tired. This is a favorable condition for all kinds of trauma to come.

Therefore, you need to know the correct exercise posture to limit injury to yourself.

3. Healthy Diet

The name itself shows how intense these workouts are. It won’t be easy to complete it without energy from carbohydrates and protein about three hours before training. 

Do not forget to drink enough water during exercise because dehydration can affect your fitness. Yet, soft drinks are not a good choice here.

4. Don’t Over-exercise

The HIIT cardio treadmill can have the opposite effect if you overdo it. Experts recommend doing it only 2-3 times a week to allow the body to recover between workouts fully. You should practice moderately, from basic to advanced.

Bottom Line  

Treadmill HIIT workout helps people improve their physique, physical and mental. However, the practitioner needs to know the information about this exercise for the exercise to be effective and avoid injuries.

Hopefully, our sharing above will help you better understand it. If you have any further questions, leave them below.