Daily Chatter

Thursday, January 31, 2013

A treadmill is NOT just for running

When you workout at home you do things and think that everyone else is doing them to but yesterday as I was posting my workouts from the day on the HBBC FB page
 
 
I found out that I might be doing something that isn't quite as common.
 
With planks seemingly all the rage but extremely boring and my mommy tummy not getting any tighter on it's own, I wanted to raise the bar on my core workouts without the expense of say, a CorBench.  
 
I've call them walking planks and a quick google shows me that others do them too so I'm not crazy.  They are crazy hard.  Since this amazing lady is much nicer to look at we will use your video as an artistic interpretation of how I look doing them.  
 

 
 I start standing right behind my treadmill with the belt running. Remember to start slow you can always work up to a faster "walk" in time. Safety first. I then simply do a plank over the moving belt. First with my hands on the side rails and then once I'm set in position, I start "walking" with my hands on the belt. Even if you can only go for a short time, try walking for X length of time and holding plank on the side rails for X length of time. That way you can work up to longer "walks."
 
 
 


Another thing I do while on the treadmill is basketball drills. Lateral side shuffles and running backwards. Lately I've been doing a lot of lateral side shuffles in a squat position.   I usually do this drill after my run portion so my legs are a bit tired.  I squat slightly and side shuffle turning sides every minute with a backwards run inbetween. 
 
 

 
Lastly I do agility drills to practice the needed "fast feet" while running on rocky technical trails.  Which simply means taking several strides on the belt and then stepping once on alternating side rails then right back onto the moving belt.  Remember safety first.  Start slow and work up to going longer and faster as your ability allows.

These are just a few ways I try to keep my treadmill workouts hitting different muscles and keep my brain more active while running in one place. 

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