Treadmill Versus Outdoors
One issue that has shown up repeatedly on some of the sports related message boards is whether it's better to run or walk on a treadmill or outdoors. The related question is, "Which is easier?"
My stance is that outdoor activity beats indoors for several reasons, but it may not be appropriate for some people or for some people at some times. First, let me explain why I feel outdoor exercise is superior. On a treadmill, out feet are always striking a smooth and unvarying surface; this contrasts with some amount of inconsistency on all outdoor surfaces, with trails usually being the most inconsistent, followed by grass and with paved surfaces being the most consistent.
Why does this matter? Each time our foot lands on an inconsistent surface, our brain receives a lot of information, most significantly it finds out what parts of the foot are bearing most of our weight and then it tenses muscles in and around the ankle to keep us stable and upright. If the load overwhelms our ability to handle the unevenness, then we may turn an ankle or fall. This may make running (walking) on very uneven surfaces a poor choice for the elderly or otherwise infirm. For those of us who have spent a lot of time running on the treadmill, we will find the additional demands placed on our body to be very fatiguing. Because of this, people who are moving from treadmill to outdoor activity should do so gradually in order to learn to process this information effectively and to permit these stabilizing muscles to condition themselves to the loads applied.
Most people find running with the unchanging scenery of a treadmill to be very boring, so they will usually find outdoor running to be more satisfying. Outdoor running, however, takes a degree of judgement - in some areas or at some times, running or walking outdoors may put you at risk of attack, being struck by a vehicle, injury due to weather, or of injuring yourself due to the inability to see or handle obstacles.
So, outdoor activity is best, but use some judgement in when, where and how you do it.
My stance is that outdoor activity beats indoors for several reasons, but it may not be appropriate for some people or for some people at some times. First, let me explain why I feel outdoor exercise is superior. On a treadmill, out feet are always striking a smooth and unvarying surface; this contrasts with some amount of inconsistency on all outdoor surfaces, with trails usually being the most inconsistent, followed by grass and with paved surfaces being the most consistent.
Why does this matter? Each time our foot lands on an inconsistent surface, our brain receives a lot of information, most significantly it finds out what parts of the foot are bearing most of our weight and then it tenses muscles in and around the ankle to keep us stable and upright. If the load overwhelms our ability to handle the unevenness, then we may turn an ankle or fall. This may make running (walking) on very uneven surfaces a poor choice for the elderly or otherwise infirm. For those of us who have spent a lot of time running on the treadmill, we will find the additional demands placed on our body to be very fatiguing. Because of this, people who are moving from treadmill to outdoor activity should do so gradually in order to learn to process this information effectively and to permit these stabilizing muscles to condition themselves to the loads applied.
Most people find running with the unchanging scenery of a treadmill to be very boring, so they will usually find outdoor running to be more satisfying. Outdoor running, however, takes a degree of judgement - in some areas or at some times, running or walking outdoors may put you at risk of attack, being struck by a vehicle, injury due to weather, or of injuring yourself due to the inability to see or handle obstacles.
So, outdoor activity is best, but use some judgement in when, where and how you do it.
posted by Scooter at 5:50 PM
1 Comments:
Good points. Also, I think the unrealistically even pace of treadmill running could contribute significantly to the percieved difficulty of treadmill running (which always seems harder to me, at 1 - 1.5 incline, than outdoor running.) This occured to me after I got a Garmin Forerunner 205 and saw that my pace running outside was extremely variable from moment to moment; I think running at a steady treadmill pace can be much more stressful on the body. I have an idea (patent pending - kidding) for a treadmill feature which would allow you to specify that the pace change randomly moment to moment with a given range.
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