i got my treadmill in 2018 after spending a few months of research and self debate as to what would be best for that moment in time (1 year novice but 7 marathons ) as well as future improvements of my skills along with machine durability. I also had this weird notion that my dog might like to use it as well. I ended up getting a model with a slightly longer than usual running platform (i can fit my bike on it) along with a good powerful motor (not point straining the system) along with a top speed of 22kph and gradients of -3% to 15%. My treadmill has been put to a lot of usage each winter and has helped me to improve top end speed. I rarely use it for any more than 20k, but mostly for short interval sets such as 20 - 25 x 400. One thing I didn't pay much attention to when ordering the machine was the weight. The box it came in was huge and I thought i was being clever by sorting out the installation myself - so the delivery guys left it in the hallway - I was going to install it upstair. At the time I weighed just under 70kg and this thing was nearly 180kg. I was on my own. It took me nearly 90 mins to drag it to the top of the stairs but was unable to go any further due to the size and weight of the machine. I couldnt lift and twist it around the corner on to the landing. I ended up havibng to phone my old man to drive down and give me a hand (i was literally sat on my top stair holding on the a treadmill resting on another step further down for around an hour until help arrived. I always regretted not having a camera set up to record it at the time. A lot of people comment about not liking treadmills, however I enjoy using mine a lot. From experience, buy the best that you can afford as quality will last longer. Also try to envisage how your running will improve over time. I could barely manage more than 400m at 10kph back in 2018 but can now manage 25 X 400 at 16kph and 15 X 800 at 14.5kph (which I know is slower than a lot of people, however for a guy who will hit 47 in a few months that has only ran for a few years I am personally quite pleased and could never have managed as much without a treadmill. Chapter 2 .. Just kidding
I bought a treadmill about 4 years ago in part for preparing for a 10k event that I was challenged to run. Never up to that point had I been a runner so under took the C25k then went onto building up to 10k over 4 months before the event. I was bitten by the running bug and entered more events up to 10miles. It’s got what I need for my running with a range of speeds up to 20kph, (never tried it), and variable gradients from 0 - 15%. It’s been invaluable over the lockdown period and it’s actually helped me to lose a bit of weight during this time. As the poster above said that these units are heavy and needs 2 people to move it safely and assemble but we had a small box room downstairs to use which is just long enough but no room for error if you fall off the back 😊 but I’m comfortable with it.
Watch out for treadmills with bluetooth support. Having bluetooth on a treadmill doesn't necessarily mean that it can connect to Zwift. Most probably the vendors want to sell their own companion app for doing workouts on the treadmill but they will not broadcast the data as a bluetooth sensor for Zwift.
I think it would have helped to mention some prices? Having bought a few for my local gym the cost for a good quality one is high. I know that most viewers are triathletes but it’s perhaps worth noting that very heavy folks walking on treadmills, particularly at low speed, can wear out motors quite quickly. If it’s used a lot then remember a little basic maintenance too. Belts and decks do wear out.
I would’ve loved to offer some prices, but they vary so wildly. You can pick a treadmill up from Argos for around £500, but I’ve heard a lot of people returning them quite soon after
I decided to go with a non-Bluetooth treadmill and a Stryd. Stryd gives Power metric, works outdoors and transmits to Zwift exactly the same as a Bluetooth treadmill except that is for incline (but power metric will take inclines into account in terms of effort/work done over the workout anyway). So could be a cheaper option than going for Bluetooth treadmill (if incline recording not essential (phone app can sort of offer that anyway) which will encourage a bit of outdoor running (Vit D & fresh air) and give wind-compensated Power as an option to develop your running efficiency (GTN has videos on how this can be useful). Also Stryd is cheap when costed per mile run if you are serious about running and when your more expensive bluetooth TM breaks down it will still work outdoors or in municipal/private gym to keep you ticking over until repairman cometh. If Zwift are ever allowed full control over TM then I will change my mind but then again what about rogue hackers? Upset somebody on Zwift? The watch your next workout suddenly go haywire whilst they chuckle from miles away.
I haven't run on a treadmill in years as I always feel my stance is too wide and I will hit the edge. Great video though and my wife is looking for a treadmill!
I’ve tried running on Zwift with a foot pod and it was a bit hit and miss when it first came out. I’ve not been back to Zwift since but I didn’t know about the additional gadgets that are available now so I may look into it again.
I bought my first treadmill a Proform which came with an iFit subscription which I love, I’ve done a round round Sydney Harbour bridge, I’ve walked up and down the Grand Canyon, if I wanted I could run the Boston Marathon and the treadmill will go up and down with the changing gradients, which I love. You can also create your own route, which if google street view has the gradient information it will feed that back to the treadmill and will change the incline accordingly had it since January and I love it 🥰
Thank you for the review 👌just wondering Would you recommend a curved tredmill for triathlon training , half & full Ironman training?! Or are they a little overboard for this ?!
Advantage and disadvantage of motorized and non motorized tredmill .. i’m getting one but not sure what to go for , in the summer there is no way to run outdoor in my country +40c at night
In 2015 an American University was apparently testing a prototype treadmill which automatically adjusts speed. Unfortunately I've not heard anything since but something like this would be amazing
A couple of years ago I bought a 2nd hand RogerBlack treadmill to try it out. I've since added a Runn sensor to connect to zwift (ok, that doubled the price) and to be honest I don't see much need to upgrade. It only displays speed in mph, but zwift translates that for me. It has slope adjustment, but that's not something I've used yet. It's top speed of around 9mph is more than adequate for 60yo me :)
Those star trac units (last gen non bluetooth) are 2300aud atm. My life fitness refurbished treadmill cost 4400aud. Downside of the bluetooth treadmills are if you are doing intervals... when you step off for your break it thinks you are still running. Downside of Zwift with the footpad is when you stoop running it won't seperate the on time to the rest time. The techno gym Myrun (I had one) does connect directly to Zwift and is nice, just not as stable as the commercial grade treadmills.
I've found my Stryd pod and Zwift combo not to be as consistent as I would hope. Certainly outside Stryd has been great but its like the Stryd doesn't like talking both to my watch at Zwift at the same time and I get different numbers. Regardless my trusty treadmill of 25 years did finally give up so Bluetooth connectivity is high on my list for the next one.
I agree that data from garmin watch and Zwift do differ even though taken from the same source i.e. Stryd. But I am unsure which is at fault. Fact that Stryd is accurate outside would make me trust the Stryd garmin combo more than Zwift but whether that is fair I am unsure as it introduces an element of GPS into the mix presumably. Stryd also have few if any moving parts unlike TMs so again I would probably trust the Stryd more especially as age of equipment goes on. Zwift run times also seem a bit of lottery as they never match between garmin (hand controlled) and Zwift (app controlled) so this is likely another source of error. It makes claiming PBs meaningless on Zwift.
Do they make treadmills where you can pre-program/import a running workout for speed and incline, like you'd do with ERG mode on a bike trainer? Basically, I just want to run and not have to keep track of what to do next and keep pushing those buttons.
Let say money is no object, what treadmill would you get? And let say prices don’t matter and at least it get the job done, again what mill should I get.
I have a life fitness commercial treadmill. As runners who are looking to invest in a treadmill I think its worth looking at refurbished commercial treadmills
Do not buy a Fytter treadmill!!!!!! They are terrible quality, customer service is horrible and the company will not comply with the terms of its warranty. I can’t use my new treadmill because it’s scary loud. When the Fytter treadmill technician came out to my home and I demonstrated, we could barely have a conversation it was so loud. This clown wrote a report to say that the treadmill was functioning perfectly.
Spent ages talking about his sponsor Zwift, but only covers general info about treadmills. No recommendations of specific treadmills to buy, so of no use to me.
This whole video is just an advertisement for Zwift. I didn't learn anything useful about treadmills, except there are motorized and non-motorized, which i already knew. This video was a waste of time.
