Treadmills have created a buzz for fitness freaks. Everyone desires to own a machine of their own. But just owning a treadmill wont give you all the benefits. With possession of a good treadmill, you also require that adequate knowledge to make good use of it.
Nowadays, treadmill are manufactured with a plethora of workouts programs, suiting everybodys needs. All you need to do is to first realize your requirements and then make the use of the treadmill exercising. With a good and sturdy treadmill, you can practice different walking styles. Lately, walking and jogging in backward styles have caught the attention of most of the fitness freaks.
Backward walking or jogging gives you those benefits that your forward walking might be missing on you. The muscle activity that happens when you walk backward is entirely different from the one that happens when you walk straight.
But one thing is common. Whether you walk backward or straight, your hands should be off the side rails. Now, you must be wondering that what benefits a free hand holds, while you are on a treadmill workout. When you let go your hands of the treadmill machine, the postural muscles of your legs, ankles and hips come into action. Thus walking back with your hands off the railing works as a conditioner to your ankles. This further works in the direction of improving your body balance.
Another important thing that you need to keep in mind while walking backward is that you should always start slow. When you feel that you have sufficiently adjusted to the treadmill exercising, you can increase your speed. An advantage that backward walking has is that the muscles that would not be used while walking straight are enticed through this process, thus giving you more physical advantages.
Like other workout programs, backward walking on treadmill comes with certain variations. This is done to make your exercising fun while giving you reap the maximum benefits. The most useful of them is the incline walking. Today the machines are designed as such that you dont have to worry too much about the inclination that you would prefer to use. The recommended inclination that is beneficial is around 15 per cent with a speed of 2 mph. Besides this, you can also benefit yourself from inclined low walks. This can be done by lowering your center of gravity and keeping your back straight.
And on the top of all this, you can introduce some interval sessions in your backward walking treadmill workout and reap in further benefits.
