Treadmill VS Running Outdoors

Running on a treadmill is just like running outdoors only you are in the comfort of your own living room. It's a great idea, right? You don't even have to leave your own house just to work out anymore. You can now run 10 miles without literally running outdoors.

However, running on the treadmill is still different from outdoor running in a lot of ways and you have to consider each when you are training on just the machine. First off, you do not have to struggle against the wind whenever you run on the treadmill. One other factor is the surface. The surface of the treadmill which is smooth and moving under your feet, it is nothing like that of an outdoor road which is unmoving and uneven. A majority of serious runners agree on both being different in terms of running surface. This fact needs to be really taken into account when you're training.

So which is better? Running on the treadmill or on the road? Actually, this boils down to personal preference. Some would really choose to work out outdoors but those who have issues with weather changes and safety prefer being indoors where it is a controlled environment.

Let us first look at the psychological aspects of running on a treadmill as opposed to being on the road. If you have a spacious home where you can easily put in a big equipment such as a treadmill, then there won't be any problem for you in terms of your overall performance. Looking at studies, results show that some people have a tendency to limit themselves from performing well on the treadmill for fear of falling off or they simply haven't grown comfortable yet in running on it the right way.

If you talk about physical technique, studies show that running on the treadmill has an effect on your body parts. Specifically, when your foot lands on the belt, your legs and feet don't land as it normally should. Since your feet immediately take to the movement and speed of the belt when you land, you don't immediately stand upright as compared to the normal way of running when outdoors. Thus, sometimes, this causes a lot of injuries and discomfort to people using this equipment.

Of course, there is also a good thing about treadmills. One of which is the fact that running on it can be very useful for injured athletes. What you can do to make this more beneficial for you, you should get a mirror and look at the way you jog or run, although it is not quite the same as being on the road.

If you run on the treadmill or be really on the road, you must always vary your program for a couple of reasons. One, being on the treadmill means continuously doing the same distance and as well as the speed you are moving. With this, your body tends to just adapt to the same settings that you won't get much of a change in your body as you carry on. The second reason is that you can easily become bored or uninspired with doing the same thing all over again day in and day out. What you can do to solve this problem is to always change up your routines every so often. If not, you can just simply alternate your routines so that there will still be some challenge factor in your workout.

As it greatly depends on a person's preference, it could be good for runners to do either both as they really are different even if somehow they work the same.