So, anyone used them/something similar? Thoughts? Would these be a worthwhile change up to motorised treadmills when, for whatever reason, I can’t get outdoors? I will admit that I’ve always noticed form being different on a motorised treadmill, where I feel I’m just rotating my legs, rather than actually propelling myself forward with each stride.
They have them at our council gym and TBH I prefer running on them to the standard flat motorised ones. It feels more like running outside does. They take a little bit of getting used to though as you can feel like you might ‘fall out the front’ of it.
I generally only use treadmills for intervals or if the weather is really bad. I don’t have easy access to a track and it’s too hilly around here to do intervals easily outdoors.
They are certainly different and take a little getting used to, and you work harder than outside (and much harder than on powered ones). They can be used to enhance running form, but that has to be a conscious choice, otherwise they will reinforce aspects of poor form.
As the become more popular, the price will come down, but so will the quality. i think I paid £3.4k or so for my air assault from Fitness Inn (from spain to avoid import duty)
There is one at my local gym. I use it occasionally, mostly for “just running” workouts as a good “technique enforcer” (like rollers are for cycling), since I find I can get lazy when it comes to form when I run on a treadmill. I find that if my form slips a little bit it’s more noticeable on the non-motorized kind, in that the belt slows down, but YMMV.
It “feels” harder than the pace that the readout claims I’m running (it’s a challenge to get going much faster than 8:30/mile). I would probably never try to run a specific workout like intervals or tempo on one, but they’re an enjoyable challenge to mix things up. One day I was on it for about a half-hour and one of the personal trainers came by and said, “That’s the longest I’ve ever seen anybody on this treadmill.”
If I could buy one treadmill, it wouldn’t be a non-motorized. But if I could afford two, I’d get one!
Important thing is to remember the readout speed and distance is in MILES and not KM. You will undoubtedly be told otherwise when you run 10 MILES in 46 mins on one and begin calling out every famous runner ever on Twitter to say you’re coming for them.