Treadmill Physics: Why Indoor Running Isn’t Cheating
Is training on a treadmill the equivalent of running outdoors? Some runners say it’s easier because the belt does some of the work for you, or that you always need to run at a 1% incline to simulate outdoor stress. Neither one nor the other is true.
Biomechanics expert Casey Kerrigan tells Runner’s World that if you run seven minutes of miles on the track, you will encounter wind resistance, and adding 1% incline to the treadmill will help make your indoor efforts more realistic. However, those of us who run slower do not need a slope.
What about the idea that a belt helps you push your legs? Clearly, from a physics standpoint, it doesn’t matter if it’s a runner or the ground (thanks to the theory of relativity ), but the myth persists. Kerrigan’s team had to publish a study refuting it in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in order to convince sponsors from the National Institutes of Health that the biomechanics of treadmill and ground running are similar. They write in the article that their results “should dispel the notion that running on a treadmill does not require pushing off.”
Read the rest of Runner’s World, including Kerrigan’s tips for treadmill workouts.
Biomechanics Expert Debuts Myths About Treadmill Running | World of runners