10 Best Treadmill Workouts You’ll Love

*TreadmillReviewGuru helps consumers find the best home fitness products. When you buy a product we recommend, we may earn a commission.

Last Updated: July 18, 2023

Undoubtedly, there are few things better than enjoying some fitness exercises outdoors, but this is not always possible because of the restricted time, bad weather, or other considerations. An easy way to get around these issues is to do different workouts on your home treadmill.

As treadmills are becoming really common home equipment nowadays, it’s not surprising that people have started to look for different ways to utilize their home treadmill. However, many people still think that the exercises you can do on a treadmill are really limited, like, you can walk or run, and that’s it. If you are someone who thinks that treadmills are just for runners, joggers, and walkers, you are in for a surprise.

Below, we have presented the top 10 treadmill workouts for everyone who is interested in keeping their body in a good shape and wants to get out of the boredom of just running at the same speed on their treadmills. By trying out these interesting treadmill workouts, you should be able to notice that your strength, stamina, speed, heart rate, and workout duration will increase and you won’t dread your treadmill sessions.

You can also check our our top rated treadmill here.

Top 10 Best Treadmill Workouts

It is important to warm up before starting your workout in order to prevent future injuries. Start walking at 2.5-3.5 MPH for 60 seconds and then start shaking out your stride by stretching out a bit longer than your usual stride. Continue like this for 5 minutes and toward the end of your warm-up, put the incline to 6% and take some normal steps. Once you are all warmed up, go ahead and pick one or more of the workouts below to try out on your treadmill.

1. Treadmill Hill Workout

Treadmill hill workouts are a good choice for all of them who love running over hills, and for the rest of us who just want to suffer less when running hills. This exercise will boost your speed, duration, and your stamina.

In the first 5 minutes, the speed should be 5 MPH and the incline set at 1%. Then change both of them for the next 30 minutes by adjusting the speed and the incline between intervals of 3-6.5 MPH and 1-5% respectively.

Depending on your skill level, the intervals where you speed up and run up a steeper incline can be just 30 seconds long and 90 seconds of walking, or if you are more experienced, you can do 90 seconds of pushing with 30 seconds of recovery walking. In the last 5 minutes, be sure to cool-down by setting the speed level to 4 MPH and the incline level to 1%.

2. Treadmill Hike Workout

This treadmill hike exercise is more focused on your backside, and its most important feature is that while the time passes, the incline increases and the speed tends to fit your skills in order to offer you safety and ease while you exercise. You can choose either the 45-minute workout or the 20-minute workout if the time isn’t in your favor.

  • Start with a 5-minute warm-up with your speed set at 3 MPH and incline at 2%.
  • Exercise the rest of your minutes with the speed limits from 3.5 MPH to 4 MPH and incline levels from 4% to 12%. If you own an incline trainer like the NordicTrack Commercial x22i treadmill, you can reach much higher inclines as this machine goes from -6% to 40% incline for greater calorie burn.
  • Keep the same rhythm in the last 5 minutes as in the beginning.

3. Sidewinder Workout

This workout aims to increase your heart rate, strength, duration, and stability. If you struggle with stability or your treadmill width is smaller than 20”, then it might not be the exercise for you.

  • 5 minutes warm-up (Gradually increase speed from 2.4-3.5 mph)
  • 2 minutes sideways walking (1 minute facing right, 1 minute facing left – Speed 2.2 MPH)
  • 2 minutes sideways walking (1 minute facing right, 1 minute facing left – Speed 2.4 MPH)
  • 1 minute forward walking (Speed 4.5 mph)
  • 1 minute forward walking (Speed 3.5 mph)
  • 2 minutes sideways walking (1 minute facing right, 1 minute facing left – Speed 2.6 MPH)
  • 2 minutes sideways walking (1 minute facing right, 1 minute facing left – Speed 2.8 MPH)
  • 1 minute forward walking (Speed 4.2 MPH)
  • 1 minute forward walking (Speed 3.5 MPH)
  • 2 minutes sideways walking (1 minute facing right, 1-minute facing left – Speed 2.8 MPH)
  • 5-minute cool-down. (Gradually decrease speed from 3 to 2 MPH)

As you perform this exercise, be very careful as you transition between facing different directions. The first few times you switch sides, you may want to stand on the side rail first to help you get your bearing.

4. Pressed-For-Time Workout

A pressed-for-time workout aims to work with your upper body. In order to perform this exercise, you need to hold in your hand something that weighs 2-5 pounds. Of course, you should hold them while you are walking and never while running, as this may be risky for your safety and throw your stride off-balance. This particular pressed-for-time workout includes:

  • 5 minutes warm up (2.5-3.5 MPH)
  • 5 minutes walking and doing 10 reps each: overhead press, front raises, upright rows, and lateral raises
  • 4 minutes just walking (waiting for the upper body to recover; rest dumbbells and continue to walk)
  • Repeating the second and the third step two more times after changing the incline to 3%.
  • 5 minutes cool down (3 MPH – incline 1%)

Don’t push yourself to carry the heaviest weight you can manage. Instead, work with weights that are comfortable, because, by the end of your workout, those weights will feel significantly heavier.

5. Sprint Interval Workout

Are you ready to shed a few pounds and really push your treadmill workouts? A sprint interval workout is a perfect choice. It serves as a calorie burner, and it raises your anaerobic capacity.

  • Start with 10 minutes of warming up and gradually increase speed from 3-5 MPH.
  • Continue with a sprint in which your heart rate is 85-90% of its maximum. If you are wondering how to calculate your heart rate, all you need to do is to remove your age number from 220. (Increase speed gradually from 5-9 MPH)
  • Continue with 2 minutes of walking, in which your heart rate should be around 120 to 130 beats per minute. (Speed 3.5-4 MPH)
  • Continue with 20-30 minutes of alternating between sprint running (5-9 MPH) and slow walking (3.5-4 MPH). Shoot for intervals of 1-minute sprinting and 2 minutes of walking.
  • End it with 5 minutes of cooling down (2.5-3 MPH).

For beginners, sticking to 30 seconds of sprinting and 2 minutes of walking is a perfectly acceptable adjustment to this workout. Be sure to listen to your body and tailor it to suit your needs.

6. Gauntlet Workout

This workout combines different kinds of exercises which aim to cause different changes to your body. Some of them are focused on your lower body, some on your upper body, and others tend to burn more calories overall. There is also a mix of full-body strength moves with running.

Beginners might find it difficult, so it is best that this workout is performed by more experienced exercisers.

  • 5-10 minutes warm up through walking or jogging (3.5-5 MPH)
  • 1 minute running (5.5-7 MPH)
  • 30 seconds kettlebell swings (off the treadmill)
  • 30 seconds push-ups (off the treadmill)
  • 1-minute plank (off the treadmill)
  • 1-minute running on the treadmill (4-5.5 MPH)
  • Repeat this entire procedure 5 to 6 times
  • 5 minutes of cooling down (2.5-3 MPH)

7. Never-a-Flate-Moment Workout

A never-a-flat-moment workout is a highly efficient workout for burning calories, and you are sure to feel the burn. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to perform this exercise:

  • 3 minutes warm-up (Speed 3-3.5 MPH)
  • 2 minutes running (4.5 MPH/ 7% incline)
  • 2 minutes running (5 MPH/ 4% incline)
  • 2 minutes speed walk (3 MPH/ 10% incline)
  • 2 minutes speed walk (3.5 MPH/ 6% incline)
  • 2 minutes running (4 MPH/ 8% incline)
  • 1 minute speed walk (3 MPH/ 3% incline)
  • 7 minutes running intervals (3.2-6.5 mph/ 5% incline, alternating 2 minutes speed walking and 1 minute running)
  • 11 minutes endurance incline (4 MPH/ 10-15% incline)
  • 3 minutes cool-down (Decrease speed gradually from 3.5 to 2 MPH and incline from 3% to 1%)

8. Side Shuffles

If you want to strengthen your thighs’ muscles, then you need to do side shuffles. This exercise is performed at a speed limit between 3-3.5 MPH to ensure that you are safe while traveling in a different direction than you normally do on a treadmill.

In order to do side shuffles, you should turn yourself to right on the treadmill and flex your knees, stay low in your legs but keep your eyes up and body tall and don’t let your feet cross each other. As you walk, stay slightly squatted and pick up your feet. After 2 minutes, switch sides and shuffle while facing the left side of your treadmill. Do this for a total of 10 minutes to really feel the burn.

9. Walking Plank

This exercise is really similar to ordinary planks, and if you find regular planks difficult, then you should put more effort into this one.

A twist on the standard plank you are used to seeing, with a walking plank, your legs should be positioned off of the treadmill, but in a straight line away from it, and your hands will be on the running belt.

Set the speed at 2 MPH and get into position, with your hands on the side rails. Once you are confident you are ready, put your hands on the belt and try to do the walking plank for at least 5 minutes. You may be surprised how difficult it is to maintain this demanding position!

10. Crab Walk

This exercise concentrates on your hamstrings, glutes, triceps, and core. It has difficulty in performing it, but it is really fun in a goofy way. Most of you may know what position to take, but for all of them who don’t, here is the explanation:

Set your speed to 1 to 2 MPH, stay in a crab position, with your hands facing away from treadmill on the side of treadmill base, your feet flat on the floor, your hips elevated and your back facing the ground. Place your hands on the treadmill belt and start walking your hands forward.

We really hope that this article has helped you, and if you have already tried one of the workouts, let us know. We would be really delighted if you share your experience with us.