You're here: Home » Articles » Women's Fitness » Treadmill vs Outdoors for Fitness

Treadmill vs Outdoors for Fitness

Do you spend hours on the treadmill? Or, hour running in the park? Would you ever dream of changing over? Maybe you should…

Treadmill vs Outdoors
I have long been a fan of participating in debates over whether it is better to train in a gym, or better to train at home or in the park.

Now, this debate only applies to fitness and cardio type exercise because there is no doubt whatsoever that doing weights in a gym is better. There is simply far to much bodybuilding equipment in the gym to be able to replicate the envionment at home.

Here are some of the pro’s and con’s of cardio done outside and cardio done inside.

The Treadmill

Advantages:

• You can monitor heart rates and distance very easily so that you can make your weight loss of fitness more systematic. This is a strong advantage if you are making poor progress and need to ascertain why.
• You can read, listen to music or watch television so that you can get a few things done at once.
• You are, perhaps, more likely to do cardio if it is inside as you dont have to battle heat, cold or rain.
• You are more motivated to do the exercise as there are other people around you (at the gym) working out and exercising.
• It has less impact on the joints due to the slightly softer surface and thus reduces knee damage.

Disadvantages:

• It is sometimes stuffy and smelly in the gym.
• There is a temptation to stop and get on another easier workout machine because it is close.
• Sometimes we focus on impressing people or are worried about how we might look doing something and as such don’t workout as hard as we should/could.
• We get caught chatting.
• No sun.

Outdoors Cardio

Advantages:

• One of the reasons I will always be an advocate for outdoors training is that I simply love the environment. The fresh air, noises, grass, dirt and sun are all reasons why I like running.
• Getting a certain amount of sun on you everyday is very beneficial to our state of mind and our body. Jogging outdoors is a great way to do this.
• There are so many places to go, each allowing for a different style of running. Sometimes you can jog on the grass in the park or go and do intense hill sprints at the local reserve or hill range.
• Inspiration comes easily when you can run in beautiful places.
• Fresh oxygen is more important than people think. Breathing well can improve blood flow and certain immune functions. However, if you live in some US or Asian cities running outdoors may be counter fresh air.

Disadvantages:

• You can get wet, cold or over heat if you live in an extreme climate.
• Pollution and noise can ruin the experience.
• You cannot easily monitor the distance run (if that is important to you).

Conclusion
Overall, I would always opt for running outdoors than in the gym. It may be because I like pretending I am a professional boxer doing his pre-fight roadwork. However, sometimes it is more practical to run on the treadmill.

Does anyone have any other thoughts on the matter?

Comments on this article:

Add Your Comments Here: