Non-motorized treadmills?

jburbatt

So I've been slowly realizing that I don't use the gym except in the winter to run on the treadmill (I run at 4am, safety first) and in the beginning of the in-season plans before I can swim outside (and to be honest, I don't really do the workouts that often when I have to do them in the pool, I just hate it).  

 

I'm thinking about getting a treadmill for my apartment, and I've been checking out the non-motorized treadmills, especially since they are compact and can be folded and put away (a necessity in my apartment).  And the price range definitely fits my budget better.  Anyone have any experience with them?

Mike Hedman

Bump. I've been thinking about non-motorized vs motorized. Can anyone explain the pros and cons of each?
thanks,
Mike

daisymack

Wha? There are non-motorized treadmills??? Jennifer, I'm kinda in the same boat - I love my local gym, but it's usually just for the treadmills in the winter and a location for a bathroom break on my long runs in the summer. The cost of a treadmill is so high, though, that it wouldn't really save me any money to ditch the gym membership.



All that is to say, I'm intrigued by the idea of a non-motorized unit. Here's what Google came up with in the way of info:

http://www.thirdage.com/exercise-f...-treadmill

www.selfgrowth.com/articles/ONeill16.html

www.treadmilltalk.com/manual-treadmill.html



Meh. I'm sure we all qualify for the "in extremely good physical shape" label, but I'm not sure what kind of quality workout you'd get. Has anyone ever run on one of these?

tgarson

I've ran on one and I'll share my experiences, but with the following disclaimer: it was probably 10 years ago and they may have drastically improved since then, and I certainly wasn't running hard on it.

That being said it was not very fun to run on. Since the unit is not motorized you have to kind of push off on each step, somewhat hard at first, to get the belt moving and then still slightly on each step to keep it moving. I'd highly encourage you to run on one at showroom if you are thinking about it. Like I said, they may have improved a ton, but I think there is a good reason why you never see these anywhere.

jburbatt

What Trevor said is pretty much what I've read about them. Some people say they can run on them and some say there's no way you can run on them. I think the major concerns I have are (1) most of them "seem" to have a short board, and since running stride is longer than a walking stride it could be problematic; (2) the pushing off motion, I can't decide if it's more realistic to running outside or more of a danger to my knees. The biggest pro for me, aside from the fact that they are cheap, is that you can fold it up and stick it in a closet, something that you really can't do with a real treadmill. And since I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, this is a huge deal for me, especially since I could put it in storage in the summer. I've found a few on my local craigslist, when I have some time after Thanksgiving I might see about getting one cheap and seeing how it works out. I figure worse comes to worse I can give it to my mom who is trying to exercise more and prefers walking.

I'll let you know what my experience is. If anyone else has experience with them I'd love to hear it!