Consumer Treadmill Ratings Vs Expert Treadmill Ratings

Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 8:25 am  
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treadmillIf you’re buying a treadmill, chances are you’ll want to research before you buy. Everyone wants to get the best deal for a discount price. They also want to find the best treadmill to suit their workout needs.

So you’ll probably be interested in looking at various treadmill ratings or reviews. But why are there so many different ratings and which one is the most accurate? Here’s a few things most buyers don’t know about treadmill ratings.

There are really 2 types of treadmill ratings:

1) Consumer Ratings

2) Expert Ratings

User Treadmill Ratings:

Consumer treadmill ratings are done by the layperson who has bought and used the specific treadmill. Many websites allow anyone to go online and post a review of their treadmill.

Customer reviews and ratings can be very valuable when searching for a treadmill – however keep in mind several things:

1) No treadmill has a 100% perfect track record. Even the BEST treadmill manufacturers sometimes make a dud.

And it’s usually the people that have had BAD experiences that leave negative reviews of their treadmills, not the many that have had good experiences with the same treadmill.

They have every right to do this and hopefully the treadmill manufacturers read these reviews and do something about them. Just remember that one bad review doesn’t prove it’s a low quality brand.

2) The treadmill industry is growing more competitive each year. And marketing is a huge portion of the treadmill industry since treadmill manufacturers KNOW you’re going to research treadmill ratings before you buy.

So while I’m not making any accusations, I have read ‘customer reviews’ that are clearly NOT written by the average buyer. They sound like they’re written by somebody working for the competition – someone well versed in the art of sales psychology and who knows more about treadmills than the average person. Again, not making any accusations here – just keep this in mind when reading user ratings online.

Rule of Thumb: Use common sense. If it sounds like it’s written by a treadmill salesperson, take the treadmill review with a grain of salt.

Expert Treadmill Ratings:

There are also expert treadmill ratings. These are the ratings written by the experts in the fitness industry. People like Consumer Reports, Runner’s World, Consumer Guide, Men’s Health, Prevention Magzine are just a few out there. These people rate and review various treadmills at various times in the year.

While these ratings are much less likely to be tainted by biased reviewers, here are a few cautions to keep in mind while reading them:

1) Each rater has a different rating system and may rate treadmills on such factors as price, cushioning, stability, quietness, belt area, warranty, console, electronics, programs, incline and quality of parts.

So while one reviewer may put more emphasis on cushioning the other may put more emphasis on warranty. It’s nothing to get confused over – just understand that different experts value different features. They’ll usually have an area where they list exactly how they rated the treadmills and which features they valued highly in their review.

2) Expert ratings also usually don’t have time to look at EVERY treadmill brand on the market. Nobody does. We’ve been reviewing treadmills for over 3 years and we still haven’t covered all the brands.

So just because a certain brand isn’t in the ratings, doesn’t make it a poor quality brand. Try to find other reviews on a brand if you can’t find it in your favorite expert ratings list.

One last thing: Many treadmill ratings are also based on comparison to other similarly priced treadmills on the market.

So if you have a $1000 treadmill that gets 5 stars – that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s better than a $2000 treadmill that gets 4 stars. It means that compared to other $1000 treadmills it is one of the best values.

By remembering these things when sifting through treadmill ratings, you’re less likely to be confused. And it will be easier to choose the best quality treadmill for your needs.

Do You Run Too Fast?

Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 7:56 am  
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first 10k run
Have you ever had people tell you that you run too fast? You can admit how good that feels.

Are you telling that running buddy of yours to slow down? If you are then I have a few great ways for you to learn how to run fast.

Anybody can learn how to run faster. I don’t mean that you will be setting world records. I mean that you can learn to run your best.

Here are just a few of the ways to run faster: Mechanics, Hills, Treadmills, Tempo Runs, and Stretching.

Stride Mechanics can be one the easiest and hardest parts of running to understand and perfect. Watching the really fast people run is a free way to learn what good stride mechanics looks like. Watch how they lift their legs; hold their arms, how they swing their arms, listen to their breathing, etc. When you run by yourself try and picture what you have seen. By visualizing good running form you will become faster.

Hills will give you the biggest bang for your buck. No other training method will get in you in shape faster or improve your speed like running hills. Running hills once a week for 4 weeks will improve your speed guaranteed. The beauty of hills is the improvements in stride mechanics and speed that you will gain.

Treadmills are a secret weapon that can be used to learn how to run really fast. By setting the treadmill at faster speed than your race pace and running repeats of three to five minutes great performance gains can be made. On a technical note there is a speed difference when using a treadmill. Always set the incline to 1 or 2 % when running your repeats.

Advantages of tempo runs for running faster show up in races longer than the 5k. Distances of 10k through the Marathon are better for tempo runs. The great advantage of Tempo Runs is that you can train longer without the long recovery involved with all out racing. People who use heart rate monitors have a great advantage by being able to zero in on their tempo pace. For those who do not use heart rate monitors remember to run comfortably hard and not all out.

There is a lot of debate about the merits of stretching. I personally stretch each time before I run. I have run for 10 years now without any real serious injuries. I don’t believe in stretching more than a couple minutes at a time. I do just three stretches that take about 3 minutes to complete. My feelings about stretching are that if my stride is longer by even an inch I will cover more ground and I will run faster.

Try these methods for yourself and see how your speed will improve. Don’t expect to go from a snail to a cheetah in one week. Give your mind and body a chance to learn how to run fast. Listen to your body it will tell you when you have trained enough.