Whether you work out in the gym or in your living room, a treadmill is an excellent means of aerobic exercise, which is one of the main components of regular exercise. Regular exercise may help you live a longer and better life.

"On days when we can't walk or run outside, due to heat, cold or rain, training on a treadmill offers us all the benefits of exercising outside the home, plus the option of hill training and different walking strategies," advises Chris Eschbach, PhD, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at "Meredith College" in Raleigh, North Carolina.

A treadmill may help you lose weight, strengthen your bones and muscles, relieve depression and stress, and lower your risk of diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and colon cancer.

For your convenience, Eschbach's ten winning tips for maximizing the benefit of your treadmill training:

1. Use your treadmill at a 1 percent incline to get the same workout as running or walking outside on a level surface.  

2. Ignore all the "fat burning" and "aerobic exercise" tables that appear on the treadmill equipment. The key to burning calories is the distance and not the intensity, so the longer you train or the longer you reach, the more calories you will burn.

3. Adding time and intensity together may increase your chances of injury. When you start the exercise program on the treadmill, start by adding time to the exercise. After that, you can increase the intensity by adding speed or by increasing the incline of the treadmill.

4. After you have increased your time on the treadmill, the best way to improve your heart rate is interval training. Do this by keeping the same speed and adding a gradient, or just by adding speed. You can change the time, speed and incline for some variety in training.

5. Use music or TV to enhance your interval training. Work harder every second song or during commercials.

6. Challenge yourself by monitoring your fitness. Monitor your heart rate at different degrees and at different speed levels after an allotted time. After a few months, you will notice that your heart rate numbers have decreased, and then you will know that you are making progress.

7. Music is a great stimulant. You can search the Internet for the title "treadmill music" and find songs adapted to different levels of treadmill training to the rhythm of the music.  

8. Maintain a correct posture on the treadmill: good posture, shoulders back and your head facing forward and not down. Release your hands and allow your arms to move naturally. Keep your stride length the same as you would if you were walking outside, and don't let your steps become short or unsteady.

9. Pay attention to your position on the treadmill - do not lean to one side or back.

10. Don't be afraid to run - there are built-in springs in the treadmill that will support your steps.

This way you will persist in your treadmill training

Always consult a doctor before starting any exercise program. Remember to provide your body with enough water and allow yourself periods of time to warm up and relax. If you are buying a treadmill for home use, make sure it is equipped with handles for the arms and an emergency shut-off device. The treadmill equipment should be located away from the walls to prevent injury in the event of a fall, and there should be at least 180 cm of free space at the back of the treadmill.

The treadmill has many benefits and may be a valuable part of your fitness training regimen. Remember that treadmill training is most effective when it is performed regularly, and that lying on the bed will not do you any good. So take yourself in hand, set a specific time for training and clear goals. For your benefit, it is better if you do this with the help of a fitness expert who can create a treadmill training program for you that is adapted to your abilities.