Manual Treadmills

Manual treadmills are the most basic form of treadmill, they are simple yet effective, however being as simple and cheaply constructed as they are, they do have their downfalls.  By the end of this article, you should have a good idea of what you’re in for if you’re considering picking one of these up, the main question for you is going to be, “is it worth sacrificing quality to save a buck?”.

Let’s start out by talking about the Manual treadmills good points:

1.  They’re Cheap

This is the main allure of them.  You can pick up a manual treadmill for $150-$300, they are dirt cheap.  In these economic times, people are more reluctant to spend a lot of money, in fact, most people are reluctant to spend a lot of money anyways if they feel they don’t have to. 

2.  There Is No Number Two

Yup, that’s pretty much the only reason you’d ever want a manual treadmill, they tend to be inferior to a motorized treadmill in every other way.  I think it’s best we switch over to the drawbacks as unfortunately there are many more of those.

The Drawbacks to Manual Treadmills:

1. They’re Missing A Motor

The reason why manual treadmills are so cheap is because they’re missing the most expensive part , the motor. Instead they make use of a belt in order to provide resistance when you’re running. Now as you run, this belt gains inertia and it tends to move easier, but then as soon as you slow down, you’re going to have to work it up again to get back to where running is more smooth.

Because manual treadmills operate based on this belt and it takes so much effort just to get it moving, you not only get annoyed, but you end up putting excess pressure on your joints. With a motorized treadmill you don’t get as much stress on your joints as you’re not fighting against a belt.

Now some may say you burn more calories by fighting against this belt, however that is only when starting the treadmill up from a standstill or after slowing down, it’s not enough to be of any significance. You’ll burn more calories if you can easily maintain your speed on a motorized belt instead.

2. You Cannot Adjust The Incline On The Fly

This is a big drawback to manual treadmills. As you improve your cardiovascular health, you’re going to want to be able to make the workout harder on yourself. Unfortunately, manual treadmills do not have the ability to adjust the incline throughout the workout. In order to change the incline, you have to get off the treadmill, then adjust it yourself manually, by doing this you are not able to get the full fat burning effect of switching between various inclines during a workout session. With an electric or motorized treadmill though, this can be done with the push of a button.

3. You Don’t Get Any Programmed Courses

With manual treadmills you cannot setup a course to run as a program like you can with an electric treadmill. It’s pretty much turn it on and run. This not only makes exercising a lot more boring, but a lot less effective. With a running program in place, you could have simulations of running uphill and downhill, running with different levels of resistance and varying speeds, all of this can result in a great workout! However all that fun is removed from the picture with a manual treadmill.

If you’re that strapped for cash that you’re considering a manual treadmill, my suggestion would be to look for a used motorized treadmill and see if you can get a discount. Of course you’re going to want to be very picky as you don’t want one that has been run into the ground and is going to break down on you.

A good place to look would be on Ebay, make sure that the seller has a good reputation before you buy from them though.

If you do decide on going with a manual treadmill though, try looking online for one, you can shave off even more money by buying them there. Try them out in a nearby store first though to get the feel of it, that way you get the best of both worlds, you get to try it out and buy it at a good price.

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