So are treadmills good for sports training? As someone who has played and trained for multiple sports and has had personal training clients training for the highest level of competition I have a pretty straight forward answer. YES YES and YES!
Treadmills are perhaps one of the most versatile training tools for athletes ever made. They give you the ability to change your workout routine immensely and improve upon many facets of your fitness.
As a basketball player throughout high school and college, I can attest to the power of treadmills and sports performance. I would do some pretty intense incline training on a treadmill to improve my speed, agility, and vertical leap. Treadmills were also great in helping me improve my endurance as a basketball player. We would even do side to side shuffles on a treadmill throughout my basketball training to improve upon our lateral speed and defensive quickness. This type of training could be utilized by any athlete who requires a frequent change of direction such as a tennis player or futbol athlete.
Treadmills give athletes the ability to always switch the routine and increase intensity. Most advanced treadmills can reach top speeds of up to 12 mph and many can reach inclines of 15 to 25 percent. These can make for incredible training tools for even the most advanced athletes.
My favorite routine for high level athletes training speed and vertical leap is to run sprint intervals at a max speed of 12 mph and an incline of 15 percent. This routine makes it pretty easy to simulate sprinting up a hill.
Other athletes who aren’t looking to improve upon speed and vertical leap can also achieve many benefits. For the endurance athletes, treadmills allow the user to get a very long workout and track performance without giving major impact to your joints.
Whether you are a marathon runner, competitive long distance runner, tennis player, basketball player, futbol player, or even golfer… treadmills can serve as a powerful training platform.
This is the main reason treadmill use is so popular worldwide. Whether you are a novice athlete or an Olympic sprinter they can be incredibly useful. At my old high school where some of the top athletes and professional basketball players trained, treadmill workouts were a staple to some of the world’s best athletes.
From Futbol Phenom Freddy Adu to basketball star Chauncey Billups, they all would participate daily in different treadmill routines. This really opened up my eyes to the powerful advantage that treadmill training has for an athlete.
Today I use treadmills at least 4-5 times a week and still play and train for competitive sports. It has helped me stay in great shape and remain competitive with basketball, tennis, and futbol. For any athlete looking to get a great variety of workout routines the treadmill offers just that. Almost all of my clients that I train will do some form of treadmill training. I am training a guy who is looking to become a pro tennis player and we will do many quickness and lateral agility drills on the treadmill. It is the perfect medium for almost any kind of athlete to improve upon their physical skills.
