Collect steps at your desk or get your circulation going while watching series: Walking Pads make it possible. For whom it is worthwhile to buy small treadmills depends primarily on one question.
Don’t feel like jogging through the park in the rain – and don’t have room for a treadmill in the basement? For these people, walking pads seem to be a good purchase.
Because these small treadmills don’t take up much space and can be set up quickly anywhere. They are even ready for use under the (standing) desk. However, experts recommend checking carefully whether the devices suit your needs before purchasing.
People who don’t like exercise benefit the most
Sports scientist Andreas Barz finds: Basically, every opportunity to bring more exercise into everyday life is positive – “in a society where there is a problem of lack of exercise”. In other words, if you sit a lot and tend to be lazy about exercise, walking pads definitely have potential.
“However, if it is about improving fitness – and if not only health, but also endurance and performance play a role – then I would rather resort to other training options,” says the lecturer at the German University for Prevention and Health Management (DHfPG). in Saarbrücken.
Because a walking pad is just the little sister of the big treadmill. It offers fewer options, for example in terms of speed. With walking pads it is usually limited to around 6 km/h.
Walking pads are too slow for jogging
“It’s enough for brisk walking, but it’s too slow to be able to jog properly,” says fitness economist Barz. Depending on their fitness level, a runner needs a speed of around 10 km/h. You need 7 or 8 km/h for easy trotting or jogging.
Many runners would be under-challenged at the 6 km/h speed of a walking pad. Anyone who wants to increase their own fitness will quickly reach their limits.
According to Barz, a walking pad is also not really suitable for losing weight. The calorie consumption while walking is often overestimated. It is usually just half as high as when jogging on a real treadmill.
The sports scientist is also skeptical about other criteria: “Strength, mobility and coordination are hardly or not at all trained on a walking pad,” he points out. “And if you want to run for fun, I would rather send you outside and into the forest anyway. Then the relaxation effect is even greater.”
Healthier alternative to sitting
And yet the mini treadmills have a right to exist. Before purchasing, you should clarify one question: What goals do I actually pursue? If you just want to find a healthier alternative to sitting, walking pads make sense. Or for anyone who wants to start bringing movement into their everyday lives.
“Especially when I tie it to behaviors that I already have. “It’s then easier to add further behavior,” says Barz. For example, if you watch your favorite series every evening anyway – instead of sitting on the couch, you do it as you pass by on the walking pad.
Walking pads are available from 200 euros
The cheapest variants are available from around 200 euros. “You should also consider whether you really want to invest the money or whether you would rather use a fitness trainer for the money, where you can train individually under supervision and have many more options than just running or walking,” says Andreas Barz.
The personal trainer would still not advise against purchasing and using it. “If the alternative is to sit on the couch and eat chips, it definitely makes sense.”
Security experts have concerns
And how secure are the devices? Even if a walking pad initially appears to be more harmless than the classic treadmill when it comes to the risk of accidents, safety experts have concerns.
The standard for treadmills requires machines to have a handrail “so you can hold on if you stumble. Or that you can press an emergency stop button in the event of an incident,” says product specialist Florian Staudigl from Tüv Süd.
However, walking pads lack these safety features. Therefore, the devices have not yet been able to receive a test mark from the technical inspection associations. A standard for what a safe walking pad should look like has yet to be developed.
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