Huff puff, huff puff…..Sorry, I will get my breath back soon…..
What on earth have I been doing?
Running! Oh yeah? Yep, I can run at home, in the dry, for as long as I like, as fast as I like, or just take a leisurely walk to tone my body.
What am I talking about?
The Olympus Sport Active Runner.
What is it?
Basically it is a treadmill that sits in the corner of the dining room and gets used in this house almost daily.
Why did we buy one of these then?
Well…I go to the gym regularly so didn't need a running machine at home but my husband has always had this little desire in the back of his mind that he would be able to get fit in the comfort of his own home, walk daily without having to go out and battle with the weather or traffic.
A few times in the past we have looked at treadmills, but generally the cheaper ones didn't hold enough weight for him to use comfortably or were manually operated. I tried a manually operated treadmill at a friends house once and very nearly fell off, I didn't feel in control at all.
The more expensive ones were always just that bit more money than we could afford and there was always the worry that we would fork out our hard earned cash just for it to sit in the corner gathering dust so we always resisted the temptation to buy one…..until about ten weeks ago.
It was raining, we couldn't comfortably get out for a long walk, it was the middle of winter and might be some time before we could go out daily for a long walk. Never mind I still take the dogs out whatever the weather my husband really didn't fancy getting fit in the wet dark evenings after a long day at work.
We looked online for treadmills, we phoned several shops and found that most can't just be bought and paid for and put in the car, we would have to wait for delivery and my husband is even more impatient than me so that was a no no.
At jjb Sport, a sports shop on the outskirts of Brighton, we found treadmills that we could buy and take away, we picked one to suit our purpose and pocket from the website and off we went to buy it.
When we got there we looked at the treadmills displayed and tried a couple out. The one we eventually bought was a different model to the one we went to buy.
The reason for this? It was on sale at half price and instead of being £599 it was being sold for £299
Getting it home was a bit of fun and we then realised why most treadmills are delivered. It was rather too big for the back of the car, a medium sized hatchback and we drove home with the hatch tied down with rope and a large gap for the exhaust fumes to get into the car by, but we were pleased that we didn't have to wait for it to be delivered.
The box.
A very large plain brown oblong box that we managed to carry inside between us, although it was very heavy. Just the name of the treadmill and a product number on the outside.
Inside there lay our new toy, really well packed with polystyrene keeping it safe from bumps and bangs.
It is well worth reading the instruction manual for tips and how to use any machine that you buy for fitness so I did that before getting on and having a go.
Firstly you get the diagram of the machine and all the different parts names with picture instructions as to how to put it together, we found that ours was partially built at the factory so only took about fifteen minutes to finish off and the instructions were clearly laid out for us to do that.
Then comes some tips as to manually adjust the back feet so that you can walk on the level or slightly uphill, ours is set to slight uphill at all times as we find this more comfortable.
This treadmill can be folded so that it stores easily and doesn't take up so much room. For us we just know that if we fold it away we won't unfold it again for a long time so leave it with the deck flat on the floor and ready to use whenever we find some spare minutes.
There is a section explaining the computer and the display on this.
It is important if exercising on the treadmill to attach the safety key to your clothing. One end plugs into the computer, a string attaches the other end which is like a peg. The reason you need to use this is if you fall over, or find you are going to fast you can quickly pull the plug out and the machine stops.
There are 7 preset programmes to use, each giving a different workout or you can do what we do and just use programme one which is manual.
The display shows how long you have been walking/running for, how far you have travelled, how many calories you have used up and if you hold the handles at each side, how fast your heart is beating.
The speed will go up to 10 miles an hour which is much too fast for me to run at the moment so would suit people much faster and fitter than us as well as people who haven't exercised before because you can build up slowly.
A tip!
I find that the heart monitor is somewhat slow, use it as a guide only and don't let it go too high. Rather than relying on the heart monitor I rely on how I feel, if I am running flat out and begin to puff too much then I slow down for a while.
At the back of the instruction booklet there is a section on maintenance, which tells you how to clean the treadmill, adjust the belt and lubricate the deck.
There is also a section on training tips, how to find your pulse, what to check before you begin, and an explanation of aerobic exercise.
So, I have read the manual, given you some tips, how about the machine itself?
Well, it looks like a treadmill, there is a deck to walk/run on, a handle each side to hold on to with sensors on the outside of each to measure your pulse, or use just for balance, a quite impressive computer display at the front and that is it really.
When you press the first programme and press the start button the deck starts to move backwards so that you have to walk forwards at 0.5 miles an hour. Now this surprised us, the treadmills at the gym are all measured in kilometres, but this one is in miles. The man at the shop did tell us it was kilometres but when I tried it out I was running at 5 per hour and know from the gym that I can walk at 6.2 kilometres per hour so it must be miles. The booklet that comes with it says kilometres/miles per hour, so that really isn't that much help. There aren't any instructions for changing it from imperial to metric measurements so that is really very helpful.
You can increase the speed by 0.1 of a mile per hour at a time until you are walking comfortably, if you hold the increase speed button down it will increase by 0.5 miles per hour. The increase and decrease buttons are clear and in the centre of the display to find. They have an arrow in white on each, pointing up for increase and down for decrease so simple to use and easy to press if you find yourself going faster than is comfortable.
It is worth starting slowly and increasing your speed a little at a time, this will warm your muscles and you will be less inclined to pull your muscles or get aches and pains.
Also it is a good idea to have a slow few minutes at the end to slow your heart rate and cool your muscles down.
Below the computer display there are two holes that you can put a bottle of water in so you can drink while walking. It is important to drink while exercising especially if you are moving fast enough to sweat. As a guide, I drink 1 litre of plain water in just over half an hour of aerobic exercise and still feel thirsty afterwards.
The older you are, or the less fit you are the slower you will need to start. My husband walked at a nice brisk pace for 20 minutes daily for the first week and then found he had blisters on the balls of his feet and couldn't use the treadmill for the next week while they healed. Once they had healed he started walking for only ten minutes daily increasing to 15 minutes and then 20 minutes as his feet got used to the constant friction of walking. I am fitter and my job entails rushing around all the time and rarely sitting down so I haven't had any problems in walking/running a couple of miles in just under half an hour. I don't use the treadmill every day though because I go a couple of times a week to the gym and a couple of times a week swimming as well as taking the dogs out so I don't really have the time every day.
The benefits of regular walking?
I am not going to list all the benefits of walking because they are many and varied but I will say that since using our treadmill fairly regularly both my husband and I have lost a little weight, improved our muscle tone on legs, stomach, shoulders and arms and we both get puffed out less at higher speeds than we did when we first bought it, so I am guessing that it has helped strengthen our hearts and increased our lung capacity. There are many books to read about the benefits of walking but the above are the ones we have noticed.
At the moment it is dark outside, raining, about 2 degrees Celsius and very windy. I don't want to walk far in this weather so it is a great benefit to be able to jump on the treadmill, put music on my mp3 player and have a half hour aerobic exercise session.
The disadvantages?
My husband thought we could keep it in front of the television and watch his favourite programmes while he walked. The computer part is too high for him to do this comfortably, he is 5'10", and I can't even see the top of the tv over the computer so no good for either of us.
It does take up quite a bit of room, but then we have room and don't mind.
We looked initially online at JJB Sport, their website is www.olympussport.co.uk
They do have a customer hotline phone number which is 0870 330 0024 I haven't needed to phone this number so don't know how helpful they are if you have problems with this treadmill.
It is guaranteed for two years from the date we bought it.
There is a maximum weight limit for this and it is about 18 stone 7 lbs. I am not sure what this is in kilograms.
We are having a lot of fun with our new toy, it was bought primarily for my husband to get fit on, but I use it quite regularly and so does my daughter in law and my step grandson so it gets quite a lot of use in our house. Well worth the nearly £300 that we paid for it.
anyway, enough of this, the football is on the tv so I will get my mp3 player and have a run to music to get me ready for a relax and a good nights sleep.
We haven't really had this machine long enough for me to comment on durability but I have to put something in so am putting good.
Thanks for reading, I hope this review is helpful for someone who has wondered what home treadmills were like.
