Building Stamina on the Motorized Treadmill

The PURPOSE> Stamina is also known as endurance. However, this is choice of words carries an unfortunate connotation. While most any form of exercise is preferred to inactivity, ‘enduring’ vigorous workouts does not condition the body to sustain prolonged action. Stamina is more than the ability to run long distances. It is a measure of the energy a person has available to them in their daily lives. Stamina is a major component of overall health and vitality. The purpose of this article is to step the reader through a concise program to build this daily vitality, using the motor-driven treadmill.

The PRINCIPLE> The best indicators of a healthy circulatory system are a strong heartbeat, coupled with low blood pressure. A strong heart pumps firmly into the body. This vigorous surging is measured as systolic pressure. Then when the heart rests, the surge of blood through the system is released, measured as diastolic pressure. A large difference in the two pressures, during vigorous activity, is an excellent sign of health, while a low resting blood pressure insures good performance by the filtering activities of the liver, kidneys and spleen. Our daily diet, the stress we experience, and the level of our physical activity all contribute to the pressure maintained during circulation. While diet and stress reduction are important, the single most effective way to maintain healthy circulation is by regular exercise. All exercise, however, does not have the same effect on the health of the heart. Many individuals, unfamiliar with how stamina is built, exercise in ways that are counter-productive to their needs. The heart can be forced to beat faster by many kinds of exercise, exercise that can both strengthen muscles and increase muscular force in anaerobic bursts, sprinting, for instance. Most exercise, though, does little to improve stamina. Athletes or simply young, active individuals have popularized exercise such as weight training, and calisthenics. Such training does build strength, but should be coupled with a program that addresses the need for enduring vitality. The answer, for most of us, would be to train specifically to build stamina.

In principle, daily sessions of slow, steady, efficient running, with the intention to relax as much as possible, will lower circulatory resistance. Lower resistance will then, in tum, give the heart room to enjoy fuller contractions, actually working less to meet blood flow demands. Exercise that promotes this working environment for the heart will, overtime, build heart strength, maintaining lower overall blood pressure, and expand the difference in the two pressures, all of which are required for optimum health. Stamina is built by gently engaging the heart while dilating the blood vessels throughout the body. Dilation is accomplished by relaxation, while a gentle load is put on the heart by practicing an efficient, easy way of running. Together, an efficient running form and the intention to relax, create a proper working environment for the heart to contract with a much fuller range of motion, thus gaining strength and building stamina.

The EQUIPMENT> Among a huge variety of exercise machines, motorized treadmills have some outstanding features for stamina training. Unlike running on the ground, exercise on a motor-driven treadmill gives the runner a remarkably consistent platform to improve their form. This is particularly good for stamina training, because the interactivity between the runner’s movement and the chosen ramp speed isolates the runner’s form, allowing them to develop steady, a consistent coordinated movement of the hips, shoulders, arms, legs and feet. Since the ramp is level, and the speed constant, the runner can quickly develop sensitivity to changes in their stride and balance. Even small variations in the runner’s form will translate into a noticeable imbalance, alerting the runner to their going off form. These amplified changes force the runner to constantly monitor their form, allowing them to remain in the same balancing posture on the machine, including head and body tilt, stride, and arm-swing. The treadmill is certainly the best machine for learning a good running form, especially for the beginner.

The FORM> To relax fully during running, an efficient running form is essential. The constant speed of a motor-driven treadmill creates an opportunity to retrain the way we run. Instead of the runner needing to push off of the ground with their feet to propel forward motion, the motion is and introduced constant. So the runner, not needing to push forward, will find it easier to adjust the angle of the hips, the pushing off with the toes, the depth of the stride, all because the motion is regular and the gait has the potential to be come repeatable to the point of much greater efficiency. To accomplish this, the running gait needs to be deep and long giving the runner a graceful, open and energetic form. Keeping the pelvis low to the ground, in a deep stride, does this. The legs are bent in the front part of the stride, and extended fully only at the back most part of the stride, when rolling up on the toes and pushing off. This will feel unnatural to most people, as the common habit is to walk ‘on top of our hips with short steps.

It is important for the runner to start with easy sessions, giving their legs time to adjust and to first gain comfort in the form. Arms must swing freely with each stride, while keeping the hands ‘shook out’, so that the fingers remain loose.

Check the face to avoid frowning or squinting. Pronating the feet (angled outward) throws the spine out of alignment and creates extra pressure on the lower back. Straightforward feet are also important so that the runner can fully roll up onto the toes and push off at the back of the stride with an extended leg. So, as arms swing freely, the hands open, fingers loose, feet moving completely through their range of motion, including rocking up onto and pushing off with the toes, then the capillaries in the extremities will dilate, and blood flow will become far less restricted. Add to this the intentional relaxing of facial muscles, avoiding tensing up in the abdomen, the overall intention to ‘fall into the movement’, then the heart is provided with room to fully contract when it beats, gaining strength and stamina.

 Few people can come by an efficient running form without considerable practice. Most of us need to overcome a lifetime of bad habits, habits that we can ignore in our daily tasks, but even minor imbalances can reduce the efficiency needed when stamina training. To develop good form, one must pay constant, complete attention to the body’s position during each and every stride of the session. The real training here begins with the mind. Fortunately there is a technique that offers a simple way to focus on the body’s form and relax during the training session. That technique is covered in the section on ‘the spot’.

The PREP> Preliminary leg and backstretches are encouraged. Stretching will reduce tension as you aim to relax during training. Wear loose clothing, and keep shoes tied rather loosely. Don’t wear a watch or anything that restricts the arms or legs. When adjusting the treadmill speed, the runner needs to find the right pace on a level ramp that will allow for a relatively slow, continuous jog with a full stride and most importantly, hands free. The runner will then need to fine tune the ramp speed so that they can maintain a constant, comfortable pace during the running portion of each set.

The TIMING> Most tread mills have a timer in the console, but if the runner brings their own stopwatch it should be wrapped around a jar and set on the console, to allow for completely hands-free running. Daily sessions will be divided into two-minute sets. The first part of each set will be hands-free running, the second part walking. The total session will be a summary of these two-minute sets. (See Stamina Training Schedule)

The COUNT> Stamina training is a combination of efficiency and relaxation. With good habits, the two will unite into easy sessions that can be deeply embraced, producing optimum results. An important feature of this training is the count, which will allow the runner to time their sets while staying in their running form. The count is the sequence of left-footfalls on the ramp during the running portion of each set. The first set proceeds as the runner counts each time the left foot comes down on the ramp. The runner monitors the watch and when the first set is over, the runner now has a number to use in the rest of the sets. Now the runner counts their strides, needing only to look down at the watch toward the end of each set. It is very hard for the runner to maintain their form while continually glancing down at the watch. Moving the head throws off the balance, and makes relaxing into the form impossible. The count incorporates the timing into the form itself, and sets up a rhythm for the strides that the runner can use to maintain consistency.

The BREATH> Most physical training includes the coaching of a specific breath pattern that veterans have found to be the most efficient for that particular exercise. However, with stamina training, relaxation is the goal. So the key to breathing is not actively timing the breath, although after months of training, the breath will fall into a very specific pattern. The runner should put their attention into discovering the specific places where the body is not relaxed and conscientiously removing those impediments to a deeper embrace of the running form. The breath will then become the runner’s most important indicator of successful relaxation. If the breath becomes labored, either the runner needs to relax more, or adjust the ramp speed. The breath will lead the way.

The SPOT> Now we come to the centerpiece of stamina training, the glue that holds it all together: the focus. After the runner has found their ramp speed, and adjusted their stride, the session begins to settle into a steady state. The runner, while in their running form, with the back of the head pulled up, eyes somewhat below the horizon, now finds a spot on the wall, closest to where their eyes would naturally fall, as the head remains aligned. The eyes are simply fixed on the wall, so that they do not wander. Fixing the gaze on the spot will allow the runner to concentrate on their running form. When the eyes wander, the mind wanders, but with the eyes fixed, it becomes easier to ‘look inside’, to put awareness on the stride, on keeping the hands ‘shook out’, the feet straight, the head positioned to maintain balance and speed. All of these elements create an opportunity for effortless running, and they are brought together in the ‘focus on form’ made available when the eyes are fixed on the spot.

If the wall in front of the treadmill is mounted with a mirror, an even better method can be used. The runner can use the mirror to look directly into his or her own eyes. This helps with alignment, since meeting your eyes in the mirror keeps the gaze at the line of the horizon. With eyes locked, the runner can depend on their peripheral vision to see if the face is relaxed. So as the runner constantly monitors the face, they purposely relax when tension appears. Fixing the gaze on a spot will give the runner a signal that the mind is wandering, when the eyes fall off of the spot. But when fixed on your own eyes in the mirror, the signal is somewhat stronger. The runner notices that they are not looking into the eyes, but there is a double feedback that they notice the eyes in the mirror are darting around, and the face is no longer passive. Using the mirror, the runner will notice the relationship between fixed gaze, and passive face, darting eyes, and wincing face.

 Not only does a fixed gaze make it easier for the runner to monitor their form, it can also be an excellent measure of their stamina. If the runner finds that during their chosen workout length, of say fifty minutes, their eyes start to wander in the final ten minutes, and after several attempts to return their eyes to the spot, the runner continues to look around, then the session length should be lowered to thirty minutes. Training should continue only for as long as the runner keeps their eyes on the spot, allowing focus on the running form. Pushing beyond the point where a sustained focus can be maintained must be avoided, in order to develop the habits that will lead to stress-free running.

Now we can picture how this all goes together, when the runner’s form becomes fully habituated. The session has been practiced daily for sometime, so that the count, the spot, and the breath become second nature to the runner. Now within this deep habit, the runner can begin to relax much more fully. Nothing unexpected is going to happen during the session, so a loose and easy flow brings the practice to the brink of effortless running. Only here, at the onset of effortless running, is the work of stamina training realized. The biggest obstacle encountered by people who have a fitness orientation is their tendency to push. The goal they see for themselves is to climb up the chart and get to continuous running. One who has accomplished a degree of physical fitness will run continuously, because they can, without realizing that relaxing in action requires a special kind of holding back, until the familiar form settles into a deeper, and thus far, unfamiliar experience.

Most sports appropriately encourage an ‘all out’ effort. Stamina training, however, uses a completely different approach, one that does not promote the intensity we experience in athletic events. This training requires a different mindset in order to achieve remarkably different results. Learning how to relax during the act of running provides a gateway into a subtle and enduring vitality that cannot be easily replicated by other means. Almost any person, regardless of their present physical condition, will achieve dramatic results by training for only thirty days. After the first month, they are likely to experience a shift in their energy that once glimpsed, will be hard to part with. The way to begin is by committing careful attention to the details of this specific training, while avoiding the tendency to push, until sessions become second nature. This is accomplished by having an intention to release the body into motion, while dispelling internal stress. With this mindset, the runner can transform mere exercise into a spontaneous activation of effortless movement during training that results in sustained vitality in daily life.