Affordable Motorized Treadmills - Electric Treadmill Running Machines

When people refer to a motorized treadmill compared with a manual treadmill they are usually talking about the mechanism which moves the treadmill belt. In a manual, or self-powered machine, you are moving the belt yourself using your own leg muscles to get the belt started and maintain its motion throughout the course of the workout. Treadmill motors, however, take the place of the user's own legs as the power source which drives the belt at a constant OR variable speed at the touch of a button.

Whilst it may be tempting to think of a manual treadmill as being superior as it is easy to assume that it forces you to work leg muscles harder to move the belt yourself, the reality is a lot less appealing. In actuality, the force required to move the belt, especially from a stationary position can be quite high unless you put the treadmill bed at a sometimes excessive incline to give you a helping hand. Manual treadmills can put additional unecessary stress on you knees and other leg joints and muscles as they work to start and maintain the belt motion. Manual self-propelled treadmills are less enjoyable to use, rarely feel anything like commercial gym machines and are usually in the cheap and budget price end of the market.

Motorized running machines, on the other hand, range from budget motorised treadmills, right up to the sometimes eyeball popping prices of commercial grade equipment. The electric motor drives the treadmill belt mechanism, not the users legs which is kinder to joints and muscles but also has numerous other benefits.

With a manual running machine the belt moves only as fast or slow as the user themselves does. Motorized treadmills however, will move at a speed controlled through the control panel. You can speed up or slow down the belt speed at will, as well as adjust things like incline levels at the touch of a button. Built in programs will even do all this to a preset fitness program which are designed for such things as weight loss, increasing endurance, to boost cardio health, interval training etc. and generally, and very importantly, to shake things up a little and keep your workout from becoming boring. A dull workout is the number one thing which will cause you to stop working out and motorized treadmills will do much to prevent you from losing motivation.

When you are looking at a motorised treadmill there are several things which are important to consider to find the best one for your needs. The main thing is the motor itself, which is the true guts of the machine and will determine whether your choice does the things you expect it to do. The motor determines some very important things which affect how you can use the treadmill and how effective it will be at doing things. On a motorpowered treadmill, it is the motor which controls the speed of the treadmill belt mechanism. Some low power motors will not support speeds which allow running at all so when looking specifically at low cost treadmills you need to take that into consideration.

A typical guide to the efficiency of the motor is the horsepower rating but you still need to be careful here as well because Hp can be stated as either peak horsepower or continuous duty horsepower. Some manufacturers and retailers use the peak horsepower value which is misleading because this value refers to the maximum output of the motor, something which is somewhat meaningless when buying treadmill. Continuous duty is a measurement of the sustained output of the treadmill motor during use which is much more meaningful and gives a better benchmark with which to compare treadmill motor output.

For walking, you can get away with a motor powered treadmill with a continus duty motor below 2hp but for a jogging treadmill or for running, you should look at higher values of at least 2.5HP and opt for higher if you weigh above 200lb.