Has anyone used a manual treadmill as an indoor substitute for pushing a prowler? How does it compare? I found one for sale on craigslist really cheap and was thinking if I cranked up the tension it would work. Maybe wearing a weight vest too. Any thoughts?
I have messed with them; they are good but I think your money would be better spent on a used Airdyne Bike… Tabatas and other HIIT protocols on this machine are brutal for conditioning. Dr. Izumi Tabata told me years ago when I was corresponding with him that the Airdyne was probably the best machine/exercise to perform his Tabata protocol on.
Thanks for the reply. I have heard of people using the treadmill before and the one I found is $15. I have tried tabatas on an airdyne before and they are brutal but mine fell apart so I had to scrap it. Considering the price I may get the treadmill and try it out. At that price, if it works for me it’s a big score but if not I’m not out much money
Yes, for USD15 you’ll definitely get your money’s worth in just a few pushing sessions!!! I found that walking backwards manually on the treadmill worked better for me… pushing forwards just made my back ache.
I was thinking I will have to brace it against the wall and put my hands on a bar in the rack or something like that so I would be in a bear crawl postion or I could place the bar higher to be similar to the position I would be in for prowler pushes. Once I get it I get a better idea of how I need to set it up.
[quote]Ricochet wrote:
Yes, for USD15 you’ll definitely get your money’s worth in just a few pushing sessions!!! I found that walking backwards manually on the treadmill worked better for me… pushing forwards just made my back ache.[/quote]
Yup, that is smart.
Years back i pulled a rickshaw in Toronto and i had 3 couples(6 persons over 1000 pounds) going uphill and i am small so they offered to walk uphill but i pulled them walking backward to save my back and get the big tip.
Well, I picked up the other day. It is small and the tension isn’t adjusteable so what I did was turned it around and set it at the highest incline, put on a weight vest and did a bear crawl sort of thing. As I was pushing with my legs my feet would travel UP the incline. I ran 100 steps just to see how it would feel. It did get my heart rate up. I have some more playing with it to do to make it feel right but I think I can make it work. For only a $15 investment it is something to play with.