Is ten minutes on the treadmill a waste of time and worthless?

Yes. Bring music or an audio-book next time.

It’s not worthless, and maybe you could read for a distraction?

10 minutes is a decent little burst of workout time. Put on some music and the time will go even more quickly. I hear ya though, treadmills and elipticals are, ultimately, boring as are gyms. Ugh! Better to go out for a walk in nature for 15 or 20 minutes.

It’s never worthless to get any exercise.

@canidmajor how can you read if you’re holding onto the handles of a treadmill ? I’m really curious about this one.

There are bookstands you can get, or if you have an ereader, there are stands for that, too.

You can get an armband for an iPod and listen while exercising.

I have my television in front of my treadmill, so if I ever use it, I can watch the news.

Trainers have told me that you don’t really get a lot done until you reach a heart rate of 120, break a sweat, then maintain that effort for at least 20 minutes from the sweat point on. In other words, the clock doesn’t start until you break a sweat. Then do this a minimum of three times a week. If you are eating more calories than you can burn in your everyday “activities of daily living”, you need to extend this time, if you want to lose fat and replace it with muscle.

At about 20 minutes of breaking a sweat, you hit a zone where time no longer is significant and you reach a kind of meditative state in your head. There is a second zone you hit at about 30 minutes where you feel a kind of elation, kind of like being high. If you this regularly, you look forward to it after awhile. You don’t feel right unless you get some time in on a daily basis. You’ve become addicted to your own endorphins. This takes about a month of regular, proper workouts. It’s kinda like a coffee addiction, like how you aren’t in your best mood if you don’t get enough coffee—only this addiction is more positive and much better for you.

In the process, your body becomes a more efficient machine, a more efficient calorie burning machine and your base metabolism burns calories at a higher rate while you’re in your couch potato mode. Your metab is no longer sluggish, and you are well oxygenated and much sharper mentally.

At ten minutes, you haven’t even approached the first zone and haven’t really accomplished much.

@filmfann “If I ever use it….“lol.

@Espiritus_Corvus True, I didn’t delve into things as deeply as you. Yes, at least 30 minutes of increased heart rate for a good workout but for an older person or person that may not be on a regular exercise program 10 minutes is a good start. Baby steps. hey, since I hate to sweat does 30 minutes of no sweat swimming count? LOL

^^LOL. Delving… You just don’t drink enough coffee.

I hate the treadmill, the eliptical, the spinning—most aerobics, especially indoors. Gah. But that’s the way it works. I prefer strenuous tour cycling and kayaking, which provide lower and upper body workouts respectively—real life stuff with changes of scenery and interesting encounters with other cyclists and kayakers. But it doesn’t matter much after I hit the zone, really.

You sweat when you do laps in the pool, but you don’t realize it because it is immediately washed away. Doing laps in the pool is my favroite aerobic exercise, because aerobics, like spinning, etc., make me sweat like a fire hydrant. If I’m gonna do that, it’s best if I do it in a coolant, like water. That’s why I like kayaking. If you get overheated, you just flip her, come back up drenched, then keep moving.

At my age, I’m not built for speed anymore, I’m built for comfort. LOL. And strength. I love lifting. Nothing really heavy, just repetitive. Upper extremities get 80 lbs, about four sets of ten reps each. Lower extremities, depending on specific muscle size, get from 80 to 120 lbs. The only time I go over that is on the leg press. The leg press works the largest set of muscles in your body—those of the thigh. I’ll go 220 -240 on that and I worked up to it. You have to build supporting muscle or you’ll pop a knee. Show your knees a little respect. In return, I increased my cycling cruising speed—the speed in which I can maintain easily and still get somewhere—from ten to sixteen mph on flat land.

I don’t do that 400 lb, one rep, clean-lift shit. That’s insane and a good way to get hurt. But I’m also 6’2” and naturally a bit thick in the arms and chest. I have to be careful not to become muscle bound, so I incorporate yoga—to the shock and dismay of the younger gym rats—to stretch my muscles as they are built.

Women, of course, should work up cautiously to half of what I do at the most. More reps, lighter weight. They don’t develop muscle the same way men do, thank god. They get nicely toned and get a really healthy glow about them. It’s really good for them and makes them look great. If you see a highly cut woman, she’s more than likely on anaerobic steroids. And, in my experience, women have a helluva lot more stamina than men, pound for pound. I’ve seen women weighing close to three hundred pounds stay on a treadmill at a good clip for over an hour. Incredible. I really don’t think I’ll ever see a guy of the same height and weight do that. No way. It may be the stamina that is required to give birth or something. But the fact is, we may be able to outrun them, but they can last a lot longer than we can. That’s been my impression, anyway.

OK. I bored you guys enough. The espresso is wearing off anyway.

I’m thinking of getting one. Not sure if only treadmill is sufficient or I should join gym instead of that..)

@Espiritus_Corvus, the OP didn’t ask about a full cardio workout, she just wanted to know if 10 minutes was a waste of time. I think that doing 10 minutes, however regularly, is better than doing no minutes.

I agree. Better than nothing at all. Barely. If she could hit the zone, though, she would understand how easy it gets.

30 minutes would be better. But 10 is better than nothing. Get a TV to watch while walking.

It depends on your goals. If your goal is weight loss it’s worthless but for cardiac it’s not.

@chyna I try to be productive when exercising. I cut trees and clear brush.
and I think those things are death traps.

@filmfann, me too. I can’t stand the stay-in-place things, either. I walk dogs and chop wood and log a lot of singing-vigorously-in-the-shower time.

The new treadmill is on the air conditioned back porch. There is no room for it in the den or bedrooms.
Knowing my body , if I broke a sweat and kept going I’d have to have knee replacements. I know two people my age who danced like crazy and worked out at a gym. One had a knee replacement and the other has spinal stenosis and is trying to avoid back surgery. She can only stand up for ten minutes at a time. Oh=I forgot my ex. He was an insane table tennis player for many years (trophy winner) and his face would get beet red when he played. He has had an awful time with his back and knees.