You may know that exercises that use fast twitch muscle fiber burn far more calories and burn more fat, than exercises that recruit slow twitch muscle fiber.
Fast twitch fiber is designed for very short duration exercise of power or speed. Slow twitch is designed for longer, endurance-type activities.
An example of fast-twitch exercises: jumping, sprinting, heavy weight lifting. And examples of slow-twitch activities: jogging, step aerobics classes, bicycling, light weight lifting.
You can recruit both slow and fast twitch on a treadmill. But recruiting fast twitch will accelerate any weight loss attempts. If you do not need to lose weight, then fast-twitch exercise STILL should be performed, because it has many other amazing benefits besides burning fat.
These benefits include enhances sports performance, greater speed, swifter movement, more coordination, denser bones and better-looking, tighter muscles.
After getting warmed up on a treadmill, raise the incline to 15 percent. And keep this rule in mind: DO NOT HOLD ONTO THE MACHINE while you perform this exercise. Holding on will defeat the entire purpose! The only time I suggest you hold on is at the very end of this drill, and at that, for only one or two seconds to collect yourself. Two seconds TOPS, and then let go after that.
After you program the treadmill to raise to 15 percent, set the speed at 3 mph. Now, this may be too fast for this particular drill (which I am about to explain). But for other people, it may be too slow. If you’re an athlete, set it at 3. If you’re a klutz or in poor condition, set it at 2 mph or even slower.
After doing that, start jumping with both feet taking off at the same time, and both landing at the same time. Make sure your feet are even (flush) on the tread, rather than one ahead of the other. Do not take off with one foot first or ahead of the other, and do not land with one foot first. Both feet work perfectly together.
Remember I said not to hang onto the treadmill? Use your arms as you would if you were jumping in the parking lot. Just make sure you don’t bang your hands into the rails. You do not need to jump as high as you can, but feel free to if you have the coordination.
The tempo for the jumping will be automatically determined by the moving tread. Obviously, if you wait too long in between jumps, you’ll be whisked right off the tread. Do not insert any walking or jogging in between jumps. It should be HOP HOP HOP HOP HOP.
Do this for 30 seconds straight. Land with slightly bent knees. If after 30 seconds, you’re not exactly smoked out, then do another set at a faster speed. But walk easily a few minutes in between sets.
If you’re an athlete, increase the speed to 4 mph and again go for 30 seconds. Walk casually for two minutes, then set the speed to 5 mph. I warn you, at this speed, you’re going to have to fight it out to stay on the tread without being whisked off. HOP HOP HOP HOP HOP for 30 seconds, both feet together always. This is truly a fast-twitch muscle drill. And even though it’s only for 30 seconds, it will produce profound improvement in your body if you do this drill just a few times per week.
