JTX Club-Pro: Professional Treadmill

Treadmill Terminology

Heart rate monitor

There are two types of heart rate monitors; hand sensor monitors and wearable monitors. Hand sensor monitors come with most fitness machines and they record your pulse through the handgrips. They are good a guide but are rarely accurate. Wearable monitors such as heart rate chest straps and watches are generally much more accurate.

Target heart rate training can be used to assist fitness goals ranging from fat burning and weight loss to maximum aerobic capacity development. Select your target heart rate zone before your workout based on your individual goal. A heart rate chest strap or watch will then monitor your heart rate, giving you real-time feedback so you can maintain the right level of effort to stay in your selected target zone. Many fitness machines link to heart rate chest straps or watches and auto-adjust their resistance to keep you in your target heart rate zone.

Power or Horsepower

The term ‘horsepower’ is a unit of measurement for motor size. A large horsepower of 3hp or more generally indicates a premium quality motor which will last longer than a smaller motor size. You will often see two horsepower measurements, continuous and peak. For example, 1.75 horsepower, 3 horsepower peak. We suggest you focus your attention on the continuous duty rating, which is the lower reading of the two.

Some lower-quality treadmills refer to their power in watts. There are 750 watts to 1 horsepower unit. If you are hoping to run over 3 times per week, or you weigh over 10 stones, we recommend looking for a treadmill with at least 1.5 horsepower.

Belt

Also known as the "running deck", this is the moving belt that you run on. We recommend you buy a large treadmill with the biggest belt that you can fit in your home. This will allow you plenty of room to sprint without feeling restricted.