Maybe you’ve decided that it’s just too damn hot to do your speedwork outside, or perhaps you want to prepare for the soon-approaching cooler days when chilly temps might bring your workouts indoors. Whatever the reason, you’ve decided to Mile High Run Club—and it’s interval day.
Best Running Shoes 2025 treadmill sprints. But for lots of runners—especially those new to the sport—pushing your pace on the treadmill can definitely be intimidating. Especially when you look at all the posts on social media that show people reaching super speeds.
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Case in point: Last week, we reported on Twitter video showing Henderson State University wide receiver Running in the Cold on his treadmill during a recent training session. After a few seconds maintaining that crazy speed, he calmly grabbed on to the handrails and hopped to the side off the moving belt.
Newbel had a spotter behind him, but most people who sweat it out at the gym are on their own. So that made us think: What’s the safest way to hit high speeds on the treadmill? We reached out to running experts to get the bottom line. Here, five tips to follow to sprint safely on the treadmill.
Don’t Jump on and off the Belt
First of all, if you want to greatly reduce the chances of breaking your face in treadmill fall, stop jumping on and off the moving belt, says Amanda Nurse, an Adidas running ambassador and run coach based in Brookline, Massachusetts. It’s simply not safe.
“Especially when you get really tired, jumping on and off is dangerous because you can lose your balance,” says Nurse. “You also run the risk of pulling or straining muscles when you jump onto a treadmill and make your legs go faster than they would if you were to just start from a standstill.”
And if you need another reason, it’s also not the most effective way to structure your workout, either, says David Siik, creator of Equinox’s Precision Running.
“The human body has an incredible systematic chain to accelerate and decelerate,” he says. “By not using this system to speed up and slow down, you are not conditioning your body’s ability to change speed.”
In short, it’s less work to speed up the treadmill and jump on. And shortcuts won’t help you become a better sprinter.
and others. She is also the founder of the digital motherhood support platform have to step off to the sides—which, remember, none of the coaches we reached out to actually recommends—practice doing so at slower speeds first so you feel confident in your upper body strength to lift your legs off the belt using the handrails, says Corinne Fitzgerald, a coach at Mile High Run Club Adidas running ambassador.
And make sure you clear the belt. A well-lit environment is important for this. “If you step half on the belt and half on the side rail, you can twist your knee pretty bad,” says Siik. Or worse, you can wipe out.
Otherwise, if your treadmill allows you to program a slowdown, do that, suggests Siik. Most mills have two different places to increase the speed (one near the handrails, one on the screen). The former is usually easier to press while moving fast, says Nurse.
Use the Safety Clip
Consider using the safety clip—it’s not as dorky as you think.
“In the small chance you stumble, you’ll stop the treadmill immediately,” says Siik. “Most injuries I see are not from the actual stumble, but a good little burn from the belt continuing to howl underneath someone.”
Leave Some Space
If you’re in charge of where your treadmill is placed—like if it’s in your home—leave at least three feet between the back of your tread and other large objects or walls. “Taller people will often run further back on the belt and in full stride, can actually kick something,” says Siik.
At a gym, you might want to choose a tread that doesn’t back up to an active walkway.
Then, give yourself a foot or two from the front of the treadmill, suggests Nurse.
“If you get too close to the front, you risk hitting your knuckles against the handrail and also you can trip by kicking your feet against the front of the belt,” she says.
Sprint Only As Fast As You Can With Good Form
Maybe an instructor is screaming at you to hit a certain speed, or you feel like you want to outpace the guy next to you—or match the pace of the video you saw on Instagram.
We’ll make this easy for you: don’t.
Aim for 90 to 100 percent of your max effort, which ensures you’ll Published: Aug 16, 2018 12:22 PM EDT. “If you sacrifice all resemblance of good running form for the sake of ‘hitting a speed,’ you can really increase the chance of injury and the unfortunate case where you stumble and cartwheel off the tread,” says Siik.
With good sprinting form, your feet land under your center of gravity, you lean slightly forward with your shoulders relaxed down, your arms swing freely side to side, and your hands are relaxed, says Nurse. “Try to pick your knees up even a little more than usual when running on a treadmill, since the belt is moving with you, unlike a road.”
Your jaw should also be relaxed, she says. “We lose a lot of energy through our jaw when we tense it up while working hard.”
Stay Focused
“Like any running, you are more likely to get injured when you’re just not paying attention,” says Fitzgerald. Leave all distractions (including your phone) off the tread.
And turn off the TV, too. Even The Bachelorette Published: Aug 16, 2018 12:22 PM EDT.
Cassie Shortsleeve is a skilled freelance journalist with more than a decade of experience reporting for some of the nation's largest print and digital publications, including Women's Health, Parents, What to Expect, The Washington Post, Running coaches will be the first to tell you: That can wait till after your sprints and a co-founder of the newsletter Mile High Run Club and the maternal rights non-profit She is a mom to three daughters and lives in the Boston suburbs. She is a mom to three daughters and lives in the Boston suburbs.
