The Benefits of 30 Minutes on the Treadmill a Day

A treadmill is an efficient exercise option no matter what shape you're in. Beginners, intermediates and advanced exercisers can choose different speeds and inclines to create fat-burning, cardio and sprint-training workouts. Understanding the benefits of treadmill exercise will help you create a 30-minute workout to help improve your heart health, burn calories and improve your sports performance.

Heart Health

Walking, jogging, running or sprinting on a treadmill challenges your heart, which is a muscle. Elevating your heart rate for the duration of a 30-minute workout helps improves cardio capacity and stamina. The American Heart Association and American College of Sports Medicine recommend 30-minute workouts on most days each week to improve and maintain heart health.

Improved Blood Cholesterol

Not all cholesterol is bad for you. High-density lipoprotein, or good cholesterol, helps decrease your risk for atherosclerosis, a blocking of the arteries that can lead to heart attack and stroke. Exercise such as walking on a treadmill at a brisk pace for 30 minutes may help boost HDL levels by as much as 5 percent if you exercise regularly, according to MayoClinic.com. Use the heart rate monitor on a treadmill to reach 70 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate or jog between 4 and 5 mph, depending on your height and leg stride. Many treadmills come with programmable workouts, allowing you to enter your age, height and weight to achieve the right speed for you.

Low Impact

If you can't perform high-impact workouts every day, such as aerobic dancing, jogging, jumping rope or other exercises that require you to leave the ground with both feet, walking on a treadmill is an option for you. Not only is walking a low-impact exercise, but the soft treadmill is a more forgiving surface the asphalt and concrete surfaces on which you walk outdoors.

Improves Stamina and Endurance

Exercising for 30 minutes a day will help you build cardio stamina and muscular endurance, or your ability to perform physical activity over time. Beginners should walk at a pace less than 4 mph to prevent fatiguing before 30 minutes. Shorter, high-speed workouts on a treadmill help you build the capacity to do high-intensity exercise, but slower or moderate-intensity walking for longer periods helps you build stamina and endurance.

Burns Calories

Using a treadmill for 30 minutes each day helps you burn calories. A 160-lb. beginner, walking at 2 mph, will burn 183 calories per hour. At 3.5 mph, she'll burn 277 calories. Jogging at 5 mph for an hour burns 584 calories, while running at 8 mph burns 986 calories.