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[Phys-l] treadmill vs open road



Hello,

I just started running for exercise, and was chatting with some long- time runners about it, and they had some interesting comments about treadmills. Most of them felt that running on a treadmill was very different than normal running, and noted that they felt that they could run faster on a treadmill. There was one who said it was basically the same amount of exercise, but felt that he ran slower on a treadmill. Assuming that we have a completely flat road and a flat treadmill, I can think of no difference in the physics between the two systems which would give rise to the different experiences. My first thoughts were that the difference in experience comes from the slight irregularities in the open road, which cause balance muscles to work, ones that wouldn't be needed on a treadmill, but none-the- less contribute to the workout.

Any thoughts or additional physics that you think comes into play here?



Brian Blais
--
Brian Blais
bblais@bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais