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These interactive machines and apps will make you rethink the term “dreadmill.”
Not long ago, I stepped onto a treadmill at a gym in lower Manhattan and decided that a workout called “Beast Mode”—a prerecorded, 30-minute endurance session on the iOS app Studio—was the class for me. Never mind that I was supposed to be tapering for the NYC Half, or that I hadn’t set foot on a treadmill in years, let alone run with headphones. This was an app. For treadmill running. How challenging could it be?
The electric dance music crescendoed, and instructor Justin Koodish counted down—5, 4, 3, 2, 1!—and I was moving. Hard: 6:30 pace. My threshold. For two miles straight. The treadmill shook. Self-consciousness gripped me. Where do my feet go? Why does the air taste weird? Look out the window. Halal cart. Taxis. Runners! Runners running in the sunlit streets, untethered and free. Why am I not out there? Or, as Shinedown—one of the energetic bands on coach Justin’s playlist—sang in my ears, “Why you always running in place?”
But between Shinedown, Sum 41, and Lit Lords, there was also coach Justin’s voice:
“Keep your footfall right underneath the hip.”
“Shorter strides, higher cadence.”
“Chin up, chin up! Where’s that breathing? Gotta use that diaphragm.”
“Three minutes to go—keep pushing!”
Weirdly, it worked. Hearing his advice (taped and impersonal though it was), seeing other runners on the app’s leaderboard, and knowing that the speed and incline were all ultimately under my control kept me going. And not just through those two miles, but also the pounding intervals that followed.
Perhaps it wasn’t so weird. This is, after all, what Studio and a new crop of apps and interfaces aim to do: make treadmills exciting, engaging, and fun. If you run outdoors year-round, it’s tempting to think of this as a niche, but it’s a huge niche. The treadmill market is worth at least $3.74 billion and growing. And because up until now, the machine experience has consisted mostly of watching a red dot blip slowly around a track, there’s room for improvement.
Over the course of a week, I tested Studio and Zwift , both app-based treadmill training programs, as well as Peloton Tread and NordicTrack X22i , where the software is integrated into the machine. While none was perfect, together they convinced me—a 35-mile-a-week outdoor runner—that treadmills are not 100 percent evil.
Studio was a model for how these systems generally work. You choose a workout—say, a twice-daily live class (at 6:05 a.m./p.m.) or one of dozens of prerecorded classes, from Hip Hop Intervals to Walk It Out. You sync a device (in Studio’s case, only the Apple Watch , although certain Life Fitness treadmills let you log in directly to Studio). And then you run, manually adjusting speed and incline according to the instructor’s cues and comparing your performance with other runners on the dynamic leaderboard.
Studio was also the system I’m most likely to keep. Affordable and portable, I could even imagine using it outside, perhaps taking Beast Mode to the local track. To monitor my performance, though, I’d still need to invest in an Apple Watch as well.
Zwift , however, syncs with both Bluetooth-connected treadmills and any Bluetooth, performance-tracking foot pod that clips to your shoe (such as Stryd or Milestone). The program animates a little avatar through a computer-generated landscape on your phone, tablet, or computer screen to keep pace with you. Zwift, a favorite of cyclists, may be the most creative running app I’ve seen: My test run took my avatar 2.7 miles around a volcanic island, complete with lava flows and dark tunnels, in the fictional realm of Watopia. This, truly, is what I want when I’m on a treadmill—to pretend I’m somewhere else entirely.
“An integrated touchscreen lets you run anywhere, on every continent.”
Unfortunately, as a mobile app, Zwift is a hot mess. The display is cluttered. The fonts are tiny. I could barely make anything out, particularly with the phone resting below eye level on the treadmill’s console. Should I run faster? Slower? Alter the incline? I just couldn’t see, and there were no audio cues, either. (Zwift recommends using an iPad.) Worse, I needed to download a separate app, Zwift Companion, to control my settings and goals, register for events, and even view my previous runs. The Companion app isn’t essential, but it all felt overly complicated for the inherently simple act of running. For the moment, at least, Zwift is free.
Peloton Tread is decidedly not free. The treadmill, the successor to Peloton’s hugely popular indoor bike, costs $3,995 (shipping this fall), not including the $39-a-month subscription you’ll need for live classes. But this is one beautifully engineered machine. The 59-slat tread is stable and supportive. You control speed and incline by flicking dials at hand level; the acceleration and deceleration are almost instantaneous. The huge screen is positioned so that as you run along with, say, master instructor Rebecca Kennedy, you actually make eye contact with her. And she with you. You’re logged in and leaderboarded, so there’s a decent chance she’ll call out your name for encouragement right as she’s staring at one of six cameras capturing her every movement. And if not your name, then that of one of the hundreds, or even thousands, taking the class virtually alongside you.
If you love group classes (particularly those that mix running and strength-training) and if you crave the control a treadmill offers, you won’t find a slicker, more sophisticated system than Peloton Tread. It’s like going to a gorgeous, hip New York City gym in the comfort of your own home.
Me, I want running to take me away from New York. For that, there’s the $2,999 NordicTrack X22i. Like the Peloton, it’s got a big integrated touchscreen that lets you run anywhere, whether by drawing your own route on Google Maps (hello, Kabul) or choosing real-world iFit GlobeTrek video routes shot in 4KHD on every continent (hello, Antarctica). I’d never been to Utah, so I followed coach Jonnie Gale three miles through the stunning Red Rock Canyon. With every hill, the treadmill automatically inclined or declined to match the terrain, and with every 90-second sprint, it sped up without my having to do anything but push my pace and admire the scenery. This was bliss...
Well, almost. The hardware, I noticed, wasn’t quite up to the level of the software. Changes in speed and incline weren’t as snappy as on the Peloton, and the 22-inch screen was not only positioned too low (remember “Chin up, chin up!”?), it was also frustratingly grainy, despite being HD.
By the time I got off the treadmill, I’d come to a sweaty conclusion: Yes, treadmills are a hell of a lot better than they used to be, and if you need one—because your winters are long, your streets are crowded, or you have to cram in a few intervals before packing lunch for the kids—Studio, Peloton, and NordicTrack can keep you happy indeed. (Sorry, Zwift.) Me, I’m not ready to fully come in from the cold (and heat, and rain). But when I’m forced to, now I know I have options.