where you at, euclid?

dear people at the gym who run/walk/fail to control the flopping of your foot on the treadmill,

i am writing this letter to express concern for your fitness routine. although i commend your efforts to actually go to the gym and be physically active {the rest of america should really follow suit} i just wanted to let you know that...

you're doing it wrong.

and because i can't stand to watch you exercise incorrectly i just want to help you become the best you there is, i've taken the time to illustrate a few drawings on proper treadmill use. and just so you know, it's about angles, people. geometry and stuff like that.

so here you are walking/running on level ground. a great place to start. notice the angle between your body and the surface on which you are walking/running. hint: it's 90 degrees.

and just for comparison purposes, here you are climbing a mountain. look at you go! all this working out is really paying off. again, notice the angle between your body and the mountainside. hint: i didn't measure it but it's less than 90 degrees.

{note: image not drawn to scale}

and here you are again training for climbing up said mountainside by increasing the angle of your treadmill at the gym. you are dedicated. and i like it. yet again, you've got less than a 90 degree angle between your body and the walking/running surface. that's what makes it hard.

this is good. this is hard work. go, you.

however, i find that most of you don't actually utilize the incline on your treadmills as pictured above. rather you tend to use the incline like this:

holding on = cheating.

you see the angle you've created between your body and the treadmill there by hanging on? 90 degrees! we've already discussed that 90 degrees is the easy angle. so while you might feel like you look really impressive by using that incline setting and cranking it waaaay up, i'm not impressed. no one is.

image

didn't geometry teach you anything?

hope this helps you step up your gym game. and keep up the good work. and for the love of pete, let go of the treadmill.

sincerely,
rikki

p.s.- we'll discuss your inability to control the flopping down of your foot on the treadmill/lack of anterior tibialis strength at a later date. baby steps.