A treadmill studio. Ever heard of it? I hadn’t until recently, but they are starting to pop up around the country.
I had the opportunity to attend two classes at Fly Feet Running, a treadmill studio in Minneapolis and Wayzata, Minnesota. I went to the “Tread and Shred” class in downtown Minneapolis and the “Stride” class at the Wayzata location.
Both locations are fairly new with a clean, modern look, plenty of space for everyone, and a lot of “extras” that can really make your experience that much more awesome. As in, there were hair ties if you forgot yours; razors, hairspray, a hair dryer, etc. in the bathrooms; and lockers with a self-set combo that you don’t have to remember a lock each time.
Each location had a main studio with 15-20 treadmills (depending upon the location), and the Wayzata location had a second smaller studio with 5 treadmills and some weight equipment where people could do their own workout.
The lighting was dim in the studio, but the music was pumping. The treadmills lined the length of the studio with mirrors on both sides of the room. There was a TRX bar the length of the room on the other side of the room with TRX straps and bands hanging from the bar. We also used dumbbells and kettlebells in the running/weights combo class.
I first went to the Tread and Shed class, which was a weights and treadmill combination class. We started out with a short warm-up on the treadmill, and then the coach walked us through the movements for the weights portion of the class. The remainder of the class was a partner workout of 3 different workouts, each 12 minutes, alternating between weights and running on the treadmill.
Set one was 150 deadlifts with a kettlebell. You had to complete 150 reps between you and your partner. We broke it up into sets of 10 reps to keep counting easy, and while the one partner was doing the deadlifts, the other was holding a high plank. With whatever time was remaining in the 12 minutes, you and your partner alternated running on the treadmill for 1 minute as fast as you could, in order to cover as much distance as possible during that time.
The second set was 100 dumbbell shoulder presses overhead. During this set, the other partner was performing a wall sit. After 100 total reps were completed between you and your partner, we then took turns running on the treadmill in 1 minute intervals again.
The final set was 100 dumbbell lifts in a squat position with a dumbbell in each hand, making sure to touch the floor with the dumbbell, and then “pop” back up, bringing the dumbbells to your shoulders. Your partner was either doing a hang from the bar or holding a partial v-up on the ground during their “rest.” We then concluded this set by taking turns running on the treadmill again. After each running portion, we recorded the distance we covered, totaled up the distance, and had a friendly little competition between the other teams to see which team ran the farthest. (Of course my competitive drive took over, and I covered as much ground as I could during each interval, and my partner, Hallidie and I came out on top. Ha!)
The second class I attended was the Stride class at the Wayzata location.
This class was different in that there was a lot more running. We started out with a 3 minute warm-up on the treadmill, gradually building to our 800 meter race pace at the end of the warm-up. After the warm-up, we got off the treadmill, and the coach walked us through some functional fitness exercises including a hamstring strengthening exercise with a band wrapped around the bar above our head. We put our foot through the loop of the band dangling down, and then had to drive our knee up to a 90 degree angle, while keeping correct alignment with our knee. It was an exercise that I had never done before, but one that would be great for improving running form. We then did a series of planks with a high plank, side plank, and a starfish plank. Our third exercise was monster walks with the bands to isolate those glutes since they are often a weak link for a lot of runners.
After these function fitness activities, we went back to the treadmill for the bulk of our workout. The workout was 4 x 400 meters followed by 8 x 200 meters with a recovery of standing rest off the treadmill for 1 minute.
I was still sore from the previous class three days ago, so I took this workout at a medium-hard effort rather than a hard effort. I had also run quite a bit of mileage in the last 5 days, so I didn’t want to push it too much risking injury or overdoing since I haven’t been running as much this pregnancy.
Both gyms had Woodway treadmills, which were so nice. (You might know them as the curved treadmills.) This was my first time running on a Woodway treadmill, and they were amazing! I thought the belt felt more similar to running outside than any other treadmill I’ve used.
I really enjoyed both classes and think this would be a great tool to have in order to get a hard workout in during the winter, or just to have someone push you and motivate you to get outside your normal easy pace.
Questions
Have you ever been to a treadmill studio?
If yes, where did you attend, and what was your class(es) like?
If not, would you utilize something like this for your training?
