February 10, 2024 Team Triathlon Camp

Home Treadmills vs Commercial Treadmills

Owning a treadmill can be a huge benefit in your triathlon training.

For those bad weather days where you’d prefer the shelter, or if you have an upcoming workout that requires precise interval timings, the treadmill can be the superior option than an outdoor run.

In this article we’re going to cover the differences between home treadmills and commercial treadmills, to support you in your journey to picking your next machine.

Home Treadmills:

Home Treadmills vs Commercial Treadmills - image of treadmill at home

Benefits:

Compact Design: most home treadmills are built to suit a range of home training spaces. This means they tend to be more compact, allowing room to train in most pain caves.
Foldable options: following the above point, most modern home treadmills are foldable, which means you can easily store it away when the training is done.
User-friendly features: most of the interfaces on home treadmills and designed to suit a range of individuals, from beginner runners to hardened triathletes. Most will have preset programs so you can quickly access certain workouts and some will also have internet-access so you can stream movies/podcasts
Budget-friendly: home treadmills tend to be more affordable than commercial-grade machines, with prices ranging from £800-£2,000 for certain models.

Key considerations:

Weight capacity: most home treadmills will have a lower weight capacity than commercial-grade machines.
Usage level: home treadmills are built for moderate usage and may be less resistant to intense and continuous workouts.

Commercial Treadmills:

Home Treadmills vs Commercial Treadmills - image of commercial treadmills

Benefits:

Sturdy build: commercial treadmills are larger and sturdier in design to withstand heavy usage.
Higher weight capacity and incline range: commercial machines are built with heavy-duty materials which means that they can handle a higher weight capacity and steeper incline range.
Features: most commercial machines include a range of in-built workout programs and some will also have a HR monitor, built-in fans and a touchscreen.
Running surface: the larger running surface is to accommodate a diverse range of users with different stride lengths.

Key considerations:

Non-foldable: due to the need for durability and stability, most commercial machines are non-foldable.
Utilitarian design: commercial machines tend not to be built for aesthetics due to the focus on performance and build quality.
Cost: tend to be more expensive due to their heavy-duty construction and advanced features.