Motorless Woodway Curve Treadmill - This thing seem ridiculous to anyone else?

Mike Boyle endorsement... Mike Boyle's endorsement when it comes to running and running related topics is worth about a 3 cents...

It's nothing new though a good idea and I'd be interested in one personally, were it inexpensive and the design much better than it is.

The only one who looked like a runner was the woman who barely kept from going off the front end of it.

Is there a video of this thing in motion or something? I don't understand how it even works...

... and how much does this cost?

I love how you cant find the price of this thing anywhere on the internet

Amazingly, my municipal recreation center sprung for one and the employee in charge of procurement is quite enthusiastic about it. The advertising sells its green (motorless) and biomechanical (allegedly enforcing excellent form) characteristics. I'm not sold on it.

I understand the importance of good form, and think that my running form is fairly solid, but I can't find a comfortable alignment that lets me move the belt without falling over. It seems to punish you for landing your feet under your body's center of gravity/the bottom of the curve. It seems to reward over-striding, if you can do that without falling forward.

Or perhaps my running form is terrible, and I should be running on The Curve more often. Potat-o, po-ta-to.

I have tried one and they are awesome! We had one in the gym at school. Your stride doesn't feel totally natural, but more natural than on a real treadmill. Best I can tell, is that the curve in the front and back help to keep the belt in motion after your foot-strike starts to propel the belt. I found that it was easy to speed up but hard to slow down.

Bottom line: don't go out and buy one, but if you see one in a gym, go try it out :)

These units were on the Biggest Loser tonite, I believe.

Introductory price is $5500, eventual price is $7k to $15k per http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/jul/21/new_treadmill_creates_buzz89834/. This looks essentially like a compact hamster wheel for humans in the sense that is powered by the occupant and relying on a curved shape to accomplish that. I think the claim about natural running form comes from the marketing department. My guess is that the shape is the best shape they found for a treadmill without a motor rather than the best shape for running. I noticed that some of the gals running on it are bent forward at the waist. It might encourage leg lift. However, being a warm climate dweller, I really don't like to run on normal treadmills and this looks farther removed from running than a normal treadmill.

OC100k RD wrote:

My guess is that the shape is the best shape they found for a treadmill without a motor rather than the best shape for running.

This.

So you pay as much or more than you would for a typical top-of-the-line treadmill and you get a hamster wheel. Nice.

Bottom line, unless you live in a war zone, go outside.

So what about a giant hamster wheel? Would that be any good for indoor running? Man, it sounds really cool anyway.

We just got one in our student gym at my college. I'm on the track team and while I don't like to run on treadmills I was forced to one day due to a snow storm outside. This treadmill was the only one available and I so I gave it a try and hated it. I couldn't run for more than two minutes without wanting to stop. Unfortunately for me, this thing was not nearly as cool to run on as it looked.

A Hamster wheel would be better! With this thing, it's way more expensive than a regular treadmill and doesn't even have a motor!

Bottom line: If you are a serious runner (run mainly for performance as opposed to fitness or fun), don't bother.

go run outside - its free and no marketing. I would not get on that thing for any reason at all. It is not like treadmills are the ideal training tool.

Just looking at the picture, it looks like you would have to put a constant force on the handle bars to keep your legs and the belt moving. Is that the case? If so, that is not running at all. That is like holding the side of a pool while kicking and saying you are swimming.

We have the Curves in a brick class, 10 of them, and everyone loves them. It takes a few seconds to get used to but once you get the hang of it it is a great workout. It is definitely not the same as normal treadmill because there is no motor. It is more work.

I believe the price is about $6,000 and the article was referring to their other products costing from $7,000 - $15,000. Woodway treadmills are top of the line, used by almost all professional sports teams to train.

quagmire wrote:

go run outside - its free and no marketing. I would not get on that thing for any reason at all. It is not like treadmills are the ideal training tool.

Tell this to the greatest distance runner ever, who happens to run on the treadmill five or six times a week!

6K for a manual treadmill???

They push both its almost frictionless belt/propulsion system and that you burn 30% more calories (because of all the friction).

Basically you will be running 6 min/mile effort to run an 8 minute mile. Good for your form, indeed.

curvetreaduser wrote: Woodway treadmills are top of the line, used by almost all professional sports teams to train.

1. I can't think of anyone whose opinion on running training tools I care about LESS than professional sports teams. Do you think I'm interested in what Shaq plunks along on for extra cardio?

2. You registered the name "curvetreaduser"?? You're clearly an employee of the company. Please stop your fraud.

I've seen a few recreational runners drop their mile time substantially just from adding sprint repeats on this thing. One guy went from a 6 minute mile to a 5:30 mile - and the only thing he changed was adding 10 sets of 30 second all out sprints on the woodway (3ish times a week).

It feels a bit crazy when you first start running on it but it does eventually feel pretty good. Much more of a workout than a traditional treadmill.