19/11/2024 - Maximum User Weights

The Blog

IMPORTANT: I am not trained to give any medical or nutritional advice... This is just me explaining what I do.

I used to own this fancy piece of equipment which could air and dry clothes. It was during the second wave of COVID-19 lockdowns when I made the purchase, and to be honest I got an absolute bargain on it. It looked sleek, was incredibly versatile and if used correctly, would help your clothes fit much better. I know what you’re thinking but no, it wasn’t one of those. It was a substantial investment at just over £500, with an impressive top speed of 14mph and a maximum user weight of 150kg. You’ve guessed it, I was of course talking about my treadmill. If your first guess here was a spin bike, or treadmill… then I’m certain that you can relate to this testimony and may benefit from reading on. For now, we’ll park and circle back to the treadmill but it’s important you know that I owned one.

When I left the British Army at aged 24, despite weighing about130kg, I had miraculously held on to a base level of fitness. I was able to run a couple of miles, and my run times mirrored those that I could achieve prior to my injury had I been carrying equipment in my day sack and webbing. For example: prior to my injury, I could easily run 1.5mile in under 9minutes 30seconds. I could complete the same distance wearing my helmet, body armour, webbing and day sack in about 13 or 14minutes. Post injury, I was running the same distance and time but unfortunately without any of the equipment! The additional weight was spread under my skin like a layer of seal blubber without the cuteness.

So, when the school I was then working at decided to hold a charity Olympic length triathlon, I figured this was the inspiration I needed to make a start on losing some of this weight and so jumped at the opportunity to get stuck in. I recall that some staff agreed to complete individual legs of the triathlon and a few individuals who were suckers for punishment agreed instead to complete the whole shebang. I was one of those suckers.

When that fateful day came to swim, cycle and run for charity I was apprehensive at best. I hadn’t trained enough, weighed 125kg and I hadn’t ridden my bike to test that it worked as intended. At this point, I’m going to explain that we used to have a few phrases in the Army that covered this point succinctly and I had spent the last few years counselling high school aged kids on how to prepare themselves for their futures. One of these phrases was known as the 7 Ps “Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents a Piss Poor Performance” (it was the 6 Ps when I was imparting this knowledge on kids). Irony was about to smack me in the face… and no that’s not a person’s name in this story.

I completed the swim with no issues, and I wasn’t even the last to finish. We transitioned on to the bikes and started heading off on the route. About 200m into the cycle, I went down a kerb and on to the road. Instantly both of my wheels locked and despite the impulsive, super tight clenching of my buttocks, desperately trying to hold on to my saddle (and breakfast), I was ejected from the saddle and on to the asphalt. In the heat of the moment (and because momma didn’t raise a quitter), I got straight back up and on to the bike. But the bike wouldn’t move... It was only then, in that moment when I went to inspect the issue, did I notice that both the front and rear wheels were horrendously buckled. On the one hand, I was glad that I didn’t have very far to carry my bike back to a friend’s car! On the other hand, I was completely baffled and couldn’t make sense of what had just happened. Whilst waiting for the others to finish, I had a few moments to examine the bike in more detail. There on the rim of each wheel was a sticker with small and almost indistinguishable text which read “maximum user weight 100kg”. This was (I think) my first experience of equipment failure due to my body weight being significantly higher than the design specification suggests. This was an expensive lesson for me (as anyone who owns a bike knows), but an important lesson and one which has been integral to every gym purchase I have made since.

I had used treadmills on and off for several years, mostly at gyms like PureGym. Being so heavy means that occasionally the running belt slips under foot. This can make you feel a tad nervous when jogging at any speed greater than a sloths sprint. However the benefits of a treadmill include the ability to get off at any point without a potentially long walk home. So when I eventually got around to purchasing my own treadmill, I paid particular attention to the maximum user weight and ensured that it would adequately meet my extra luggage needs.

For the first few weeks it was great. I was running regularly (no more than 5km) and even subscribed to run on Zwift (a virtual platform which connects to your treadmill and allows you to run online with others). That is until one morning when I was running on Zwift and my treadmill motor popped (a literal electrical pop, with a flash, hissing and smoke), which brought the treadmill to a sudden and immediate halt! Had I been walking, this wouldn’t have been an issue. But no… I was of course running at about 13kph, in need of oxygen and starting to resemble a raging tomato! Sir Isaac Newton (through his first law) dictates that an object (in this case me) will remain at rest or continue moving in a straight line at a constant speed (in this case 13kph) unless an outside force (in this case... The front of the treadmill and wall) acts upon it. If you’re visually minded and of an age to recall the Looney Tunes, Imagine the Wile E. Coyote, chasing the Roadrunner into that tunnel painted onto a wall.

I had once again fell afoul of maximum user weight. But this time in a very different way. You see, these companies who produce treadmills and such products, do not typically expect a 130kg individual to be able to run at these speeds (as explained by the engineer who had come to fix the treadmill). The maximum user weight had been assessed using a 150kg person who would likely walk slowly on the treadmill, for a shorter period or a lighter person exerting a larger amount of force (stress) for short instances of time. Clearly these engineers had never experienced the stress of employment in the education sector… If they had, you could bet that my treadmill would have been as tough as Chuck Norris! Unfortunately, for this reason my treadmill spent more time as an overqualified clothes horse than a piece of cutting-edge gym equipment. Regularly awaiting repairs. I got a complete refund and re-joined the gym to break their equipment instead.

Why am I raising this now? This week whilst on the treadmill at my gym, I was intending to complete a 5km run. And lately, I’ve been getting quite good at them (for a big guy anyways). I checked that the running belt wasn’t easily slipping as soon as I got on to the treadmill and made sure that as far as I could tell, it could take the beating I was about to deliver on it. Sometimes, if you listen very carefully, you can hear a little groan as I step on to them. It knows what’s coming!

About 25 minutes into this 5km effort and with about 0.5 mile to go, just whilst I was really opening up the pace, the machine tapped out and gave up on me. This time though I glided to a graceful halt (anybody third party watching me wouldn’t have known anything was amiss... thankfully). It appears that whilst I was pushing the pace, the emergency stop button which turned out to be loose had been triggered by my lead feet! Whilst this was frustrating, I was content with the effort I had put in and potential finish time.

In summary, I have extracted a few key points from my experiences below. If you’re a heavy person using treadmills, consider the following to avoid being the inspiration for a cartoon disaster scene! Seriously though... I hope this help you avoid an injury!

If buying your own gym kit, treadmill or bike, be sure to check the maximum user weight and warranty rules (in case you need to return it). Pay attention to recommended usage limits (3x a week for up to 1 hour etc)... some manufacturers publish this information online.
If using treadmills in a gym, stand on the treadmill and see if the running belt moves backwards and forwards easily... If it does, use another and report the loose belt. Also check that the speed and emergency stop buttons work adequately and make sure that the emergency stop button does not trigger on its own or is loose. Gym treadmills have a lot of varied users using the equipment. Some of those users abuse the equipment and many do not report broken items.
Consider this. You don’t get these issues running outside... But running outside comes with its own benefits and pitfalls. If outside is a safe and reasonable option, use it.
Remember the 7 Ps... Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents a Piss Poor Performance.
Finally, remember this. If you do have an accident whilst training, Sir Isaac Newton probably authored a concise explanation as to why physics kicked your butt that day. It won’t make you feel any better… but at least you can squeeze it in to a conversation with friends when you recount the story in the future!

Hope this helps someone out there or you find my stories on some level entertaining. Safe training everyone.

Coming soon, my progress and training record for week1.