Are you someone who regularly spends an hour to two hours (most likely just walking) on the treadmill, does no other form of exercise, and is frustrated with no results ? If so, I'd like to tell you why you're not seeing results, and how you can make each minute at the gym count towards real results, and spend the extra time doing something else !

First off, the body learns and gets efficient at every single physical activity (i.e. muscle contractions) you routinely make it do. Examples: Brushing your teeth, picking up your lil ones' toys from the floor, walking on the treadmill, etc So, what happens over time is that your results diminish because the body knows exactly how to walk on the treadmill, and how to do it with minimum energy loss (i.e. fat) ! In other words, your body works against your goals ! You want more fat burn, the body says, "No, I'm gonna save up more fat for survival (think saber tooth tigers)".

So, you have to make the body work harder over time, in order to keep seeing results. That's why you hear the common saying, "Mix up your routine". One analogy is inflation (i.e. money) ... today's $1 will be worth less 10 years from now because it's value has gone down. Similarly, 1 hour of treadmill time today will do less for you (i.e. burn less fat) a year from now, because the value/effectiveness of that 1 hour of walking has gone down over time.

Second, walking, in general, is a "low intensity" form of exercise. Which means that the rate of energy burn is very low. Think of walking as being a Honda Civic ... very efficient with fuel (i.e. fat). But, if you perform a high intensity exercise, your body is forced to burn fat more quickly simply because you are engaging more muscle mass and it needs to allow you to do what you are doing ! So, a high intensity exercise is like a Humvee (i.e burns a lot of fuel quickly). For instance, you're moving a heavy piece of furniture from the truck to your apartment ... that's high intensity ! Lots of energy is quickly burned because it has to be, otherwise, your couch will still be sitting in the truck ! So, in this case, you want your body to be like the Humvee, not the Honda Civic

Results are proportional to intensity, not time ! This is one of the most important things to know when it comes to training.

The point I'm making is ... walking does not push your body hard enough to get the results you want (i.e. weight loss). So, you are much better off doing something more intense for less time than walking for hours.

Examples of high intensity exercises include:
1 - squats (with or without weights, this is a great exercise)
2 - lunges (again, with or without weights)
3 - sprinting on the treadmill (think 6 minute mile pace or 10 mph) or "interval training" (look it up)
4 - lifting any heavy weights (heavy but safe of course), either furniture, children, or weights at the gym

If you're comfortable lifting weights, look at "compound lifts" which engage a lot of muscle mass - bench press, squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, dips, etc.

With these high intensity exercises, not only do you burn energy more quickly, but the body is forced to make long-term adaptations (i.e. you get fitter and stronger, and your metabolism is raised !), so your gains last not only for the time in the gym but long afterwards ! Of course, even with high intensity exercises, you need to make them incrementally harder over time (more weight, more reps, shorter rests, etc) to see continual gains.

Bottom line: Instead of spending two hours on the treadmill, try doing some high intensity exercises for 20-30 minutes, go home sooner, spend more time with the family, and enjoy far greater results