A Comparative Study of the Oxygen Uptake Between Nonmotorized and Motorized Treadmills

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of nonmotorized treadmill walking and motorized treadmill walking on YO, results, measured in ml•kg·'·min·•, of males and females, ages 20-30 at Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA. The participants were required to walk at a pace of 3 miles per hour and 13% grade for a total exercise time of 9 minutes. The exercise time was broken up with 3-minute recovery periods. Oxygen uptake was measured continuously using a metabolic measurement cart. The data obtained from the metabolic cart were correlated for each treadmill to determine the degree of relationship. A 1 test for correlated means was used to determine if there was a significant difference, alpha < 0.05, when measuring YO, and metabolic (MET) results. A significantly low correlational coefficient was found when the Pro form Dual Motion Crosswalk Cross Trainer motorized treadmill (CW TM) V02 and MET results were compared with the Jane Fonda nonmotorized treadmill (Jane TM) and Voit 502 MD nonmotorized treadmill (Voit TM) YO, and MET results (r = 0.3, Q < 0.0001). These results enabled the researchers to reject the null hypotheses, which stated there would be no significant difference and a high positive correlation between nonmotorized and motorized treadmill V02 and MET results. Standard mean difference effect sizes were calculated for the nonmotorized treadmills versus the motorized treadmill. An effect size of 1.62 was found when both nonmotorized treadmills were compared with the motorized treadmill. This, combined with the significant difference, Q < 0.0001 , provided confidence that a Type I error was avoided. Therefore, the results of this research study show a significant difference in V02 and METs measured on a nonmotorized treadmill when compared with a motorized treadmill.