In most homes around the world, space is at something of a premium. In fact, even when it isn’t, most of us do not want ugly, bulky pieces of home exercise equipment hanging around making your beautiful home look like a sweaty gym. Treadmills are one of the largest pieces of home gym equipment you will find. How big is an average sized treadmill? Well, when you consider the footprint of the running machine itself, coupled with the safe clearance space around it, you are looking at something which will take up around the same amount of space as a single bed. That’s a lot of room for a single piece of fitness equipment!

Thankfully, there is no longer any need to devote permanent floor space to a heavy treadmill as those ingenious exercise engineers have given us the option of buying a folding treadmill instead! These fold up treadmills are just as sturdy, offer the same features and are as fun and easy to use as a traditional treadmill but with one very useful feature – they can be folded down for easy storage, whether that be under a bed, in a closet or simply leaned up against a wall to be pulled out when needed.

The space saving features of a folding treadmill mean no one has the excuse of not being able to find the time to exercise, not wanting to go to the gym today or otherwise, shirk on their fitness goals…and that can only be a good thing for your personal health.

Recommended Folding Treadmills

Here are some of the best folding treadmills on the UK market today. These foldable, space saving, stowable treadmill models will be a great asset to any home gym.

Tunturi T40 Folding Treadmill
The Tunturi T40 folding treadmill is easy to use and a dream to store when not in use. It’s fitted with an orthopaedic belt that’s gentle on your joints and muscles. To keep a close eye on your heart rate, it features handgrip pulse measurement, incl…

1,499 GBP

 Bowflex 7 Series Folding Treadmill
The Bowflex 7 Series Treadmill is a motorised treadmill featuring 15 programs including 2 HRC (Heart Rate Control), 2 user defined and BMI (Body Mass Index), which combine to give you maximum workout variety. This treadmill has 0 – 12% incline optio…

1,499.99 GBP

How To Buy A Folding Treadmill

Once you have decided you have room for a foldable treadmill in your life, you will want to start looking around for one to suit your fitness goals. Wait, before you decide to jump upon the first cheap folding treadmill you see, be sure to read the following treadmill buying advice so you can make an informed decision rather than buying a treadmill you don’t like and turning it into the world’s most expensive clothes horse.

Cheap Folding Treadmills

What do you get for the difference in price between a cheap foldaway treadmill and a more expensive treadmill? Well, that will depend on how cheap and how costly you were looking at. As ever, that old unfortunate phrase “you get what you pay for” springs to mind and in the case of treadmills, couldn’t be more true. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t find a great bargain treadmill out there, just that, the low price treadmill machines are typically, not that good.

A low cost treadmill, the bottom of the range types, are going to skimp on some of the more important areas such as motor and deck quality (some will not have a motor at all), frame construction may be shaky, the computer console lacking in features and generally, the whole machine is going to be at best basic and at worse, something you’ll be disappointed by. Of course, if basic is all you truly desire, then a cheap treadmill might be for you.

Manual Treadmill or Motorised Treadmill Belts

The first stage in your decision making process should be to look at the different types of treadmills out there. A folding treadmill can been either motor driven, where a powerful (or not so powerful) motor drives the running belt at an easily adjustable and monitorable speed, or a manual drive belt, which is pushed along by the users own feet.

A manual foot powered treadmill is usually something you will only see on basic treadmill, those at the cheap end of the buying spectrum. Manual belts are considered something to avoid by most treadmill professionals as they not only are said to be something of a strain on your legs and ankles, but also cut down on the options you have through the computer console. You can not set up good programmed exercise routines with a manual belt, nor can you maintain an exact speed as the belt will move as fast as your legs move, changing speed constantly as you tired etc.

Motorised treadmills on the other hand are a much better choice. You can set constant or variable speeds automatically through the console and the treadmill will adjust the motor speed accordingly, giving you much more interesting and varied workouts. Remember, the more interesting and varied the workout is, the more interest you will have in continuing to use the treadmill and stick to those new years resolutions.

Treadmill Motor Quality and Warrantee

Even if a treadmill does come with a motor, you need to check it is going to be up to the job and give you years of good service. Some treadmill manufacturers go cheap on the motor to save few dollars here and there, which lowers the price but also lowers the quality and longevity of the treadmill. Check out the HP and the warrantee which comes with the motor. A good treadmill for running should have an rating of over 2 horsepower and look for at least 5 years warrantee on the motor, many makers offer 10 years or longer and this is a sign of confidence it will work. Some of the cheap treadmill manufacturers offer as little as 3 months warrantee and this should tell you quite a bit about how muhc confidence they have in the machine continuing to function as desired.

Treadmill Weight, Size and Moving Considerations

The whole idea of buying a folding treadmill, is to move it around at least occassionally, which is something you will not want to be doing with a non-foldable treadmill which are very heavy and very bulky. Folding treadmills are still heavy pieces of equipment but have several features which make them lighter and easier to move. Most folding treadmills simply fold in half, with the running deck lifting up to cut the size of the machine considerably. Now flat, they can either be stored under a bed or in a closet etc. In order to facilitate moving the machine, there are usually wheels and handles allowing you to lift one end and wheel the treadmill like a cart to where you want it to go. If bending and lifting is a problem for you, then you might want to take this into consideration before buying and if space is still tight, then check out the folded dimensions of your treadmill choice before buying.

Treadmill Computer Console and Training Programs

One of the things which separates cheap treadmills from better quality ones is the computer console which comes with the machine. The console controls things like the inclination of the running deck, allowing you to push a button and raise / lower the deck to simulate hills and dales, or to monitor your speed, distance travelled, approximate calories burned and things like that. Good consoles also come with heart rate monitors and built in fitness programs aimed at such things as cardiac training, weight loss or just simply different programs designed to raise and lower the deck at specific intervals to keep things interesting. A good console can really extend the lifespan of your treadmill whilst a bad one, or none at all, can guarantee you will become bored with it and stop using it fast. Some treadmills feature programmable consoles which allow you to store your own programs too.

Treadmill Running Deck Width, Length and Cushioning

Oddly enough, the width and length of the running deck can vary quite considerably from one treadmill to the next. This can cause a problem if you happen to be using a narrow treadmill but find you weave around a lot or have a wide stance (in a Larry Craig kind of way), or simply feel constricted by the width in general. Short treadmill decks are not so much of a problem if you only intend to use a treadmill for walking exercise but if you decide to run, then a shorter deck can be a problem if you have a long stride or find yourself losing ground as falling off the back can be quite dangerous…as well as humiliating.

Be sure then, to check the length and width of the treadmill running deck before you buy if you think any of these things may be an issue for you. Of course, if your space is limited then a shorter, narrower treadmill might also be ideal, so check for a small treadmill instead!

How Safe and Sturdy Is A Foldable Treadmill

When folding treadmills first came to market, the answer to that question would have been ‘not very’ but thankfully all that has changed. If you buy a good folding treadmill then you’ll not notice much difference between it and a fixed frame treadmill. Of course, if you buy cheap don’t be surprised if rattles and shakes and generally feels rickety and unstable either. The best way to check out whether there is a sturdiness or stability issue is to try out the treadmill, but failing that – as most places do not have them set up to try – check out some customer reviews online. Amazon is a great place for this but there are others too.

Where Can I Buy A Folding Treadmill?

Well, unfortunately high street stores tend to stock a lot of the poor quality models so the best place to look is online. You will also find a lot of treadmill bargains, discount treadmills and special offers available from online stores who do not have the overheads of a traditional bricks and mortar high street store which is a great way to pick up a higher quality machine for the price you were thinking of paying anyway.