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Where were you when you saw your first “fitfluencer” gushing over a walking pad? Slimmer than a traditional treadmill, these fitness devices blew up for their convenience and affordability, able to be stored under a couch and costing a fraction of the cost of a full-size treadmill.
Like many, I had visions of walking during Zoom meetings and reality TV binges. But there was a problem: the weight limits. The eponymous WalkingPad has a max user weight of 220 pounds. TikTok’s beloved DeerRun goes up to 300 pounds. But even if you clock in under the max weight, being within throwing distance comes with anxiety: how gentle do you need to be? What if you gain weight in the future?
I grabbed one of the highest weight limit walking pads I could find on Amazon for under $300. It claimed a 400-pound weight limit, but after less than a month of use–admittedly heavy use, with my husband and I collectively clocking a few hours every day–it was totally useless, coming to a full stop whenever we stepped on it.
So when NordicTrack offered to let me try one of their mack-daddy professional treadmill models, the Commercial 2450, I figured that might be the answer. Instead of nearly disposable devices, this machine is meant to take a public-gym level beating: bodies of all sizes running full speed around the clock.
The differences between a full, top-of-the-line treadmill and a walking pad are night and day. While the 2450 has the same stated weight limit as my Amazon walking pad, 400 pounds, I am able to walk, jog, and full-out sprint on the NordicTrack treadmill without feeling like the device is in danger. The track is super cushioned as well; I could never run outside as comfortably as I can on this machine. It’s got bells and whistles galore, like cup-holders and a built-in fan. The showstopper is the 24-inch screen. It can natively stream Netflix and Amazon Prime, so if you are also trying to turn TV time into workout time, this machine delivers.
What has me hooked, though, is what gets unlocked with NordicTrack’s iFit membership. Pick a trainer-led workout, like an interval walk in New Zealand. Set your favorite genre of background music (the app will select tracks with a BPM that matches your speed), and start cruising around a gorgeous park. When the trainer picks up speed, either as part of the planned routine or even just to catch a light crossing the road, the treadmill automatically increases speed so you can keep pace. When the trainer starts up a hill or stairs, the device increases incline. It feels immersive in a way I didn’t expect–as someone who always prefers walking outside if the weather is warm, it makes an indoor workout feel almost like an outdoor workout.
Because this treadmill is 80 percent computer, it is prone to the type of tech errors you’ve come to expect from your devices, like freezing or the touch screen not responding. So far, all of my hiccups have been solved by a restart, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind when you’re investing in a product this pricey. NordicTrack includes a warranty and offers extended warranty plans that cover most of the problems you could imagine—if you’re planning to put in serious time on this machine, it’s probably a good investment.
The Commercial 2450 is a beast, so expect to dedicate a good amount of space to the machine, though it does fold up to save a few feet when it’s not in use (with hydraulics to support lifting and lowering for noodle-arms like me). But between the couch-to-5K training programs, the ability to turn the screen to stream non-treadmill workouts like weight-lifting or yoga, and integrated streaming, you may find that it’s in use more often than you expected.
