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Okay, so I’m a little obsessed with my new toy. And I really lucked out buying a Proform Treadmill with the ifit program.
I did a little more digging about the Ifit Program. Apparently, the Ifit that my treadmill has is outdated. Here’s the run-down:
http://workout.ifit.com is the old Ifit system that ties into my Proform Treadmill. It’s a website that has some basic free workouts, and some fancier paid workouts. 
The workouts are a visual display showing bar graphs of your speed/incline, that have an audio beep code embedded in them. You plug you computer’s audio output into the treadmill, and the treadmill interprets the beeps into incline and speed adjustments. It’s a really nifty system. Too bad they aren’t still making treadmills like this. Update: Dick’s Sporting Goods sells a Proform 810 TR similar to mine with the ifit.com technology.
The really cool thing about this old system, is that some guy wrote a program that lets you create your own ifit workouts. I ran across a description of this program by accident, and then I had a hard time finding a place to download the file. The guy no longer distributes or supports the program, so I’m hoping he doesn’t mind that I’m putting it here on my website. Here’s the links:
i2wo.zip – newer version, build 168. In case above link stops working, try this version. A nag screen will appear after 30 days telling you to register. You can’t register it tho, because they guy isn’t selling it any more. You can still use it after 30 days, but you have to wait for the nag screen to timeout. This version lets you mix music into your workouts and allows you export a mp3 or wave file. The controls are nicer too.i2wo.exe – older version, build 58. No audio, but it works great for creating workouts and doesn’t ever give you a nag screen. If you don’t need audio and plan on connecting your treadmill directly to your computer, use this one.
You can even save the workouts for later as a text file; and it’s a snap to easily create more workouts by simply copying the text file format using notepad. This is just perfect for a computer geek like me. 
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| If you don’t have an ifit compatible treadmill, you could still use the i2Workout program to create your workouts. Then just use the beeps as a cue to manually adjust the speed and incline of your treadmill. Of course, your treadmill has to be near your computer! |
I used this i2Workout program to create a tempo run workout, with 5 minute warmup, 20 minutes at a pace of 8, and a 5 minute cooldown. (click on screen capture at right to enlarge) I totally sucked at this workout (meaning I could not do it without some unplanned rest), and I hated every minute of it. My philosophy, tho, is that the workouts you hate the most are probably the best for you. 🙁
Here’s more info about the Ifit:
http://www.ifit.com is the newer system. It doesn’t plug into your treadmill. It’s just a paid workout site that lets you watch videos while you do your workout. In fact, I don’t even think they have any treadmill workouts. It’s more geared toward elliptical and stationary bikes.
Nordic Track makes a couple of treadmill models that come with Ifit memory cards. The memory card includes 8 weeks of treadmill workouts. I’m guessing that you plug the card directly into the treadmill, and the treadmill has some built in computer that runs the programs. I don’t know if the workouts are customizable.
Some of the new Proform Treadmills include Ifit functionality, but they don’t sound like any of the above…not sure what they are exactly. I think they are just pre-programmed workouts.