Hi, I'm a newbie to the site, but have been exercising for about a year.

I usually hit the elliptical pretty hard for 45 minutes for cardio, then do some weight training. I'm 35 years old and in pretty good shape.

Recently, the 20 year old, spry, buff personal trainer at my gym recommended I run on the treadmill instead of on the elliptical. He assured me that the rumors I had heard about this being hard on my knees and ankles was not true, but that it would strengthen them.

For the past 10 days I have been doing a cool down of a 15 minute jog on the treadmill, just to get used to it.

Well, this morning after about two minutes I felt a very sharp pain in my ankle the radiated up to my hip (which seems like a weird way to radiate, but it did). I considered working through the pain, but since this didn't feel like muscle pain, but joint pain, I decided to stop. It took a good hour before my ankle felt normal again.

My question:

1) is the the 20 year old, spry, buff personal trainer full of $#!&?
2) should I stop with the treadmill and stick to my low impact elliptical or is this ankle pain the sort of thing that is expected when you start on a treadmill?

TIA for any insight you can give me.

Red

running in general is hard on your joints, no matter what machine you are using (elliptical trainer doesn't count as running). The impact of each step vibrates throughout your body ... i'd give that trainer a smack in the head. Think about this; if there is no effect on your knees or ankles, then how do they get strenthened? Something has to be happening to them to make them want to strengthen ... and since they are joints, then it must be the ligements around them that are strengthening ... why would they need strengthening? because the impact is causing the joint to bounce around ... the fact that the guy is only 20 years old, means that he didn't spend a lot of time in school to get where he is ... give him a smack in the head for me too.
Now, there are some treadmills that have better suspension to ease the impact, but I believe that an outdoor track is better still than any treadmill. There is a trade off ... you do get a better workout on a treadmill. Instead of running, though, I put the treadmill at 10% incline and just walk at about 3.5 miles/hour pace ... get's my heart rate up, without the impact.
As far as the ankle goes, it's hard to say. The sore ankle could be a direct result of the treadmill or caused from something else ... possibly just overworked.

well you can get the same workout on a treadmill as you do on a ellipitical machine. It's really only about what you prefer just remember to work yourself hard and not go light on it. You also could start to try interval training. Like go 20 sec. on a really fast past and the 40 at a more relax and do like 12 of these. Also with a cool down and warm up period. This also may help you achieve yor goals of weight loss or muscle gain. But dont do anything that you dont feel comfortable with. Just because someone prefers a treadmill doesnt mean you will. Especially if it is causing you pain I would stop.