I love my treadmill. I don’t know what I would do without it during the cold winter months when the temperatures drop and the days grow short. But it is easy to get bored running on the “dreadmill” if all you have to look at is the wall in front of you, or the treadmill’s digital display showing how far you have gone; a reminder of how far you still have to go. I have added different gadgets to keep my mind as busy as my body as I workout.
I usually workout in the evenings in the basement after the boys’ sports practices, dinner and bath time. When the everyone is settling down to get ready for bed, I head to the basement. So loud music or television coming from the basement is not an option.
I started with using a portable DVD player sitting on the console of the treadmill attached to headphones. That was fine, but the screen was small and I would always hit the headphone chord with my hand, knocking the chord out of the player or the earplugs out of my ears. Annoying. Next came my Kindle Fire armed with hours of entertainment from Netflix. Once again, small screen, headphone chord in the way – annoying. After that, I put a flat screen TV on the wall in front the treadmill and ran a 3.5mm audio jack from the headphone-out port on the TV to my treadmill. My Sole F80 has a headphone-in and a headphone out jack so that you can connect your audio device and not worry about yanking it off the treadmill if you move too far away. This worked great, except I was still tied by my ears to the machine. And sometimes static electricity would build up and it would shock my ears, which is definitely an annoyance.
This Christmas, I took the treadmill experience to a new level. Wireless. I hooked up a wireless Bluetooth transmitter to the headphone-out jack on the TV and paired it with wireless Bluetooth headphones. Now I can run without the annoying wires tethering me to the treadmill. The audio quality is excellent. I can use this while running, rowing, doing floor exercises or lifting weights while not missing any of the show or movie I am watching. I can also use my Bluetooth headset with my iPod and have wireless tunes while I workout.
Before every workout, I have to turn on the transmitter and put it in “pairing mode”. I then do the same to my Bluetooth headphones. Once they have paired, the audio and video sync up perfectly.
Here are the gadgets I purchased and how I hooked them up. Some TVs do not have a headphone out jack, so you may have to use an RCA to 3.5mm adapter. My transmitter came with one. Both of these can be found on Amazon.
My treadmill / home gym set up all with a viewing angle of the TV.
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Great comments!
I prefer the wired option on my Sole F80 treadmill. Has a headphone input in and out jacks.
My TV is a samsung and as most newer TV’s have, the audio output is a fixed volume. Companies seem to have started to go away from variable audio outputs. Meaning, you can not adjust the volume using headphones.
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E6-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B005HJWWW8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423152861&sr=8-1&keywords=headphone+booster
This device acts as an amplifier. So I connect a 3.5 mm jack in the headphone out jack on the tv and plug that into the treadmill. This amplifier is plugged into the treadmill out slot and connected to my headphones. The device is small and has a great battery which charges via USB.
Now with my headphones I can control the volume up, down, mute, etc in perfect sync with the TV.
I added a male to female extender for the 3.5 mm cord or just buy a 20 foot cord on amazon if you need more length.
Happy running!
Thank you for this post! It helped me to figure out how to get this gift for my husband so he can watch TV on the treadmill without waking up our kids. I would have been lost without this direction!
Great! Glad you found it helpful!
Trying to find answer for my husband (not technical) He has a wireless, blue tooth headphone set, but wants to use it at the Y. How does he “connect” with one TV, when 6 are playing at the same time?
Your bluetooth headphones need to pair up with another bluetooth device. More than likely, those TV’s are not Bluetooth enabled. The only thing I could think of is to get a Bluetooth transmitter like what I have in the article and plug that into the headphone jack of the TV that he want stop listen to. Then pair the headphones with th transmitter. But then no one else would be able to hear that TV …
Hi Running dad, which products did you buy from amazon?
Which brands for the transmitter and headphones??
Thank you!! I’m having same problem right now, currently on treadmill blasting volume up to 100 on my tv at 10:30 at night lol 😂
Jessica, I will check the brand on the headphones when I get home. The adapter is TaoTronics. They have quite a few new products on there since I ordered mine. This is the one I have:
https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Connected-Transmission/dp/B00P24XKS8/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1485868384&sr=1-6&keywords=taotronics+bluetooth+adapter
I’ll put up a comment with the headphones today. Both still work great. Fortunately, this winter has been mild so I have been able to run outside 🙂
Could you share which wireless Bluetooth headphones you have? Your post about this has been so incredibly helpful in helping me set up my own workout room.
Thanks so much!
Hi Julie! I apologize for the delayed response, thanks to nice weather, it has been a loooong time since I have run on my treadmill. And I couldn’t find the headphones, until today! The brand is QCY. They can be found on Amazon.
Another option, though more expensive are the Aftershokz. You will find links to them throughout my site. I am a big fan of them since you can hear the world around you. That may not be ideal for treadmill though.
Such a great solution!! Thankyou so much for sharing! I have one additional ‘techy’ question. My husband and I are setting up an ‘at home gym’ so that we can workout together while watching a movie, instead of just sitting on a couch. Like an ‘at home date night’ while getting fit 😀
So my question is, if I buy us both a pair of wireless headphones (so we dont wake out kids) and then I buy 1 wireless Bluetooth transmitter and hook it up to the headphone-out jack on the TV, do you think we can both ‘pair’ our headphone to the bluetooth on the TV so we can watch + hear the same movie together while we workout? Does that make sense?
Very cool! I have not hooked two sets of headphones up to one transmitter, but since you can have a pair of wireless speakers in a home entertainment system connected via Bluetooth, I would assume it works. I will try with my two pairs of wireless earphones I have at the house and let you know.
That would be amazing!! Thankyou! Before I go buying everything. I have tried to research pairing ‘2’ headphone to the same base but I cant find any info about it on the web.
Any word on trying the two pairs of wireless earphones you have Running Dad? 😀
Hi Jeremy I came across your website by accident while checking out wireless headphones to use on my treadmill (Canadian winters are tough on outdoor running) and I just wanted to say what an inspirational story and congratulations on your great website ! I will have a read of your coaching pages…maybe they will help me get to the next level…a 10km to 15km then half marathon. Don’t think I will get to a marathon as I get a bit bored after a couple of hours of running! But thanks for your posts!