Grit Runner Elite Treadmill REVIEW After 30 Days // Tru Grit Fitness
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🏃♂️ The Grit Runner Elite from Tru Grit Fitness is a solid treadmill for athletes. In this video I give my full review after having the Tru Grit Fitness Grit Runner Elite for over a month and using it damn near every day. Check it out and let me know your thoughts on the Grit Runner Elite.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
So I want to give you a full review of the Grit Runner Elite from True Grit Fitness. After using it damn near every day for the last month. Spoiler alert it's an awesome piece of equipment, but there's a few negatives I got to share.
Hey, my name is Mike Behrens and I have been a home gym owner and in the fitness industry for over a decade. The bulk of my time has been helping thousands of people add simple supplementation into their daily routines. And because of that, I spent countless hours in CrossFit gyms across the country where I've been able to see and test all kinds of different equipment to see what would be a good fit in my home gym.
So I've been interested in getting a curved treadmill for a few years now, and now that I actually have one in my home gym, I'm pumped to share what I think. The quick review on this treadmill is that it is a solid Heavy-Duty workhorse for athletes that want to push things to another level and I 100% will recommend buying this product.
But let's get into a more in-depth review. First, there's timestamps in the description if you want to skip ahead to check out different parts of the review. So first let's talk about delivery and assembly. The delivery was super simple. I got a text from a shipping company scheduled a time within a four hour window. They arrived on time, unloaded the product, and brought it right into my garage.
For me, the assembly was super simple too. I made another video on the assembly process, so I won't go into too much detail here, but had I not been filming content, I probably could have got the whole thing put together in less than 30 minutes. So if you want to check out the full assembly process and see how to put it together, check for the video link in the description.
So now let's talk about the footprint and portability. The footprint was something I was a little bit concerned about for my single car garage, gym space, but once I got it put together, it wasn't as big as I thought it would be. I'd been considering getting a commercial motorized treadmill, but those things are so big and bulky that it would have taken over all the space here.
The Grit Runner Elite is 66in long by 31.5in wide, and it really doesn't take up that much space for a commercial grade treadmill. The portability isn't that bad either. I mean, it's definitely heavy because it weighs in at just over 290 pounds, so it's not light, but the handle on the back and the wheels on the front make it pretty easy to move around because you're not moving the full weight of the machine.
So now let's talk about the design. The design of the machine is sleek and tough. The only thing that I thought could make it a little bit cooler is if they had black letters on the black steel, that would look super tough. The rest of the design is pretty simple with the hand railing bar, it makes it feel smaller than it actually is because you don't have the big bulky console up front.
You can tell the actual tread slats are of a real high quality, and they're not too wide like a traditional treadmill. I was a little bit concerned that they weren't going to be wide enough for me, but so far the width hasn't been an issue at all. I was also a little concerned about the length of the tread, and so far no issues, but there certainly isn't any extra room for me, and the speed of the treads was a highlight of my initial assessment because when I stepped on it the first time, I didn't feel like I was going to fall over like I have in the past with other curved treadmills that have that
super fast initial first step. Now, one thing to note if you run or walk on the treadmill barefoot, you're probably going to get pinched just a little bit in between the slats, but it's not so bad that you couldn't do it at all. The volume the treadmill puts out when using it really isn't that loud. I'm able to walk on it in my gym and hear a YouTube video over the speakers without putting headphones on, whereas with an air bike or a concept two rower, I have to put headphones on to be able to hear it and use the machines.
So obviously it gets louder as you run, but it's not as loud as other treadmills that I've heard. Next thing we're going to talk about is the display console and the water bottle holder. There's an included water bottle holder on the left side of the machine. I've never been somebody to like having the water bottle on the front console, so it's really nice to have it on the left side of the machine so you can just grab and go and keep running.
The size of the display is good enough. It doesn't have a big fancy color display, nor does it need one. But speaking of that, the one drawback that I found in the console is the phone holder. It's fine for a phone, it holds my iPhone both horizontal and vertical. No problem at all. But it'd be nice to put a full size iPad in there so that I could have that big fancy display if I wanted it for longer runs and walks.
But not a deal breaker for me because I literally have a 40 inch TV right in front of the treadmill. The console also has built in Bluetooth and Ant+ connectivity for anyone who wants to use that. I personally haven't used it yet because I use an Apple Watch and track my workouts and heart rate on that, so I haven't really seen a need to connect to the machine yet.
If you think I should, leave a comment below and let me know why. So the next thing we're going to talk about is the resistance. The adjustable resistance is the big differentiator here and the show stealer of this treadmill, in my opinion. I love having the ability to add resistance to the treadmill. There's four different levels, and the difference from 1 to 4 is pretty big now.
It's not going to be a full on sled push. You can obviously go heavier with a regular sled, but this definitely mimics a light sled. Push or pull. I've really been loving the resistance feature. I've been using it to mimic a long duration sled pulls, doing five minutes forward and then turning around and walking five minutes backwards at a level four resistance.
And that's my pro tip with this machine. For anyone who follows the knees over toes guys approach to bullet proofing your knees. This machine is perfect for that protocol. There is one negative to the resistance for me and that's the handle. Not the handle itself, but the placement of the handle. When I'm running, it's not an issue because I hold my hands a little bit higher, but when I'm walking on the treadmill, my right hand swings into the lever every single time, unless I adjust it.
And I really don't see a reason why it couldn't go on the outside of the machine. So true Grit, if you're listening for me, try it on the outside next time. So now we want to talk about the warranty and the price. The frame and the resistance. Belts have a lifetime warranty, so you got nothing to worry about there.
The tread has a five year warranty, but should last way longer than that, and the console has a three year warranty as far as the price is concerned. At the time of recording, which is early summer 2024, the price is listed at 3495 and compared to other treadmills on the market, I'd say this is definitely a great value for the money and the product should last you a very long time.
So here's a pro tip when figuring out if this piece of equipment is worth it for your home gym or not, I always do a calculation of what I would be paying for a monthly gym membership over the life of that piece of equipment. Now, for the sake of this argument, let's use $100 as an average gym membership.
Yes, there's lower. Yes, there's higher. $100 a month times 12 months gets $1,200. The tread on this machine has a five year warranty. So for the ease of math, let's use that 1200 times five years. Now you're at $6,000 weigh more than the cost of the machine. And my guess is the machine's going to last you way longer than five years.
And to help make it even more affordable, True Grit offers financing options through their website. So if you want to get a grit Runner Elite for your home or CrossFit gym, use my affiliate link in the description. It's no extra cost to you, but support the content here on the channel and that's it for the video. Thanks for checking out my 30 day review of the Grit Runner Elite from True Grit Fitness.
Subscribe and stay tuned to the channel for more videos on the Grit Runner Elite, and tips on how you can perform better, recover faster, and live healthier. I'll see you in the next video. And my guess is the machine's going to west. West. West. You west, you rascally rabbit!