Total: 91/100

I consider myself a pretty active person. I’m a former college athlete, I love working out and I have a handful of races—including a few marathons—under my belt. Running, in particular, has always been my security blanket, something I could come back to time and time again no matter where I was at mentally or physically. But as summer turned to fall and fall turned to winter, a new challenge emerged that threw a wrench rattle in my usual workout routine: Hello, pregnancy.

As a first-time mom-to-be, everything was new: the nausea, the nosebleeds, the frustrating inability to do a sit-up. I got out of breath walking up a flight of stairs and overwhelmed when trying to figure out what type of exercises were safe to do in each trimester. Unsurprisingly, my daily outdoor runs were put on the back burner, and as my belly grew and the weather cooled, they all but stopped before the first snowfall.

To say I felt lost would be an understatement. Who am I without my weekly Strava posts? What will happen if I don’t hit my daily step count? “Are you still running?” was often the first question people would ask after I told them I was pregnant, and every time I’d squeak out ‘no’ alongside some long-winded excuse, the guilt would set in. Well-meaning but nosy questions aside, I needed to find a way to stay active for my own health (and sanity). Enter one of my favorite inventions of all time: the at-home treadmill.

Hours of online research ultimately led me to NordicTrack, a popular exercise equipment company that features iFIT integration for on-demand workouts and personalized coaching. After comparing the brand’s various treadmills, I decided the NordicTrack Commercial 2450 ($2,999; $2,499) had major potential: It offers advanced technology with mid-tier pricing, plus it has all of the features I was hoping to find (in addition to a few more). After testing for over four months during one of the coldest winters in over a decade, my growing bump and I were hooked. Here’s my honest review of the NordicTrack Commercial 2450 treadmill, from set up and delivery to the overall workout experience.

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As set up and delivery go, I had a bit of a unique experience. After much head-scratching, it turned out that the initial treadmill I received was defective (I got a lemon, it happens!). Luckily, the customer service team over at NordicTrack resolved the issue within days, and after confirming we had a mechanical problem on our hands, I was sent a new machine.

Once the real deal arrived, set up couldn’t have been easier. The delivery team brought the treadmill to my preferred location (the basement) and set to work drilling, screwing and running diagnostic tests—including powering it on, running the belt, testing the fold feature and confirming the touchscreen worked. The whole thing was smooth, seamless and took less than an hour.

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