

History of Treadmill, punishment for prisoners
The treadmill, also known as a dreadmill, rat wheel, or running machine, is the most widely used fitness equipment in the world. In 2016, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) conducted a survey in which over 50 million Americans admitted to having either enjoyed or endured using one at some point in the preceding year. The fact that treadmills make up nearly 40% of gym equipment sales in the US, as reported by the Washington Post, is therefore not surprising.
This is a remarkable turnaround for a machine that was once used in 19th-century Britain as a form of punishment to keep prisoners in check. It may seem strange that the most popular form of physical fitness these days is a boring, cramped workout, but not too long ago, this kind of exercise was meant to deter criminals from committing new crimes.
However, these days it’s impossible to enter a gym without seeing rows of machines. However, according to a Daily Mail article, people didn’t start using treadmills exclusively for exercise until the Roaring Twenties and Gatsby-era girls in fetching early activewear. The first consumer running machine didn’t come out until the 1960s.
Related Topic You Might Find Interesting:
- Jack the Baboon operated a railroad, earned a living, and never made a mistake
- The history of Flour sack clothing fashion
Why is the torture machine becoming a voluntary rather than a mandatory one? The treadmill’s greatest draw for some people is its convenience—you can get your cardio in a short stroll from the water cooler and a hot shower. Some have harsh weather that prevents them from engaging in outdoor exercise (think Midwest winters and oppressive summers in dry Arizona). The only way to get some aerobic miles in is to crawl onto the rubber belt.
Over the last ten years, there have been advancements in the motorized treadmill, leading to the development of self-powered, curved, smart connected, underwater, and anti-gravity models. Some even have virtual reality compatibility built in.
However, where did the term “treadmill” come from and how did this cardiovascular king become all-powerful? Prepare yourself for a tour through the colorful history of treadmill by setting the speed to 6 and the belt inclination to 1.5 percent.
The Origin and History of Treadmill

The history of treadmill begins with the Romans and a human hamster wheel that was used by laborers to raise big weights that were built into cranes. You could lift twice as much weight with half as much muscle by substituting men inside a larger wheel for a winch. You didn’t need an abacus to figure that out. It meant that more money stayed in the Roman coffers and that construction proceeded more quickly.
According to the blog of the fitness equipment company Life Fitness, this trend of combining the power of humans and animals became popular much later in Industrial Revolution Britain. There, ambitious engineers created inventions like animal-powered water pumps, butter churns, and of course, mills.
The phrase “walking machine” was thus created.
Treadmills, Punishment for Prisoners

There’s no mincing words, British prisons in the 1800s were extraordinarily bad places—solitary confinement was routine, food was scarce, and discipline severe. Because things were so grim activists fought for new forms of rehabilitation. In 1818, English engineer William Cubitt devised a human-powered treadmill for grinding corn. This, according to the British Library, caught the attention of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline who latched onto the machine as a form of “preventive punishment.” They reasoned nobody exposed to it would risk re-offending. Thereafter, treadmills were installed in jails across the land.
Convicts sentenced to hard labor climbed onto a 24-paddle stepped wheel, powering the device with continuous exertion much like the stair climber in your local gym. Some prisoners endured up to 10-hour workouts daily, climbing the equivalent of 17,000 feet—over half the height of Mount Everest, according to a BBC report.
Birth of the Cardio King
If Apple Watches had been provided as standard equipment in Victorian prisons, maybe the wardens would have noticed the rising heart rates. Rather, according to the LifeFitness blog, the first recorded medical application of the treadmill did not occur until 1952.
The Bruce Protocol is a diagnostic test created by Dr. Robert Bruce of the University of Washington. It involves having a subject run on a treadmill until they are completely exhausted. This test, which is still in use today, established the treadmill as a means of achieving cardiovascular advantages.
Machines had motors by then. The PaceMaster 600 is the first treadmill designed for home use. It resembles a Zimmer frame and is connected to a moving yoga mat. William Staub, an American engineer, created it in the late 1960s. According to Staub’s 2012 obituary in the New York Times, despite his insistence that the treadmill improved your physical condition and that bad weather was no longer an excuse to not run, by the mid-1980s, only 2,000 of the $399 machines were sold annually.
The number rose to 35,000 by the 1990s, and large brands with more modern equipment were now common. Among them was Life Fitness, with their 9500HR, which, according to the LifeFitness blog, was 30% kinder to joints than running on concrete.
Rival equipment companies born in the 1970s and 1980s, such as the American firms Icon Fitness and NordicTrack, as well as the Italian company Technogym, moved into treadmills. The running machine had reached its tipping point.

Mother who spent entire life savings for daughter’s cancer treatment won the lottery
A mother won $2 million from a $10 scratch-off lottery ticket after she spent all of her entire life savings to pay her daughter’s cancer treatment. She bought the winning ticket after her daughter’s last cancer treatment.

Ancient Egyptians Had Pregnancy Tests Over 3500 Years Ago
The ancient Egyptians used a pregnancy test that involved potentially pregnant women peeing on barley and wheat seeds. Plant growth indicated pregnancy: barley for a boy and wheat for a girl. Later tests revealed that pregnant women's urine causes plant growth 70% of the time, whereas non-pregnant women's urine does not.

New London School Explosion, Deadliest school disaster which killed almost 300 children and teachers
In 1937, a gas leak in the basement at the local school in New London, Texas caused a massive explosion which killed almost 300 children and teachers, the deadliest school disaster in US history. Adolf Hitler even sent his condolences by telegram.

George Dantzig solved two famous “unsolved” problems in statistics mistakenly as assignment
In 1939, George Dantzig arrived late to his statistics class. On the board were two famous “unsolved” problems in statistics written as an example by his professor. Dantzig mistook the examples for homework assignments. He solved the “unsolved” problems and submitted the homework to his professor a few days later. His solutions earned him a doctorate.

Juliane Koepcke: The Teenager Who Fell 10,000 Feet And Trekked The Jungle to survive
In 1971, a high school student was sucked out of an airplane after it was struck by lightning. She fell 10,000 feet to the ground while still strapped to her chair and survived. Only to endure a 9-day trek to the nearest civilization.

Jack the Baboon operated a railroad, earned a living, and never made a mistake
A baboon worked as a signalman for the railroad in the late 1800s. He never made a mistake and worked for the railroad until the day he died.

The History Behind the “No One Dies Alone” Program
In 1986, while doing a night shift at the hospital, Sandra Clarke, a registered nurse, was asked by an elderly patient to stay. She promised to be back after checking on her other patients, but by the time she returned, the gentleman had passed away. Clarke became one of the key figures in launching No One Dies Alone, a program that allows volunteers to sit with terminal patients who have no one else.

Nicholas Winton ‘British Schindler’: Man who rescued 669 Czech children from Nazis
A man named Nicholas Winton saved 669 kids during WWII and lived almost all his life without letting people know.

Poto And Cabengo: The Secret Language Of Twins
Poto and Cabengo, as the two girls called each other, communicated in their own language. The twins were ignored by their parents and secluded from the outside world because their father felt they were developmentally retarded, and their unique language evolved as a result of that neglect.

The Amazing Truth About The German U-Boat That Was Sunk By A Toilet
During WWII, a German captain and an engineer flushed the submarine's high-tech toilet incorrectly, causing the vessel to rapidly fill with water. British planes patrolling the sea attacked them as the submarine was brought to the surface. While many members of the crew were killed in the attack, the captain escaped!

10 world’s most destructive and dangerous volcanic eruptions in history
Volcanic eruptions can devastate cities, change the world's atmosphere, and devastate economic systems. They can create molten lava rivers, mudslides, suffocating ash, and poisonous gases that cause chaos around the world for years. A volcanic explosion's effects can be massive, from its size to its death toll to its economic cost. Here is ten world’s most destructive and dangerous volcanic eruptions in history.

The worst blizzard in recorded history: the 1972 Iran blizzard
The deadliest snowstorm ever recorded occurred in Iran in 1972. It lasted for a week, burying areas in 26 feet of snow and killing over 4,000 people, including the entire populations of three villages.

Roller Coasters were First Invented to Distract People from sin
Roller coasters were invented to distract Americans from sin. In the 1880s, hosiery businessman LaMarcus Thompson didn’t like that Americans were going to places like saloons and brothels and created the first roller coaster on Coney Island to persuade them to go there instead.

The Tragic Story Of Mary Ann Bevan, The ‘Ugliest Woman In The World’
After the death of her husband, Mary Ann Bevan had no income to support herself and her children. She then decided to enter a contest where she won the title of “ugliest woman” and was later hired by a circus. She endured this ridicule from the world to provide for her family.

Why was the Eiffel Tower almost demolished
The Eiffel Tower was intended to be a temporary structure for the World's Fair in 1889, but it was nearly dismantled and sold for scrap metal. It was saved because of its potential use as a radio antenna, and it now serves as a tourist attraction as well as a working broadcast tower.

The Assassination Of King Alexander
The assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia marked a pivotal moment in the country's history. This article delves into the rise and reign of King Alexander, exploring his early life and ascension to the throne. It also examines the political and social climate in interwar Yugoslavia, setting the stage for the tensions and challenges that ultimately culminated in his tragic assassination. By understanding the context in which this event unfolded, we can better grasp the significance and impact it had on the nation and its future.

Mario Segale, Developer Who Inspired Nintendo to Name Super Mario
Super Mario is named after real-life businessman Mario Segale, who was renting out a warehouse to Nintendo. After Nintendo fell far behind on rent, Segale did not evict them but gave them a second chance to come up with the money. Nintendo succeeded and named their main character after him.

How Greek prime minister in 1830’s tried to spread the potato in Greece
A Greek prime minister in 1830’s tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren’t interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People later started stealing these potatoes a lot which spread the crop to all of Greece.

What is the story behind Wrigley chewing gum?
Wrigley's was originally a soap company that gifted baking powder with their soap. The baking powder became more popular than the soap so they switched to selling baking powder with chewing gum as a gift. The gum became more popular than the baking powder so the company switched to selling gum.

Medieval Medicine: A 1,000-year-old onion and garlic salve kills modern bacterial superbugs
Scientists recreated an Anglo-Saxon manuscript-based 9th century onion and garlic eye remedy and discovered that it killed 90% of antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria (MRSA).

Did Gil Pérez Really Teleport from Manila to Mexico Overnight? The 1593 Mystery
On October 24, 1593, while performing his guard duties at Manila's Governor's Palace in the Philippines, Gil Perez stopped to lean against a wall and sleep for a while. He opened his eyes to find himself in an unusual environment. Gil was in the Plaza Mayor in Mexico City. They imprisoned Perez, but the authorities in Mexico City decided to release him and return him home.

During the 1996 Olympic bombing, Richard Jewell falsely accused of committing the crime after saving dozens of people
Richard Jewell, an American security guard, discovered a bomb during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and assisted in the evacuation, but was later wrongfully accused and faced public scrutiny. He was cleared, but it had a lasting impact on him until his death in 2007 at the age of 44.

The true story Of The Radium Girls that change US labor laws
Hundreds of young women worked in clock factories during World War I, painting watch dials with luminous radium paint. The company lied about the risk of radiation, claiming there was no danger, which resulted in the death of the young women.

Iranian inmate dies from happiness after finding out he will not be executed
An Iranian man who was convicted of murder reportedly died from happiness after learning that his death sentence was being commuted.

The Baltic Way: the longest unbroken human chain in history
On August 23, 1989, about 2 million people from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania formed a human chain that united all 3 countries to show the world their desire to escape the Soviet Union and the communism that brought only suffering and poverty. This power stretched 600 km.