

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.

Remembering the 1945 Empire State Building Disaster: When a Plane Met Skyscraper
An airplane crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945. Among other damage, plane parts severed the cables of an elevator and the woman inside fell over 70 stories. She lived and holds the world record for the longest survived elevator fall.

The Littlest Skyscraper: How J.D. McMahon’s 480-Inch Con Fooled Investors in 1919
In 1919, J.D. McMahon convinced investors to fund a 480-foot skyscraper, but he labeled the plans as 480 inches, building a 40-foot structure instead. After taking $200,000, he won in court since the plans matched what he built.

Remembering the miracles of the 1985 Mexico earthquake (unbelievable stories)
In 1985, after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City, nearly all newborn babies survived a collapsed hospital. They are known as “Miracle Babies” for surviving 7 days without nourishment, water, warmth or human contact.

Medals of Friendship: The Enduring Olympic Story of 1936
At the 1936 Summer Olympics, two Japanese pole vaulters named Sueo Oe and Shuhei Nishida tied for second, but they declined to compete against each other. As a result, Nishida was awarded the silver medal and Oe won a bronze medal. Upon returning to Japan, the athletes had their medals cut in half and spliced together to create new "friendship medals," which were half silver and half bronze.

The Forgotten Story of Semipalatinsk and the Soviet Nuclear Experiments
Between 1949 and 1989, the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan became the primary location for Soviet nuclear weapons tests, exposing millions of unsuspecting villagers to radioactive fallout. Known as the “Polygon of Suffering,” this remote desert witnessed 456 nuclear detonations that caused widespread health crises, birth defects, and generational genetic damage. This article narrates the chilling legacy of Semipalatinsk, unveiling the human cost of Cold War arms development and the ongoing struggle for healing and recognition in Kazakhstan.

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.

The 1814 London beer flood
In 1814, there was a beer flood in London when a tank containing more than 300,000 gallons ruptured in which 8 people drowned.

The Bizarre (And Magical) Duel Between Chung Ling Soo And Ching Ling Foo
Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo were two magicians from the early 20th century who were bitter rivals. While Ching Ling Foo was genuinely Chinese, Chung Ling Soo was actually a New Yorker named William Robinson.

The mysterious secret of Dr James Barry
Before women were allowed to enroll in medical school, Margaret Ann Bulkley studied medicine and assumed the identity of Dr. James Barry for 56 years while dressing as a man. After 46 years of service as an army doctor officer, her secret was not made public until after her death in 1865.

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.

how Ferris wheel invented
In 1891, Chicago challenged engineers to create a structure to surpass the Eiffel Tower for the World's Columbian Exposition. George Washington Gale Ferris jr. responded with the original Ferris Wheel, a giant rotating structure elevating visitors above the city. This invention became an iconic attraction at the fair.

The unbroken seal on King Tutankhamun's tomb until 1922
The unbroken seal of Tutankhamun's tomb before it was opened in 1923, it was unbroken for over 3000 years.

How a Total Lunar Eclipse Saved Christopher Columbus in 1504
In 1504, Christopher Columbus was stranded in Jamaica with natives who refused to give him food. But he knew the date and time of an upcoming lunar eclipse. So he told the natives that his gods were angry at their treatment of him, and would provide a clear sign. Once the eclipse started, the natives raced to give him food and begged for mercy.

Underground Railroad to Mexico freed thousands of slaves in 1829
Slavery was abolished in Mexico in 1829. Slaves were escaping to Mexico, and slaveholders in the US were aware of this. The US attempted to get Mexico to sign a fugitive slave treaty, which would have required Mexico to send back escaped slaves to the US. But, Mexico refused, arguing that slaves were free as soon as they set foot on Mexican soil.

The day Iceland's women went on strike
Icelandic women went on strike for equal rights on October 24, 1975. 90% of women walked out of their jobs and homes, effectively shutting down the entire country. The men were struggling to keep up. The following year, Parliament passed a law requiring equal pay. Iceland elected the world's first female President five years later. Iceland now has the highest gender equality rate in the world.

Will & William Wests: The puzzling situation of two inmates who are identical but not related
These are the mugshots of Will West and William West, and they are not related. They were both sent to Leavenworth Prison at the same time, in 1903, and after some confusion, the staff understood they had two different prisoners with the nearly same name, who looked exactly alike. They are part of the reason fingerprints are now used as identification.

A Brief History of the PlayStation Gaming Console
Sony's PlayStation was never meant to be an actual product. Instead, it was intended to be a CD-ROM console that would support Nintendo games. However, when Nintendo backed out of the deal at the last minute, Sony went ahead and launched what soon became one of the most successful gaming consoles of all time.

Reason Behind The Suicide Of Christine Chubbuck Live On Air
Actor Rebecca Hall had serious reservations about tackling the macabre story around why Chubbuck killed herself in 1974. So what changed her mind?

Top 10 Greatest and shocking Archaeological Discoveries of All Time
While we're all locked at home, there's no better way to escape to another time and place than to learn about amazing archeological sites and discoveries from around the world. Here are the 10 greatest and shocking archaeological discoveries —and don't be shocked if they inspire future trip plans whenever it's safe to do so again.

Terry Fox, a 21-year-old one-legged cancer patient who ran 143 days before dying
Terry Fox was a 21-year-old one-legged cancer patient who ran 3,339 miles across Canada in 143 days before dying.

Robert Odlum, the first person to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge
The first person to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge was a professional high diver who "wanted to demonstrate that people did not die simply by falling through the air, thus encouraging people to be willing to jump from a burning building into a net." He proved himself correct by safely falling 135 feet through the air and dying only when he hit the water.

The Mouth of Truth: Ancient Rome’s Legendary "Lie Detector" That Bit Off Hands
Discover the chilling legend of the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità) in Ancient Rome—a massive carved stone face believed to bite off the hand of anyone who lied while inserting their hand into its gaping mouth. Uncover the truth behind its eerie reputation and how this ancient artifact became a symbol of honesty and fear.

The 440-pound bear named Wojtek and his World War II battle against the Nazis
Polish troops raised an orphaned bear cub during WWII. He enjoyed drinking beer, and was trained to salute. He became officially enlisted as a member of the forces, and helped carry artillery during battle.

Knockers-up: waking up the Industrial Britain's Workers in 1900-1941
Before alarm clocks were invented, there was a profession called a knocker-up, which involved going from client to client and tapping on their windows (or banging on their doors) with long sticks until they were awake. It lasted into the 1920s.

The incredible story of a plane that lost its roof in mid-flight and the light signal that saved 94 lives.
On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines flight 243 was on the way to Honolulu from Hilo when a huge portion of the upper part of the fuselage blew off the airplane.