About Treadmills
On this page, we’ll define treadmills along with walking (or shall I say, jogging) you through its early history.
A treadmill is an ingenious exercise machine built for waking or running in place. The origin of the word itself refers to the type of grain mill which used to be operated by a person or an animal. These mills would require that a person or animal would tread steps of a wheel in order to grind grain.
In the world of modern day treadmills, however, the goal isn’t to grind grain, instead it’s to work off all those empty calories! A treadmill has a moving platform with a wide conveyor belt and typically, an electric motor. The belt will move to the rear which allows a person to walk or run at an equal (and by necessity, an opposite) speed. The same rate that the belt moves, so too does the walker / runner. By adjusting the belt’s speed, the speed of running is also controlled and measured.
There are two main types of treadmills: the more expensive ones are motor-driven, whereas the simpler and lighter ones simply resist the walker’s motion passively, pushed only by the walker’s feet.
Back in 1817, inventor Sir William Cubitt devised the treadmill as we know it as a method of reforming prisoners. Back in those times, the treadmill was referred to as ‘tread wheels’.
In 1894, Professor Luis Attila created the first U.S. private health club. Eventually, cardio-related workout machines, including treadmills, were introduced much later. The very first medical treadmill (which was designed to diagnose heart and lung disease) was the invention of Dr. Robert Bruce and Wayne Quinton in 1952 at the University of Washington. The treadmill‘s evolution from medical machine to home use happened in 1968, due largely to Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s research on the benefits of aerobic exercise. In his research paper, Dr. Cooper provided a medical argument that supported the development of the home treadmill.