Did You Know? Treadmills Were Designed For Prisoners
👟 Back in the 19th century, British engineer Sir William Cubitt came up with the idea of this running machine. Prisoners were forced to climb on large paddles forever to spin a giant wheel that also pumps water or crushed grain. (no wonder the word is made out of “tread” and “mill” huh?)
🏃 Quite a success at hitting two birds with one stone, Sir. Although it was first designed to reform inmates, in modern times the treadmill became one of the flashiest symbol of fitness at home.
🙅 However, it took a while for one prison guard to point out all of this is pointless. Just like Sisyphus pushing the stone, running on a treadmill probably doesn’t change anything. It’s just repeating labor. The British banned it soon after realizing this around 1898.
📺 Not sure which one is worse — sitting at desk working a 9–5 OR running on a treadmill forever. I knew it. Fitness was a lie. Back to Netflix now.
🔦SPOTLIGHT: Treadmill came around as early as the 1800s. Our favorite piece of workout equipment was initially designed to force prison labor, but later banned around the year 1900.
If we really want to dig out the earliest origins, we can go as far as the roman empire. Back then, there was a similar device with pedals that was used to lift weight.
Right before Sir Cubitt came up with his genius idea, there were already tons of devices designed for animal labor to help with farming. He must have took some inspirations form the oxes.
As for the treadmills we know today, they didn’t come around until WWII.
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