The History Of Exercise Machines.

I came across one of those old videos advertising some sort of fitness machine.  It had a belt that supposedly giggled your body in such a way as to help you loose fat while you stood there.   I don't know if it was successful but it was fun to watch.  There are machines that were created years ago that are still in use to day.

For instance, the treadmill has been around for a while but not as a form of exercise.  Originally, it was used by prisoners to grind grain, or pump water beginning early in the 19th century.  It was seen as a way for prisoners to make an honest wage but they used a treadmill that looked like a rolling pin and prisoners stood next to each other.   Eventually, the fitness scene discovered them.  The early ones were quite small with connected wooden slats that rotated around two drums with a waist high hand rest and people who used them wore hard shoes as protection.  By the 1930s, fabric replaced wooden slats, so the base was longer and the hand rest was higher and more comfortable.

The treadmill as we know it, was developed in the 1960's by a mechanical engineer named William Staub. The man read a book by Dr. Kenneth Cooper which lead him to create the treadmill.  Dr Cooper felt that a person who ran a mile in eight minutes four to five times a week resulted in a better level of fitness than someone who did an aerobics workout.  At first, only the medical field used treadmills but Staub wanted a line of commercially available treadmills so he produced the PaceMaster 600 which became a success and these were soon found in Gyms throughout the country.  

Then we have the rowing machine that are actually designed to mimic rowing a boat and first appeared around 1871.  The first machines used flywheels and ratchets to create the movement but by the 20th century, the machines became hydraulically driven.  Now, the machines fall into one of two groups.  The first are the motion machines with foot stretcher and handle while the second is the damper type that uses hydraulics.  

Of course, weight lifting equipment has been around for centuries.  The first free weights known as halteres which were made of stone or metal and were used in many of the original events in Ancient Greece. Over time, the halteres developed into dumbbells and barbells used in today's gyms but it was the machines that are more recent.  

During the last quarter of the 20th century, when bodybuilding gained in popularity with both men and women, a man named Arthur Jones built the first weight lifting machines.  He designed them to replace the use of free weights so that people who were not weight lifters, could train or develop muscles in a safe manner. He developed and marketed the Nautilus line of machines.

What might surprise you is that stationary bikes in one form or another have been around since the late 1700's but the type we associate with today's appeared on the market in the 1930's. The Exercise is said to work muscles used during bicycling, horseback riding, and rowing and it marketed itself as being for home use through the 30's, 40's and 50's where it did well but it exploded in the 1960's when an interest in fitness took off.  Then in 1968, the first electronic stationary bicycle made it's appearance.  The $4000 machine provided information such as the number of calories burned during the ride or the pulse rate. 

Since the explosion of digital devices, treadmills, rowing machines, and weight lifting machines have become digital so user can keep track of their stats as they exercise.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.