The Treadmill: From Punishment to Fitness
By: Calin Aneculaesei
Tags: Britain, Fitness, Life, History, Prison

The Treadmill: From Punishment to Fitness

The jurney of the device once used for punishment now used for leisure and fitness

An ilustration of an early prototype of the Treadmill being used at a prison as a form of punishment circa early 19th century Victorian Britain. Courtesy of Wikicommons

Most people who have dabbled into fitness are familiar with the concept of a treadmill. In the modern sense, a treadmill is an electric device which rotates a band of elastic but tough material mimicking the moving motion of the ground below a runner. Its use as an ‘entry-level’ piece of equipment has led to it becoming the most sold piece of fitness equipment in history.

How did this device once used for punishing criminals turn into humanity’s favourite fitness device? To answer this question we must go back in time to Victorian Britain and its prison system where the first treadmills saw widespread use.

Victorian Britain

Prisons in Victorian Britain were full of people driven to crime by the desperation created by the monotonous factory work many did. Throughout the early stages of the British Industrial Revolution crime became a big problem due to the low pay and type of work many had to do. As such the prison system had a very large population of people who didn’t work. One man, Sir William Cubitt, wanted to transform this pool of labour into something which could be used by the government. For this, he looked back in time.

Potrait of Sir William Cubitt. Courtesy of Wikicommons

Although treadmills saw widespread use under the Victorian government of England similar inventions have existed since humanity learned how to transform mechanical energy into something useful. As such Cubitt came up with a concept of using this century’s old knowledge to put the prisoners of Britain to work. For this, he created a cylindrical staircase which rotated around an axis being pushed by the force and the weight of prisoners pushing down on the steps. This force would be transfered into useful energy by the invention.

During this ‘exercise’ prisoners would have to walk up this seemingly endless staircase for hours, turning their energy into mechanical energy.

On average prisoners would have to use the device for around 6 hours a day powering mine ventilators or even turning wheat grinders to help with the food shortages experienced in the early 19th century. From its introduction in 1818, the device continued to be used until the later parts of the 19th century after which many deemed it too cruel a punishment.

Fitness?

As the 20th century dawned a new use for the old Victorian device came about, being used in fitness. The earliest account of a patent being registered for a running machine for fitness goes back as far as 17 June 1913. Although it didn’t see much use for this purpose for most of the early 20the century after the Second World War the invention saw a resurgence.

This resurgence was sparked by Wayne Quinton and Robert Bruce in 1952. The two inventors saw the potential in the invention as a device to treat and diagnose lung and heart disease. The device continued to be used for this purpose until consumerism started to grow, this meant that the device could now be marketed to the average person.

Since the late 70s, the invention has been used by many going from the average person trying to get more fit by getting some aerobic exercise done at home to Olympic runners who use the device to train and assess their performance.

Treadmill test at the medical center of the Olympic village at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Courtesy of Wikicommons

The evolution of the treadmill embodies the evolution of society in my opinion. We have advanced so far that we now perform tasks which 150 years ago would be considered a punishment for the sole purpose of bettering our physical health, a concern few had at the time. As humanity grows and our focus is shifted to new subjects what we might now perceive as torture might be considered leisure by humans in 150 years.