I learned something kind of funny…

Do you know what treadmills were used for BEFORE someone got the idea to use them for monotonous, boring, indoor exercise machines that produce unnatural strides…broken gaits…and repetitive use injuries?

Torture.

Seriously! Check this out from Wikipedia:

“Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines, to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of mill that was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a treadwheel to grind grain. In later times, treadmills were used as punishment devices for people sentenced to hard labour in prisons.

Treadmills for punishment were installed in 1818 by an English engineer named Sir William Cubitt. Noting idle prisoners, he proposed using their muscle power to both cure their idleness and produce useful work.”

That explains why we all think treadmills suck so bad! ;-b

Look, I’m not knocking the benefits of cardiovascular exercise, but there are far better…more effective… and more enjoyable ways to do it than walking/running on a torture device…

By the way, if you’re driving to the gym to workout on a treadmill please don’t be the person who circles around the parking lot for 5+ minutes looking for a spot close to the door! ;-b

And, please consider hiring a qualified trainer so you can get more value from your membership than just renting access to a machine…