chris g asked:


I need to explain the evolution af exercise equipment to a large group of people on October 12, I picked treadmills, ellipticles, stairmasters, and freeweights. I need to explain to them what they use to be and why they bacame what they are today.

One Response to “Evolution of Treadmills and etc. What were they like and why they became what they are today?”

1. kaoticmich on April 14th, 2006 1:15 pm

   Wow, what an interesting topic, what kind of group are you speaking to?

   Exercise evolved to provide variety to the common people. Doing one thing over and over, e.g. walking ONLY, has not been shown in research to help with exercise adherence. This is of course, DUH. The purpose of exercise implements (different equipment, types, etc.) was to help people find what is fun for them. For example, basketball is very fun…..but a morbidly obese person does not have the physical capabilities to play this sport, it is impossible.

   New equipment nowadays, like the trampoline jumpy thing, is a gimmick. But ellipticals are relatively new too… so how did they become so well accepted in every gym?

   Well, the elliptical is considered a high-intensity, but low-impact cardiovascular exercise. The treadmill is a high-intensity AND high-impact exercise. What does this mean? Well, if you are healthy, you can run and do high-impact exercise. If you have bad knees, weak bones, etc…low-impact is the way to go. But just because you have bad knees, you shouldn’t skip out on your cardio exercise.

   I hope this example makes my point that these exercise equipment were developed for specific reasons and (normally) not one is better than the other. Why? Because exercise is different for EVERYONE. If one exercise worked like a magic pill and cured all of our excess fat and health problems, then we wouldn’t need a gym.

   I can go on and on but …I’ll stop.