Its been 4 years since I’ve started working out and 3 years since I’ve starting working out in a proper gym. But how to train yourself or why I’m not popping abs yet is not what we’re going to talk about in this article.
There’s this huge and flat thingy that you’ll see in every gym known as the ‘Treadmill’. If you’re serious about driving to the gym and then run on an artificial street then you’ve most probably used a treadmill or use it on a daily basis as a part of your workout.
The question that was eating my brain up was the name, why do they call it the ‘Treadmill’? and now just jogging or running machine? why ‘mill’?
So in order to satisfy my ego and fuel my brain, I started researching about it or merely doing a google search and to my surprise, wait for it, the ‘Treadmill’ was actually used for prisoners in 1820’s in UK to punish them in the prison. MIND BLOWNED!
If you look at the name, ‘Tread’ means to walk or step on something and ‘Mill’ means well, machinery for grinding grain into flour. So for prisoners, Sir William Cubitt, The man who came up with the torture machine made their life hell as a solution to fix the idleness problem of the prisoners and put their energy into productivity.
Fast forward to today, we use treadmills for cardio and calorie burning without going anywhere (literally). An instrument which was considered a torturing machine ones is now considered a necessity of healthy living.
After asking this right question to myself (and I consider it right as I’m the one who’s asking myself and I’m the whos writing about it lol) I think the point this paradox makes the way we look at things. We usually label things in our mind as good or bad based on the way we process it.
So by default treadmill sucks the life out of you while working out but you consider this good for your health, the prisoners might have looked at it the other way.
Its funny how things become easy to do when we LOOK it as to be an easy thing to do.
Artwork: https://dribbble.com/shots/14919974-Fast-Fingers
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