If you have ever felt intense feelings of hatred for treadmills, there may actually be a legitimate reason. You see, treadmills were not initially created for the benefit of physical fitness. They were designed as a punishing vehicle for personal reformation through a slightly more benign form of torture.
In the year 1818, English engineer Sir William Cubitt created the machine because of a disgust he felt for the sloth of English prisoners. He theorized that grueling exercise would burn off, not only body fat, but bad behavior.
These treadmills rotated on a horizontal axis which forced the user to step upwards, making it more like the first stair-stepper machine than the first treadmill.
Prisoners would line-up side-by-side and hold onto a simple bar as the climbed stairs - sometimes for as long as six straight hours or longer - climbing the equivalent of 14,000 vertical feet (roughly half the height of Mount Everest).
These guys had it bad. Though, you have to think they probably developed massive leg muscles once they acclimated to the gruesome penance.
It eventually became notorious for its cruel use and was subsequently banned, fading from memory until 1952 where it was redeveloped and used to diagnose heart and lung disease.
Then, in 1968, research was published touting the benefits of aerobic exercise, which led to the successful commercialization of the treadmill.
So, if you think running on a modern day treadmill feels like torture, don't be surprised if you have ghostly English prisoners hovering above you, laughing at your naiveté.