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treadmill

 
Dictionary: tread·mill   (trĕd'mĭl') pronunciation
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n.
    1. A mechanism rotated by people treading on the moving steps of a wheel.
    2. A similar device operated by an animal treading a continuous sloping belt.
  2. An exercise device consisting of a continuous moving belt on which a person can walk or jog while remaining in one place.
  3. A monotonous task or set of tasks seeming to have no end.

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Food and Fitness: treadmill
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Home > Library > Food & Cooking > Food and Fitness

An exercise machine consisting of a moving belt on which you walk or run. The intensity of the exercise can be adjusted by altering the speed of the belt or altering its gradient.

Once the preserve of fitness clinics, physiology laboratories, and hospitals, treadmills are becoming more common as an item of home fitness equipment. There has been a phenomenal growth in sales in the USA. Treadmill running now ranks as one of the top activities among Americans. Some treadmills are supplied with computerized equipment to monitor speed, distance travelled, and pulse rate. A video of inspiring scenes and motivational exhortations is often included with the package. You should remember to follow the same precautions when treadmill running as when doing other exercise: warm-up before and cool down after the exercise, and increase your training progressively (see progression).

Treadmills are used in physiology laboratories to measure fitness. A non-motorized treadmill is commercially available to measure power output during sprint training. The sprinter uses his or her own forces to move the belt. The speed of the belt, and the forces the sprinter exerts to move the belt and to pull against waist-straps (recorded on strain gauges), are used to calculate the power output. Motorized treadmills are more often used to measure aerobic fitness because they demand the use of the arms, torso, and legs, requiring high rates of oxygen consumption. Unfortunately, the test can be so demanding that even healthy individuals have a small risk of sudden cardiac death. Leonard Shapiro in the Oxford textbook of sports medicine, estimates the sudden death rate to be once in every 375 000 hours of treadmill activity in healthy individuals, and as high as once in 6000 hours in people with heart disease. So, if you have a healthy bank balance that enables you to buy one of these machines, go to a doctor to ensure that you have an equally healthy heart before you use it.

Motorized treadmills are often used in hospitals to test for cardiovascular disease (see graded exercise test) although they are losing favour because the results are not very reliable for diagnosis. Many hospital treadmills incorporate electrocardiograms to measure heart activity, and other devices to measure blood pressure and breathing rate. The great advantage of hospital treadmill tests is that there is expert help on hand if anything goes wrong.

Thesaurus: treadmill
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Home > Library > Literature & Language > Thesaurus

noun

    A habitual, laborious, often tiresome course of action: routine, rut1. Informal grind. Slang groove. See usual/unusual.

Sports Science and Medicine: treadmill
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Home > Library > Health > Sports Science and Medicine

A device consisting of a large belt on which a person walks or runs. The belt is moved by the person or by an electric motor. A treadmill is used as an ergometer to measure a person's work output under controlled conditions. Workload is varied by changing the speed and/or the angle of inclination (gradient) of the belt. Most people find treadmills easy to use and they can produce their peak performances on these devices. However, treadmills are not very good for measuring physiological responses to work output in people whose weights have changed, because resistance is directly related to body weight. Also, measuring blood pressure and taking blood samples becomes difficult when a person is jogging on a treadmill (compare cycle ergometer).

Treadmill
Treadmill

Wikipedia: Treadmill
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For historic usage, see Treadwheel.
 This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)
A woman on a treadmill.

A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain (see treadwheel.)

The machine provides a moving platform with a wide Conveyor belt and an electric motor or a flywheel. The belt moves to the rear allowing a person to walk or run an equal, and necessarily opposite, velocity. The rate at which the belt moves is the rate of walking or running. Thus, the speed of running may be controlled and measured. The more expensive, heavy-duty versions are motor-driven. The simpler, lighter, and less expensive versions passively resist the motion, moving only when the walker pushes the belt with their feet.


Contents

Origins

Treadmills were historically used as a method of reforming offenders in prison, an innovation introduced by Sir William Cubitt in 1817.[1]; these were also termed treadwheels. The first private health club in the U.S. was started by Professor Louis Attila in 1894. Cardio workout machines entered the clubs much later and were developed initially for the hospital. The first medical treadmill designed to diagnose heart and lung disease was invented by Dr. Robert Bruce and Wayne Quinton at the University of Washington in 1952. Dr. Kenneth Cooper's research on the benefits of aerobic exercise, published in 1968, provided a medical argument to support the commercial development of the home treadmill and exercise bike.

Advantages

As a cardiovascular exercise:

  • Like other complex cardiovascular exercises (similar to non-treadmill walking/running), treadmill training can improve endurance and provide a wide variety of health benefits.
  • Treadmills offer the benefit of reduced impact since all treadmills offer some sort of shock absorption. Exercising on a treadmill can reduce the strain to the ankles, knees and lower back that would be involved in running on a normal surface.

As an indoor activity:

  • Users who would not run/walk outdoors (e.g. due to unfavorable weather conditions, uneven road surfaces, dangerous neighborhoods or unwanted attention) may use an indoor treadmill.
  • Users who do not wish to join a gym may use an indoor treadmill at home.
  • Users can do other things while exercising, such as watching television or reading.

As a machine:

  • Enables exact calculation and adjustment of slope and speed.
  • As most of the factors of the activity are known, the energy expended may be calculated.
  • Some treadmills have special features such as step count, heart rate monitors, and number of calories expended.

Disadvantages

  • Many users find treadmills tedious and lose interest after a period.
  • Cost of purchase and electricity to run the treadmill is significantly greater than running outside.
  • Takes up space in homes (disadvantage reduced by "folding treadmill" option).[2]
  • May cause personal injury if not used properly.[3]
  • Can make a loud grinding noise if the belt keeps slipping.
  • Lack of wind resistance makes running on a treadmill easier than it would otherwise be on an equal elevation grade outdoors. Training for outdoor races is complicated due to the subtle differences.
  • Imposes a strict pace on runners, giving an unnatural feel to running which can cause a runner to lose balance.

Other uses

As it is basically a conveyor belt, the treadmill can be used for activities other than running. If horses are being tested (especially in jockey racing) they will be put on a specially constructed treadmill. Large treadmills can also accommodate cars. Treadmills can also be used to exercise dogs that are accustomed to running on a conveyor; however avoid tying the leash to the treadmill as it can cause serious injury.

Omnidirectional treadmill

Main article: Omnidirectional treadmill

Advanced applications are so called omnidirectional treadmills. They are designed to move in two dimensions and are intended as the base for a "holodeck". There are several solutions which were proposed and research continues because some issues remain unsolved until now such as large size, noise and vibration.[4][5][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ History of human-powered machinery
  2. ^ [See photo at http://www.treadmill-world.com/bestfitness-bft2-treadmill.html]
  3. ^ Mike Tyson’s Daughter, 4, Dies After Accident
  4. ^ Cyberwalk
  5. ^ Cybercarpet
  6. ^ Omni Directional Treadmill

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Translations: Treadmill
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Home > Library > Literature & Language > Translations

Dansk (Danish)
n. - trædemølle

Nederlands (Dutch)
tredmolen (ook figuurlijk0

Français (French)
n. - (Hist) trépineuse, roue à cheville, (fig) train-train, engrenage

Deutsch (German)
n. - Tretmühle

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μάγκανο, ποδοκίνητος τροχός, (μτφ.) μαγκανοπήγαδο, κουραστική ρουτίνα

Italiano (Italian)
lavoro ingrato, mola da tortura, mulino azionato dal camminare

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tarefa monótona e árdua (f), uma máquina de exercício (f)

Русский (Russian)
однообразный, механический труд, гимнастика: приспособление ходить на месте

Español (Spanish)
n. - rueda de ardilla, rutina

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - trampkvarn, ekorrhjul, grottekvarn

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
踏车, 单调的工作

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 踏車, 單調的工作

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 단조롭고 고된 일, 밟아 돌리는 바퀴

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 踏み車, 足踏み水車, 踏み車の刑, 単調な仕事

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) طاحون ألدوس,‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מתקן להנעה סיבובית ע"י משקלם של הדורכים על מדרגות בצדו הפנימי של גלגל עומד נעות, מיתקן דומה המשמש לתירגול, חגורת דוושות, עבודה חדגונית‬

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food and Fitness. Food and Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet and Exercise. Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Sports Science and Medicine. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. Copyright © Michael Kent 1998, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Treadmill".  Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more