Fired by a desire to restore national pride and defeat the French, a Prussian schoolmaster called Friedrich Jahn established an open-air gymnasium at Hasenheide, a suburb of Berlin. He called it the Turnplatz , or exercise field.
But the motivation for training at the Turnplatz was a communal civic aim to improve the physical fitness of the Prussian people, to make them better soldiers who would avenge Prussia's humiliating defeat. By the middle of the 19th century, however, the gym as a commercial enterprise also began to emerge. Vaudeville-strongman-turned-fitness-entrepreneur Hippolyte Triat, a Frenchman, is usually credited with being the first to open commercial gyms, the first in Brussels, and then in Paris in the late s.
Unlike the outdoor Turnplatz , Triat's Grand Gymnase was a vast covered space of cast iron and glass. At the end of the 19th century another gym was established by an entrepreneurial music hall strongman, Eugen Sandow. What accounts for the shift from state-run gymnasia in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century to commercial gyms?
As the citizen became more autonomous as a political entity, every aspect of the individual became more important, including his body. I don't think you can separate a civic and political entity from the physical self. Business-minded strongmen such as Triat and Sandow capitalised on this. A wide running surface with shock-absorption capabilities ensures user comfort, while the quick key controls allow for speed and incline adjustment with the push of a button.
Then: Precor , which got its start with a rowing machine in , made its biggest splash in the fitness industry when it introduced the first elliptical. Its low impact and ease of use made it a hit among club members, and the product took off among early-adopter club owners. Now: Precor's latest product reflects how today's fitness consumer has changed. It can be reconfigured to accommodate many types of functional training, and its space-efficient, modular design makes it a valuable addition to a fitness facility.
Operators can use Queenax to maximize floor space, as well as offer group training to exercisers of all fitness levels. The first design used a jiu-jitsu belt, a carabineer and parachute materials looped over a beam or tree to allow for basic movements such as rows and presses.
These early prototypes quickly proliferated as fellow SEALs took them on deployments and began discovering new strength exercises and functional movements, thereby expanding the range of capability to train the entire body. Featuring straight wooden handles for ease of use and easy and accurate height adjustment, it's designed for use anywhere. Then: While one could argue that Legend Fitness ' original Performance Series Leg Extension offers the same strength-building potential as its present-day counterpart, the older version lacked a certain visual appeal, featuring straight- or angle-cut square tubing and plates, liberal use of plastic end caps, no weight stack shrouds, and upholstery finished with a black welt to hide the seams.
Now: Today's SelectEDGE Leg Extension is much more aesthetically pleasing, with ovalized tubing, polymer weight stack shrouds, an instructional placard, laser-cut steel and more neatly finished upholstery on contoured pads. In addition to the updated look, the newer product also advances flexibility and safety features. Then: A relative newcomer to the fitness landscape, Escape Fitness began when Matthew Januszek combined his interest in bodybuilding with his father's engineering and passion for design.
The company's first product, stainless steel dumbbells dubbed Beauty Bells , established it as a premium dumbbell supplier. The latest incarnation still sits at the top of Escape's dumbbell range. The colorful, soft and durable plyobox was designed to help users get more out of plyometric workouts, allowing them to push beyond single-plane movements.
The PLYO's octagonal shape allows for multidirectional jump patterns, and makes it a fit for partner and team workouts. Then: Torque Fitness was founded and began to produce its first training systems, going on to introduce the XLAB , a functional training system intended for group use, in With storage for accessories and suspension training capabilities, facilities could train multiple people, even within limited space.
Product data is for informational purposes only. We strive to provide correct information, but are not responsible for inaccuracies. Should you find any errors, please help us by reporting it here. About Us Contact. The Treadmill: A History.
Agricultural Treadwheels Some people may be confused between the concept of a treadmill and the concept of a treadwheel, but the two are distinct entities. Fitness Treadmills The treadmill is a great exercise device for an aerobic workout because of the walking and running that it encourages. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Comment Name required :. Email required :. Location optional :. Popular Treadmills. Resistance bands, which are essentially strips of elastic that create progressive resistance as they are stretched, were first used by former football coach Dick Hartzell for functional training in Since then, manufactures have modified resistance bands by attaching handles and creating anchors that allow resistance bands to mimic almost any gym exercise that can be performed with free weights, but without the bulk, making them much more portable than free weights.
Technological advancements over the past 30 years have helped introduced dozens of pieces of exercises equipment that weren't possible before. Home gyms like Bowflex have replaced weight plates with polymer rods that create tension as they bend. Bowflex and other manufactures have developed dumbbells that can automatically change weight through a dial system. There are many pieces of innovative cardiovascular equipment now on the market, including step climbers, climbing machines, and treadmills with two independent walking surfaces for each foot.
Kip Doyle, the managing editor at a weekly newspaper in Western New York, has over 12 years of experience researching and participating in sports and physical fitness.
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