Gymming- back to the past!

If you thought that a run-of-the-( tread)mill is a tough ‘un to navigate, then just look at this contraption which obviously must’ve belonged to our forefathers!!

Old-time gym equipment (see blog)

The contraption in the picture above is called Zander’s mechanical horse, although I don’t really see the resemblance between machine and quadriped! Do you?

Pic from web

But I guess the idea wasn’t so much to create a resemblance, in the design. If you take a closer look at the picture of the man and his equipment, you will find that when he switches on the equipment, all the pulleys and wheels will work towards running a vibrator across his abdominal muscles and this will be the same effect as the one that he would experience when he is riding a horse. So, in essence, the same muscles are exercised. Och, but still, would it ever be the same as riding a real horse?

As a kid, I really loved bouncing on the trampoline, since it was so, um, aerobic! My skinny bean-pole frame would be practically catapulted by the machine, straight into the air!!

Conceptualized by a couple of gym trainers back in the year 1935, the word ‘trampoline’ is taken from a Spanish term ‘el trampolin’ which means ‘ diving board’.

Pic from flickr.com

Give kids a trampoline and a hosepipe with running water and watch the fun! Along with exercise, they would be working on their laughter muscles as well! Don’t see much of that in our gyms these days, do we?