The treadmill's dark and twisted past - Conor Heffernan

The constant thud underneath your feet. The constrained space. The monotony of going nowhere fast. Running on a treadmill can certainly feel like torture, but did you know it was originally used for that very purpose? Conor Heffernan details the dark and twisted history of the treadmill.

Lesson by Conor Heffernan, animation by Yukai Du.

[strawberryqueen]

Your voice is my favorite out of all the people.

[InTheDeepGarden]

The tiny heads are immensely unsettling.

[Mayonez]

"Monotonous steadiness and not its severity... constitutes its terror". Could not have put it better than that.

[greeny]

Ironic that I got a treadmill ad right before this

[jordankasa]

I like how people in the comments are trying to frame exercize as torture, as if anyone jogs for 6 hours a day every day

[Flpus]

It's only a torture device if you're using it for 6 hours a day, a lot of things can be torture devices if you're using them for too long

[CooperCarr]

I would love to see these dudes quads.

[alexb]

0:24 "And you wonder...why is my face so fucking small?"

[applepie]

I understand and appreciate your artistic choice to draw tiny heads.

[JustAGuyProduction]

I bet those prisoners had killer legs. Literally, they could have kicked the guards to death.

[Kennclarete]

This tells us what we already know: "Exercise is torture"

[Ayan]

this is why i love visual education so much and ted and the internet

[elskankhunt]

"That just sounds like slavery with extra steps"
-Rick Sanchez

[wtv]

Say whatever you want about the heads, the art style is freaking amazing!

[millennialdisposition]

This is really sad though, can you imagine the pain on their knees from having to take all those awkward steps. Some of these men were probably in prison simply for not bowing down to the nobility's desires, or for raising their tone against them

[isabellaw]

Literally on a treadmill at the gym watching this

[princecrane]

that last line. chilling. “just be glad you can control when you hop off”.

[brissa]

The music that started playing at 0:57 was so utterly satisfying to me idk why but it is. Just sounds like constant popping

[kyrabambach]

When I was 10, I was obsessed with the treadmill. I tried running a mile, and got super lightheaded afterwards. So thanks for clarifying the history of that torture device!

[Xolette]

This was so fascinating! I never knew. :)