KALPETTA: People who are concerned about their physical fitness prefer to have a treadmill at home for workouts. However, most of them may not be able to afford it. The expensive traditional treadmill is now a thing of the past as a Wayanad native has come up with an eco-friendly wooden treadmill.
The invention of 54-year-old E K Ravindran, of Sulthan Bathery has become popular on social media platforms. Unlike traditional equipment, Ravindran’s wooden treadmill does not require electricity and a battery for functioning.
“Suffering from back pain and other physical difficulties due to long hours of sitting as part of my work, I wanted to take up physical exercise on a regular basis. But, the risk posed by wild animals and stray dogs prevented me from going out for morning walks. The situation forced me to think of an alternative to the costly traditional treadmill,” he said.
“I first designed the equipment four years ago for personal use. After making the first version four years ago, I wanted to modify it to make it more comfortable,” he added.
He said the wooden treadmill is built using a simple method. Most of its parts are made of wood. We have to buy only two parts from outside- a nylon belt and ball bearings. It costs only Rs 12,000. It takes three days to assemble one wooden treadmill, he added.
Ravindran has been working as a carpenter for over 30 years. After a video of the equipment went viral on social media, he has been getting calls seeking details of his treadmill. He provides two variants of the treadmill.
One with a slight slope has 70 planks of wood attached to a nylon belt. It runs on as many as 70 ball bearings which makes it extremely smooth.