A fat cat in Japan complies with doctor’s orders by starting an exercise routine. I don’t know if it’s the cat’s facial expression, his considerable size, or the appropriate music, but I could not stop watching this video. Link -via Metafilter

The hoomin has a treadmill. What’s it for? Pepper and Snowball investigate.

via reddit

Treadmills are more than just a device to make music video go viral. Sometimes, they're useful for exercisin' and other stuff too. For example:

Omni-Directional Treadmill

[YouTube Clip]

We're one step closer to the Holodeck, folks! Here's the Omni-Directional treadmill that allows a user to walk or jog in any direction of travel in a large-scale virtual environment.

The approach above by Virtual Space Devices (here's another clip) seems to me to be faster than the CirculaFloor moving tiles or the Virtual Reality Roller Shoes, just as fun as the VirtuSphere's giant human hamster ball, though not as good as the fake room/moving floor you've all seen in Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity music video.

If you have a diabolical mind, the first thing that probably came to mind is that it will make an excellent trap: how do you get off a functional omni-directional treadmill?

Ice Skating Treadmill

[YouTube clip]

No ice? No problem with the Woodway skating treadmill. The surface is made from slats covered with viscoelastic polyethylene that simulate slippery ice.

Anti-Gravity Treadmill

The AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill can give you a lighter-than-air workout - reducing your bodyweight up to 80% - all you have to do is put on puffy rubber shorts:

[YouTube Clip]

It's not cheap though, the AlterG will cost you $75,000 - but it's probably worth it, especially as a rehab equipment for patients recovering from surgery or injury and exercise for pro sport.

Treadmill Desk

Working on your desk AND losing weight at the same time? Forget sitting on yoga ball at the office, this is the way to work out at work. Behold, the Treadmill Desk by Dr. James Levine:

[YouTube Clip]

You can buy various treadmill desks on Amazon, or you can build your own cheaper as Instructables founder Eric Wilhelm did.

Here’s a neat story of Kiwi ingenuity in helping out their plucky national bird:

Losing blood, Piwi was rushed back to Massey University’s veterinary science centre.

Fortunately another kiwi was available to provide blood for a transfusion, and Piwi pulled through. But his fight wasn’t over.

Palmerston North physiotherapist Fiona O’Connor prescribed a strict rehabilitation regime, including treadmill workouts, massage and physio exercises.

It was the first time the veterinarians had used a treadmill for a kiwi’s muscle development … and Piwi wasn’t happy.

Wildlife vet Dr Lisa Argilla said Piwi didn’t take to the treadmill naturally, and would be grumpy when woken for his workout three times a week.

"He was particularly stubborn in true kiwi form, and just sat there [as if saying] I’m not going to do this.

"He’d bite carer’s hands when he got fed up with walking. But he’s quite a tolerant little guy," she said.

Link – via Lemon Drop (who has a neat video clip of Piwi the Kiwi on a treadmill)

Remember the mobile treadmill posted on Neatorama a while ago? Well, Flickr user frankh spotted a DIY version at MIT (where else?). Apparently, it’s what you get when you cross a bicycle with a treadmill – via GadgetLab

But Colbert didn’t go away empty handed: he’s got a treadmill named after him and millions of adoring fans (and lots of money) to console him during these difficult times:

The space agency had asked people for help naming the node by voting on NASA-suggested names and writing in their own suggestions. After the poll ended on 20 March, "Colbert" came out the clear winner with more than 230,000 votes, while "Tranquility" garnered a mere 4493 votes. [...]

But Colbert didn’t walk away empty handed.

Astronaut Sunita Williams, who ran the first marathon in space two years ago, announced on his show on Tuesday that Colbert would get something in the new node named for him – and it’s not the toilet, as had been rumoured. Williams said his name would grace the node’s treadmill, due to launch in August. The exercise equipment will be called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill.

Link

I don’t know whether to call this American ingenuity and laziness: behold the Canine Treadmill that lets the dog walk itself indoors. You can set the speed, distance, and incline to give your dog the right amount of exercise.

Link | Previously on Neatorama