Who invented exercise machines?

Dr. Jonas Gustav Vilhelm Zander (29 March 1835 in Stockholm – 17 June 1920) was a Swedish physician, orthopedist and one of the originators of mechanotherapy. He is known for inventing a therapeutic method of exercise carried out by means of a special apparatus. He began his work in 1860s. He established the Zander Therapeutical Institute in Stockholm.

He experimented with mechanical therapy systems throughout the 1850s. He devised machines that used weights and levers to vary resistance. The lever functioned as an extension of the muscle group being exercised. Sliding the weight toward the end of the lever increased resistance, thus increasing muscular workload.

Bringing it closer to the user lowered the resistance. This feature allowed each machine to be adjusted to suit each individual's strength. Adjustment of another set of weights and levers compensated for the user's body weight or limbs.

After becoming a licensed physician in 1864, Zander put his ideas into practice at a local Stockholm school by setting up prototype therapy machines for the students.

At first medical practitioners viewed the enthusiastic claims for the new therapy with skepticism bordering on hostility. As solid evidence of patient improvement mounted, though, an increasing number of practitioners worldwide endorsed Zander’s therapy, enabling him to open a second Zander Institute in London. In the 1880s Dr. Zander came to New York to establish an institute near Central Park.