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Summary: Modern treadmills are powered by electricity, which operates a motor that runs the conveyor belt. Understand how a treadmill works with tips from a fitness facility manager in this free video on exercise.
"So, what powers a treadmill? As far as a power treadmill, nowadays, most treadmills are mechanical, so, you know, they use electricity, some kind of conveyor belt, and some kind of engine which kind of moves conveyor belt to operate the treadmills. Now we also had treadmills, you know, in the past that were basically you dictated how fast it go, or how hard it would go. You would get on it, step on it, and the more that you pressed on it, or the faster that you walked on it, the faster the treadmill itself would go, or for the most part nowadays, treadmills are operated off of electricity and off of a conveyor built hooked up to an engine which makes the belt itself go and and rotate."
eHow Article: What Powers Treadmills?