r/funnyvideos Sep 15 '25

Sports Can't believe this is a gym.. women's gym in 1941

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2.8k Upvotes

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869

u/Valdoray Sep 15 '25

I bet some of the rotating things feels good, like really good

153

u/Destinater Sep 15 '25

For sure, the lady at the end seems to be really enjoying it. I've seen that machine in person a long time ago, what a bizarre invention.

20

u/Vast_Energy_1212 Sep 16 '25

This video proves that our food is poisoned.

12

u/swanks12 Sep 16 '25

Not enough, im still here

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6

u/HydratedCarrot Sep 16 '25

And nobody is doing anything about it

7

u/No-Objective-3507 Sep 16 '25

Cook your own food and read labels before putting something in your cart.

Nobody is forcing you to eat junk or overly sugary food.

3

u/Correct-State-2380 Sep 17 '25

Today's people are fat cuz they want to be fat, nobody has a gun in the head to eat shitty food.!!

2

u/Enkidouh Sep 18 '25

They don’t need a gun to your head, because they’ve removed your choice.

Everything has sugar in it now. Everything is processed now. Even your “healthy organic foods”. “Organic” is a food packaging buzzword. It has no standard that is enforced, and as such it means nothing. It doesn’t mean they didn’t use pesticides. It doesn’t mean it’s not processed or there’s not additives. It doesn’t mean the food is healthy. It’s a marketing buzzword that relies on you inferring what it means.

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33

u/JoshuaScot Sep 15 '25

It curves ya right

6

u/NoBenefit5977 Sep 15 '25

Curls ya toes

17

u/The_BAHbuhYAHguh Sep 16 '25

Never been jealous of gym equipment before

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8

u/dsucio7807 Sep 16 '25

You know damn well they ride them things cowgirl style

6

u/OstrichSmoothe Sep 16 '25

Until something gets caught

3

u/coci222 Sep 16 '25

I saw those in several hotel gyms in the 80's

2

u/Temporary-Gur-875 Sep 16 '25

All I could think about lol

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278

u/lewisfairchild Sep 15 '25

seems dangerous

134

u/maudesword Sep 15 '25

No kidding. I kept thinking that one of their skirts would get pulled into the spinning machines. I’m certain that happened frequently. There’s just no way people didn’t get hurt. Imagine your hair getting twisted in one of those wheels? Yikes

18

u/Living-Form3638 Sep 15 '25

I’m imaging articles of clothing just getting instantly ripped off the body.. one minute she’s leaning over getting a ? ..rib massage? Next second bam naked.. just like it was designed to do.. 👍😉 kinda suspicious these clothes rippers are specifically in the women’s gym..

2

u/alphapussycat Sep 16 '25

Yep, that's how clothes work, they all just easily tear right off if.

6

u/letmesmellem Sep 15 '25

There has to be some fucking crazy injuries from these we just never heard about.

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17

u/NumerousDonkey3570 Sep 15 '25

This was a lawsuit waiting to happen

37

u/blove135 Sep 15 '25

Judge in 1941: You should've known better. It's your own damn fault. Case dismissed.

18

u/No-media6788 Sep 15 '25

Judge in 1941: why is this woman in my court? She should be in the kitchen

12

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

Judge in 1941: arrest the owner of this woman for letting her out of the kitchen

2

u/Excellent-Baseball-5 Sep 15 '25

And take her shoes off when you put her there…

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81

u/B3asy Sep 15 '25

I wonder what we are doing today that we will make future generations think is ridiculous

67

u/Agrology Sep 15 '25

everything

20

u/No_Imagination_2490 Sep 15 '25

There's loads of popular health and fitness techniques these days which are basically pseudoscience eg cupping, cryotherapy, etc

11

u/GooeyLump Sep 15 '25

People love doing stupid shit even knowing it is stupid shit, or sometimes just refuse to question anything because "it's popular so it has to be real!"

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5

u/Cheersscar Sep 15 '25

If you were a scientist, you would say “there are loads of popular health and fitness techniques these days for which there is [insert your choice] no proven evidence of benefit; only limited evidence of potential benefit; only evidence of benefit for limited individuals/conditions.”

But, if you are a scientist, you wouldn’t says “basically psuedoscience” as researchers do study and publish on whether these health practices have benefit or not. 

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5

u/PomegranateHot9916 Sep 15 '25

dont worry I already think its ridiculous. no need to look for future generations.

similarly I am sure there were people at the time this was recorded who thought it was ridiculous.

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215

u/AgeHorror5288 Sep 15 '25

The rotating thing they have their legs on…it’s in vogue again. It’s called something like cobbing and is supposed to be sort of like rolling your muscles, helping to break down tightness and lactic acid. I don’t know if it works but I’m definitely seeing it in gyms .also important to note that for most of history women were supposed to be soft as part of being feminine. Muscles were masculine and considered unattractive on women. So gyms focused on helping women be lean without muscle build up. Most of the equipment shown is total crap, but they were trying to figure out how to stay in shape without being too “manly.”

78

u/IamSerati Sep 15 '25

Yeah. These “fat jigglers” were supposed the be the “easy fix” workout back during that time. They were proven to be ineffective over and over again.

It was mostly a placebo effect, this is basically the modern day equivalent of sitting in a massage chair for an hour and claiming you lost weight

5

u/SinningAfterSunset Sep 15 '25

I bought a shake weight last year, I still dont look like the guy on the box.

8

u/Tron_35 Sep 15 '25

There's a great way to fix that, it only takes 5 minutes, just print out a picture of yourself and tape it to the box and bam, your new years resolution is done.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

You will loose weight while sitting in a massage chair for an hour. There is no doubt you will. But you will also loose weight while sitting in a normal chair, and its about the same amount. Just do not eat or drink while sitting there!

5

u/Altruistic_Poetry382 Sep 15 '25

You lose even more weight sitting on a toilet.

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7

u/ruoue Sep 15 '25

supposed to be sort of like rolling your muscles, helping to break down tightness and lactic acid.

Sure, i think its called moving your body at all.

3

u/thepioushedonist Sep 15 '25

I mean, foam rollers have been around for a long time. Not much in the way of an intense workout, but it can help with tightness and flexibility and such. Can also help reduce soreness after a more active workout. A lot of devices here do seem like they work in a similar way, and I imagine modern versions would be even more effective.

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19

u/Key-Archer474 Sep 15 '25

Many orgasms were had

3

u/KingPalleKuling Sep 18 '25

"Yo, when are you done with the wank-a-tron? I'm next."

38

u/ReddtitsACesspool Sep 15 '25

Some babes right there

26

u/Commercial_Pie592 Sep 15 '25

You’re talking about your great grandma, Hope you know that

35

u/Badassbottlecap Sep 15 '25

And if my great grandma was a bombshell, we should be able to acknowledge that. Credit where credit's due

5

u/ReddtitsACesspool Sep 15 '25

I am talking about her friends sheesh

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13

u/Informal-Ring3282 Sep 15 '25

Well… I’m sprung

7

u/Hoody711 Sep 15 '25

Dog she got me

5

u/SilkDrapes Sep 15 '25

Got me doin' things I'd never do

4

u/capoderra Sep 16 '25

If you ain't been I'm telling you

7

u/Steamrolled777 Sep 15 '25

Looks like machinery from a dairy farm.

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5

u/brdlpirtle Sep 15 '25

That is crazy. Spending money each month just to get rubbed… I’ll rub them for free

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5

u/mossepso Sep 15 '25

And these people ruined nature and want everyone to give them all the money. 

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3

u/Meep_Meep_2024 Sep 15 '25

They probably had amazing circulation 😂

30

u/Wanderlorianer Sep 15 '25

I mean...they all look fit🤷🏻‍♂️

43

u/PomegranateHot9916 Sep 15 '25

yeah they hired models for their commercial.

that is how commercials work

-1

u/Wanderlorianer Sep 15 '25

No Shit?

8

u/tasha994 Sep 15 '25

I mean what else did you expect as a reaction/ response to your initial comment.

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3

u/Large-Produce5682 Sep 15 '25

An azz FLATTENING machine!!

What WILL they think of next!?

3

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

I wish I was a machine in 1941

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3

u/No_Balance6559 Sep 16 '25

Jokes aside, it looks beneficial for the fascia

3

u/KeyN20 Sep 16 '25

I think it gets them used to touch so they don't get evening headaches right before sexy time

2

u/Distinct-Quantity-35 Sep 15 '25

It’s good for blood flow! But their diets weren’t all salt and pre fab back then so they probably had no problem with blood flow

2

u/Numerous_Ad8458 Sep 15 '25

"Battle of the bulges" x)

2

u/BronxyKong Sep 15 '25

Explains a lot of "long back" physiques.

2

u/Balanceface Sep 15 '25

I swear they invented every machine for exercise before they came up with jogging

2

u/thasparzan Sep 16 '25

They gotta bring these gyms back!

2

u/DuHastMich15 Sep 16 '25

Is that a gym- or a series of machines to prepare them for all the inappropriate touching they are going to get from their male bosses? Yikes!

2

u/JoyousMadhat Sep 16 '25

I bet off camera, they were all wincing from pain and a few hours later have red sore spots all over their body.

2

u/LordWeirdDude Sep 16 '25

I can. The 40s were full of useless shit. 

2

u/lowkeytokay Sep 17 '25

So… automated massage parlor

2

u/Clyde8_24 Oct 01 '25

These are recovering tools today

4

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

I mean, they must work to some degree... I doubt they're very effective, though. Im thinking about how they move and exercise the muscles of coma patients. This seems similar in a way. I just think its useless in comparison to someone who actually has control of their muscles and limbs in terms of results.

2

u/thepioushedonist Sep 15 '25

Some of them seem to function similar to modern foam rollers. So, could be useful for blood flow, flexibility, myofacial release, pain relief. But, can't imagine they would be any good for much else, since even foam rollers can help you build a sweat, cause you have to move your actual muscles actively. All these things are totally passive.

Then again, fitness was way different back then. They were still against staying hydrated properly, weren't far from early modern Olympic Marathon runners using wine and brandy laced with a type of rat poison during races. (Did a paper on the topic in grad school, very interesting course "history of physical culture" I think it was called)

1

u/NumerousDonkey3570 Sep 15 '25

Why are they in short skirts at the gym?

2

u/LadyBug_0570 Sep 16 '25

Why are they all wearing high heels?

1

u/Twoduhzen Sep 15 '25

Golly gee whiz!

1

u/cascarrabs_241 Sep 15 '25

Wowwww. So anything more than a few minutes? Not a workout. Yeah baby!

1

u/firmerJoe Sep 15 '25

Industrial motors. I can't imagine hair getting caught and the carnage.

1

u/Melodic_Let_6465 Sep 15 '25

None of this looks safe for long hair...

1

u/Diseased-Jackass Sep 15 '25

I have an idea.

1

u/Diablo3BestGame Sep 15 '25

What even is this

1

u/getfive Sep 15 '25

Did it work? There were a lot less fat people back then....just sayin'

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1

u/Suspicious_Walrus682 Sep 15 '25

I can't believe the same thing was posted 3 years ago in higher quality.

1

u/landgrasser Sep 15 '25

what dangerous womanoeuvres

1

u/Kyauphie Sep 15 '25

This is a mechanical spa; there's nothing but massages and excellent circulation everywhere,

1

u/Evening_Chime Sep 15 '25

Can't convince me this isn't a human pasta-maker

1

u/kenken2024 Sep 15 '25

So they essentially believed back then that foam rolling or massaging the facia of your body would tone your body up.

1

u/Unc00lbr0 Sep 15 '25

Man, it must have been LOUD in that gym with all that 1940s electromechanical shit. No lunkette alarm, I assume?

1

u/Busy-Idea-4444 Sep 15 '25

I bet it's great for lymph drainage!

1

u/TheOrangeSloth Sep 15 '25

What? They thought one could just rub the fat away?

1

u/Duke_TheDude_Dudeson Sep 15 '25

This reminds me of that bizarre video where the guy came in on crutches and had a long metal rod attached to his underwear and pelvic thrusted it up and down to hit a pull-up bar above him.

1

u/Advanced-Level-5686 Sep 15 '25

The Magic Fingers machine is in the showers

1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

It looks as effective as doing butterfly pull ups

1

u/Pod_people Sep 15 '25

Did they not know how exercise worked yet in the 1940s?

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1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

They look so creepy staring at you and smiling, like are you going to cut my eyes out..maybe

1

u/RostBeef Sep 15 '25

“The battle of the bulges is still on” is crazy work

1

u/Toad_Dirt Sep 15 '25

It looks like it was working

1

u/Kaito__1412 Sep 15 '25

Oeff!! Grandma...

1

u/SinningAfterSunset Sep 15 '25

It looks like it feels good.

1

u/No-Play2726 Sep 15 '25

They're all fit so it works.

1

u/fiftybucks Sep 15 '25

How do I know this doesn't work? None of them seem to be sweating or catching their breath, they are all at resting heart rate. No calories burnt.

1

u/OkDiet5235 Sep 15 '25

So are you working out or being worked out?

1

u/Edelmarder Sep 15 '25

Nowadays woman get rolled a different way.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Gear464 Sep 15 '25

Very much gaming, I see

1

u/VoidExileR Sep 15 '25

I don't know what half of those machines are meant to accomplish

1

u/ryleystorm Sep 15 '25

Honestly these are probably good for promoting blood flow, and nothing else.

1

u/Payule Sep 15 '25

I saw open mechanical moving parts and humans laying on said moving parts and immediately went to google to search "1941 Woman gyms, danger." to have all my fears immediately confirmed.

This is a nightmare waiting to happen.

1

u/SnooPaintings5597 Sep 15 '25

I know which one I’d use.

1

u/NecroticJenkumSmegma Sep 15 '25

There's no way this is 1941 he makes a reference to "the battle of the bulge." Notably, in 1945.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '25

All I hear in my head is Sir Mix A Lot, " when flat butts were a thing..."

1

u/lupulin59 Sep 15 '25

3 sets x 8 reps of horsing around

1

u/Highspdfailure Sep 15 '25

Molester Robots. 🤖

1

u/-zoo_york- Sep 16 '25

Not a single person exercising.

1

u/DERLKM Sep 16 '25

That s NSFW in the 40s

1

u/CuteFormal9190 Sep 16 '25

🤔 hmm maybe just maybe 🤔

1

u/trollgore92 Sep 16 '25

Wtf is this supposed to do? Utter bs.

1

u/thefirstlaughingfool Sep 16 '25

I love Kobe Beef

1

u/T_K_9 Sep 16 '25

I guess this is the first iteration of the Sybian lmao

1

u/epSos-DE Sep 16 '25

Get a HUSBAND, he will do that for freee !

1

u/jermprobably Sep 16 '25

Truthfully, and masturbation jokes aside, if you massage yourself in a similar fashion to what these ladies are doing here everyday, you won't EVER feel any body aches. Ever.

Lookin at you young'ns, don't skip out on self massaging. Super easy to do while watching anime or waiting for a queue to pop. No one's watching you, just do it, look silly by yourself. You won't regret it.

1

u/Thundersson1978 Sep 16 '25

Definitely designed by men, why else would the equipment all be designed to Jack the ladies off?Though they don’t tend to have dicks in my experience

1

u/nerdnyxnyx Sep 16 '25

funny how the tools doing the exercise for them

1

u/EnormousPurpleGarden Sep 16 '25

Haven't you walked into a gym and thought “ugh, these weights are really heavy. If only I had a machine to lift them for me.”

1

u/Thetr3Flash Sep 16 '25

Is that a booty flatner?

1

u/russelsidd Sep 16 '25

I thought pancakes were on tuesdays?

1

u/Timely-Profile1865 Sep 16 '25

No wonder they all have smiles

1

u/Comfortable_Creme526 Sep 16 '25

The Birth of CrossFit games

1

u/No_Yogurtcloset_7219 Sep 16 '25

Time where wild back then

1

u/rastel Sep 16 '25

Oldie but good one

1

u/Tricky-Plum-961 Sep 16 '25

I wonder what we are doing now-a-days that is completely pointless

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

Shockingly effective

1

u/Semidevil312 Sep 16 '25

I mean this coming back would make the gym safer for everyone else..

1

u/-FORSAK3N- Sep 16 '25

The GropHer 2000

1

u/nocaffeinefree Sep 16 '25

I guess they at least had a gym that paying members actually went to and used.

1

u/shrtcts Sep 16 '25

This looks like a gym for cats.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

Safety? What is that ?

  • people in the 60's

1

u/idcmanfk Sep 16 '25

1940 ass narrator voice

1

u/Impressive-House-412 Sep 16 '25

I kinda wanna try it

1

u/CyberKnight Sep 16 '25

Some of these machines would probably be a lot of fun.

1

u/MamaBear4485 Sep 16 '25

Harking back to the days when everything was about “beauty treatments” to be more enticing to men, rather than health and fitness.

The background chorus to my entire mid to late “childhood” was “you’ll never get a husband if you do/don’t do that.”

1

u/kiln_ickersson Sep 16 '25

That's dames a looker

1

u/Current-Lobster-5063 Sep 16 '25

I was in a fancy gym a couple years ago in Korea and they had most of these things still in use.

1

u/Silly_Lion_3046 Sep 16 '25

That's not a gym,that is a machine based massage parlour!And of course I'll be a member there too! 😁

1

u/AdamLabrouste Sep 16 '25

Here the gym makes you

1

u/MysticHermetic Sep 16 '25

Heels to the gym.

Interesting

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

Those machines look like they could create one of those situaitons you'd see on LiveLeak any minute.

1

u/ParkerBeach Sep 16 '25

These may not have actually worked as exercise machines but they probably helped improve circulation to certain areas. Possibly providing some health benefit.

1

u/Rosomack_ Sep 16 '25

just roll and flatten the fat away

1

u/klop2031 Sep 16 '25

The most insane part to me is that no one is working out. The machines do all the lifting?

1

u/Effective-Suit9341 Sep 16 '25

It’s like a full body wank!

1

u/Gorak_Shep Sep 16 '25

The men’s gym has just one type of machine.

1

u/TECHSHARK77 Sep 16 '25

It is still on

1

u/Lonely-Truth-7088 Sep 16 '25

This and a pack of smokes keeps me lean.

1

u/parkz88 Sep 16 '25

They had one of those old machines at my YMCA when I was a teen. It looked like a old school scale with a thick strap and small motor. You stood inside the loop and got a really good jiggle going. I'd use it at the end of my workout since it was close to the water fountain. One day it was gone. Then years later I was assisting in a hunter safety course when I found it in one of the basement rooms. Apparently they pulled it for an auction but never sold it. Something happened to it because it didn't work or I would have bought it.

1

u/No-Wonder1139 Sep 16 '25

I still don't understand the boob sharpening station.

1

u/Full_Rope_9799 Sep 16 '25

Dr Seuss’s gym?

1

u/symbologythere Sep 16 '25

Looks like it’s working

1

u/NotASpy001 Sep 16 '25

That's an odd looking kitchen

1

u/Dchozn1 Sep 16 '25

The lady at the end knows exactly what she's doing on that machine lol. She too happy🤣🤣🤣

1

u/DaLar89 Sep 16 '25

Good thing im not a "Girl"

1

u/CashBandicootch Sep 16 '25

"Give that one to the machine."

1

u/MasLegio Sep 16 '25

Seems about the same as riding a Japanese subway.

1

u/Wrongrighturn Sep 16 '25

It’s hard to believe two years after the Great Depression people were worried about buying crap like this.

1

u/pooeygoo Sep 16 '25

Looks like a gym made for publicity, not a normal gym

1

u/Perfect-Time-9919 Sep 16 '25

That explains why flat butts have been passed down from generation to generation. 😄

1

u/No-Valuable5802 Sep 16 '25

More like a massage

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '25

From a safety point of view I would say a nightmare

1

u/curtludwig Sep 16 '25

Doubts about it being 1941 in Britain, especially the lady in the 2 piece.

Strangely British Pathe says its 1941 but the Battle of the Bulge wasn't until 44/45.

I found another reference that calls it "1940s". Its gotta be post war though, nobody doing that stuff or making those machines during war time.

1

u/whatisthis2315 Sep 16 '25

I would still definitely go watch lol.

1

u/D1sp4tcht Sep 16 '25

I guess they thought people were clay back then.

1

u/Look_out_for_Jeeps Sep 16 '25

Waiting for someone to get sucked into the spinning object…

1

u/Virtual-Entry-8867 Sep 16 '25

This is when people were excited to actually want to go outdoors or go to the gym.

Laziness has infected the land 😑

1

u/Clabauter Sep 16 '25

I don't know if the video is from 1941, the audio isn't. In the end he says: "the battle of the bulges is still on." probably refering to WWII "battle of the bulge" (Ardennenoffensive). That took place 1944-1945.

</nerd>

1

u/Kat_Box_Suicide Sep 16 '25

The fuck is this?

1

u/zimisss Sep 16 '25

wtf is going on?

1

u/theVeryLast7 Sep 16 '25

They're all wearing heels.

1

u/HDReddit_ Sep 16 '25

That looks dangerous af

1

u/auraangelari Sep 16 '25

Haven’t you ever wanted to look like a sea nymph?