Test Your Fitness IQ!

By Valerie Watson

Because May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, let's test your knowledge of physical fitness devices through the ages. See if you can rank these vintage exercise products from oldest to newest.

1. Medicine ball: 3,000 years ago. Believe it or not, the medicine ball was first used nearly 3,000 years ago in ancient Persia as an aid in physical training, and later in ancient Greece (ca. 350 BC) by Hippocrates for his patients' rehabilitation and conditioning. He's better known for the Hippocratic Oath, though, because "Do no harm" is more dignified than "Ooofff!"
2. Pogo stick: 1919. First patented in 1919 by George Hansburg, the pogo stick has made the transition from primitive means of locomotion to children's toy to device for performing backflips and other aerial stunts and tricks (known as Stunt or Extreme Pogo).
3. Wham-O! Hula Hoop^®: 1958. Although primitive wooden hoops have been used throughout history as toys for rolling or spinning, in 1958, the familiar Wham-O! plastic model with the shoop-shoop sound was first trademarked by Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin (no relation to Larry "Bud" Melman).
4. Rollerblade^® in-line skates: 1980. The Olson brothers of Minnesota founded the company that would become Rollerblade, Inc., in 1980. Originally intended as a way for the hockey-playing Olsons to stay in shape during the off-season, in-line skating soon became its own sport—nay, virtually its own lifestyle.