Treadmill Desk

A couple of weeks ago, my trainer asked me if I had seen the news report of the treadmill desk. I had heard mention of such, but not seen the report. Check out this link.

As many of you know, I spend hours upon hours sitting at the computer. And within the last 6 months, David and I had purchased an elliptical machine rendering our existing treadmill virtually useless. We had anticipated selling it, or even giving it away, but it is still occupying space in our gameroom.

So, last Thursday morning, I begin to ponder how I could convert my treadmill into a treadmill desk. Another Google search generates the "$49 treadmill desk."

We have book stands for the treadmill that we purchased a few years ago. I'm looking at it on the console of the treadmill thinking...."I bet my laptop would sit in the book stand." So, I set it up, plugged it in, and this is the result.Suprisingly enough, I was able to spend over an hour reading and responding to emails and other responsibilities not requiring a work surface. But now I'm thinking, how can I add a work surface?

My trainer suggested buying a piece of shelving at the hardware store to lay across the hand rails and under the edge of the console. I head to Home Depot after my workout and buy a white shelf. I set the shelf on the handrails, and it was just not very stable. A trip to the garage resulted in 2 rubber tie downs. Now I must tell you that I've had the shelf sitting on the treadmill running for a few minutes, maybe 15, when I decide that I need to add some stability.

And my calculator, pencil, erase, a few papers, etc are on the shelf. As I close the back door and walk around to the garage, I hear a crash and think to myself...."I hope the shelf did not fall off of the treadmill....." Yep, I was right. It was all in the floor when I get back from the garage.

So, moving along, now I have this.
and it works. I am finding that walking at about 1.5 mph is the right speed for me. However, for exercise, I typically walk much faster and I have found that I must work up to spending several hours on my treadmill desk. My hamstrings and lower back get really tight if I walk for much more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours at a time.

Ultimately, I would like to move the treadmill down this wall such that there is wall in front of the treadmill instead of a window. Then I will mount another small shelf on the wall, and purchase a flat screen computer monitor which will be larger and easier to read than the laptop monitor. This should also enable me to move the laptop to a side table which will free up the console area and be a little less tricky to adjust the speed, etc.

For now, I am just getting used to the whole concept. It will be interesting to see if this really works for me long term both to be effecient at work and hopefully dropping some pounds.