I Am Ready to Try Walking While Working
Posted on 03 September 2007, at 10:22 pm, by Judie Lipsett
Updated: I have created my own treadmill desk; you can read about and see it at the end of this article.
Every time I get on my treadmill, I tune into mindless reality TV on VH1 (Rock of Love reruns, anyone?), the news on CNN (same old depressing crap) , or the latest nature show on Discovery (”observe, the tiger and his mate”) depending upon the time of day. Every time I do it, I think that there has got to be something better I could be doing with that hour as I exercise, and I think I have come up with the answer.
My friend Joe has been touting the virtues of walking while working for years, but it never sunk in that he was actually doing his prolific posting while walking on his treadmill until he mentioned something about it in an email recently. I said I had just finished my hour, and he said that he walks on his treadmill eight hours a day, seven days a week. My reply was simply that I was “scared of him,” but I was definitely intrigued.
Of course, he isn’t doing some 4.0mph huffing and puffing pace, Joe does it at one mile per hour, and he has a special laptop rig in place so that he can comfortably blog all day long…while walking.
Here are some pictures of Joe’s setup…
Because it hadn’t sunk in how slowly he was walking, I replied that I would probably trip and kill myself if I tried walking and blogging. But Joe patiently said he would teach me how if I gave him five minutes. As is my way, I politely blew him off.
And every time I got on my treadmill, I thought about how it would be great to be more productive during that time; and how if I walked for longer, I could walk slower, and typing would be possible without disastrous results. Today I wrote him back, and told him to give me the skinny.
He sent me a list of posts he has done on the subject, which I am reposting here:
My treadmill-related posts:
2005:
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2005/01/behindthemedspe_19.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2005/10/treadmill_hyper.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2005/10/behindthemedspe_5.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2005/12/bookofjoe_tread.html
2006: http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/01/a_treadmill_in_.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/01/walkingwhilewor.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/02/treadmill_danci.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/02/bookofjoe_tread.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/02/how_to_calibrat.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/02/treadmill_walki.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/03/bookofjoe_goes_.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/03/tredsadj_bookof.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/04/braindead_man_p.html http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/04/who_will_save_y.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/07/my_cat_humphrey.html (over 12,000 views!)
2007: http://www.bookofjoe.com/2007/03/igo_treadmill_d.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2007/05/behindthemedspe_4.html
But in the end, as they used to say in Rome, “videre est credere”*
*Seeing is believing
Color me inspired; I am now on a mission!
Without building a stack of stuff as a platform, and without spending $500 on an iffy solution, I am now hunting for a desktop that can be adapted to fit my NordicTrack C2255. Hey look – they are even on sale right now if you need a FAB treadmill! 
What I think might work, is if I could adapt one of those steering wheel desks that are available, to somehow hook over the top of my treadmill’s rather fat console. This would be a relatively inexpensive and completely perfect solution – if I can make it work.
Here are some the ones I am considering:
The Express Desk Steering Wheel Laptop Desk
The WheelDesk
But I wouldn’t be adverse to trying to modify one of the crazy mounts found on the RAM Laptop Mount Site.
So, my question for you all is – have you tried walking while working? Do you have any hints, tricks of the trade, or suggestions on how I can make my laptop console into a desk? I’m all ears. 
In the meantime, I am going to catch up on the tips at Walking While Working. The good thing is, since so many of my posts are derived from digital content, my workspace will never look quite like Joe’s. 
I’ll leave you with Joe’s cat Humphrey, getting in on the treadmill action…
Updated: I did it! created my own treadmill desk…and I already had everything I needed to get it done on hand; check it out!I used an old wooden shelf that was being stored behind a door to make the base. Because I had to attach the board somehow, and I didn’t want to do anything permanent to the treadmill, I had to be a little bit creative with duct tape and a couple of wash rags…don’t ask. 
Next I pulled the Logitech Alto from storage and placed it on the platform…
My Fujitsu T4215 fits perfectly, although it is sitting a bit too low for proper ergonomics. The alcoves in the treadmill make for perfect places to keep my portable hard drive, mobile phone, hand weights, etc. The extra room on either side of my laptop gives me a place to keep a diet coke or a bowl of grapes. This is an inspiring place to work!
I’m on it right now, going one mile per hour. It’s not perfect – I need to raise my keyboard area by about a foot for it to completely comfortable – but that shouldn’t be a problem. I probably have what I need in the garage.
Updated again!: I did have what I needed in the garage. I took apart the VCR shelf from an old entertainment center and flipped it upside down…my setup is now perfection. I am going on 86 minutes at one mph. It will take a bit to get used to this method of working, but I am really impressed with everything so far. :happy dance:
14 Original Responses to “I Am Ready to Try Walking While Working”
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1 Comments For This Post
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Hazir Says:
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:58 amI was reading about a study that made the most sense to me. It basically said that chairs are making us fat. The moment we sit our metabolism basically shuts down. There is another study thru Mayo clinic that shows that thin people actually are up and moving on average 2.5 hours or 350 calories more per day than people who struggle with their weight. Makes sense when you think about it but most of us are challenged by our jobs and time constraints to move our bodies more or take the 10,000 steps recommended by the Surgeon General. The Mayo folks came up with a unique idea combining a treadmill with a desk and according to their info you can easily burn off 800-1000 calories a day while working. Great idea but the WalkStation costs $6500 a bit too steep for me. Another site with a lot of medical information about the amazing benefits and curative powers of daily walking is at TrekDesk they offer an alternative that is alot more affordable.
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Joe Stirt, book of joe, blogosphere, blogger, Lifestyle, Interview, Elite Blogger Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 1:16 am[...] b) From Others: I Am Ready to Try Walking While Working [...]
I have actually tried this, but I couldn’t find a way to mount my MacBook Pro up on the console without it falling off. Ended up using my dads little 12″ laptop which worked, but I need mine!!
That’s absolutely amazing! Now, do foldable treadmills exist? I couldn’t fit one in my tiny flat unless I could fold it up and stow it under the bed!
My treadmill actually does fold up to take up less space (although it won’t fit under any bed), but I have a spot in the bedroom where I can always leave it down.
Brilliant!
When you get a bee in your bonnet you really buzz.
The board/washrags/duct tape hack is simply superb.
I am so glad I know you.
Joe, you should see it now! The VCR shelf (flipped upside down) made a perfect platform…I feel like I just invented the wheel or something. Thank you so much for the inspiration and encouragement!
Hmmm, I’m a serious believer in focused activities. When I work, I’m fully into it and I give it all my brain power. When I go to exercise, it is to ease my mind and slip into meditation while exerting my muscles. Work and relaxation have to be separate things for me in order for both to bear fruits.
I feel working while trying to give my body some exercise would defeat both purposes. However, I fully understand that we have individual idiosyncrasies! Interesting to see what people come up with!
Wow! There used to be a guy who rode a recumbant bicycle all day too.. Had to raise his desk about a foot to accomodate the bike underneath the desk..
Just a thought..
Good idea, now I have to find a way to mount one of my old notebook to my elliptical.
Hi, Judy,
Great idea! I use a recumbent bike and I was also searching for a way to type while exercising. I found an alternative solution for “healthy computering” in a recent hospital stay – the swivel serving tray used for meals, etc. The tray has height adjustment and doesn’t require any mod of my bike. Attaching heavy-duty Velcro to the table and the bottom of my notebook would provide a sturdy, slip-proof solution. It just swivels out of the way when not in use. This would work for treadmills, too. You could also just attach a keyboard if you use a desktop. I have to admit that this is theoretical because I haven’t purchased a tray/table yet, and it will cost more than your solution.
Guys, I am on it again today…I did four hours at 1.5mph yesterday. I feel like 1mph is too slow, and 2 is a little too fast (except for periods of time when I am just surfing – ha!), but so far so good. I haven’t yet written a full review on this contraption yet – which may prove tricky depending upon the item, but for answering email, surfing, general blogging, and other similar things – this is da’ bomb!
If I keep this up, I should have legs of steel in a few months, with no
“extra time” spent exercising.
Judie, please don’t :happy dance: while on the treadmill – you’ll fall off and break something! It’s cheating when your legs of steel are down to them being in plaster-casts!
Chris, going this slow it is surprisingly easy to do things other than just concentrating on foot placement. You get to where you are just plodding along comfortably. Although my legs were sore this morning…and still are – I won’t lie!
This is way more of a workout than just doing an hour a day on 4.0. Joe says it will take a couple of weeks to truly get used to it; I am ready for that day.
Wow! 4 hours on the treadmill and being productive, thats amazing!
Judie I applaud you for adjusting your exercise program and putting in the work to upgrade your treadmill.
Sadly, I fell off from my exercise program of doing some physical activity every day. Since I injured my lower back last month, I just could not continue my exercise program as it hurt so much. And now weeks later with the pain mostly gone. I am finding it difficult to get started again.
I’v been using a product called TheNetRunner for about 6 months now and I find it easy to work while I walk. It is harder to get the motivation to get on the treadmill than working on it actually.
When I need to really be able to do a lot on my laptop I go about 1 mph but there most of the time I can go 2 mph and I have even tried going up to 3 mph. I can tell you that as you use it more you can increase the speed more and still get the same stuff done on the laptop, but it seems to get progressively harder as you increase the speed. But then the speed doesn’t really matter as much as I like to put mine on an incline and that actually increases the calorie burn faster than increasing the speed. I don’t know if this site allows links but if it does below is the link to buy the product otherwise just do a Google search on TheNetRunner.
http://www.thenetrunner.com