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$150 treadmill desk

Mark Frauenfelder at 5:07 pm Tue, Feb 23, 2010

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Here's Instructables co-founders Eric and Kristy testing out their $150 treadmill desk, which allows them to work and walk at the same time. Their incredibly cute baby seems to enjoy it.

This is related to my earlier post about Seth Roberts observation that doing two different boring things at the same time can be fun.

Treadmill desk

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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  • Day Vexx

    It’s certainly not the same thing as the treadmill desk, but I DID want to try out the boring + boring equation, having previously found out that television absolutely will not keep me focused while “biking” indoors. I gotta say, I’m having really great results with my Sony Reader– granted, I’m not reading boring stuff, but the main idea is that it’s keeping me on the stupid bike. I got 5 miles in this evening, and I’ll be back for another 5 tomorrow morning. YAY!

  • technogeek

    Not a bad idea. Working from home has cut a big hole in what exercise I was getting; theoretically I have more time for it but I don’t have the incentive of having to travel between home and office anyway. Exercise in place offends my sense of efficiency, but it’s a more reasonable form of multitasking than most.

  • bdrhoa

    Since a guy at church gave me his treadmill, I have a total of $25 in my rig. You can find a good deal on craig’s list.

    Please join or community of treadmill desk users at http://officewalkers.ning.com.

  • Anonymous

    what about a stationary bicycle desk

    • walkerdeskranger

      I think it would be much harder positioning the keyboard and mouse, and your rear end would get a little tired I’d imagine. Have you tried the treadmill desk? It is quite natural actually.

  • lectio

    Four out of five adorable babies agree: it’s good!

  • Anonymous

    I did this also but wanted to combine my exercise with taking care of my Facebook chores. I wound up getting an Xbox 360 control (they make them to play on your pc)with free software xpadder, to use to control my mouse. It works much better then the bouncing mouse but still could use more work.

  • rwmj

    Here are my instructions on how I made a treadmill desk.
    @3: Treadmills cost a whole lot more than $150.

    http://rwmj.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/treadmill-desk-part-6-hopefully-the-final-summary/

  • Anonymous

    I am considering switching to a treadmill desk but am worried about losing mouse/keyboard efficiency. One commenter said keyboarding is fine but mousing is not. Have others reached the same conclusion?
    Thank you.

  • DefMech

    When I get stuck on something at work or need to work through a complicated problem, I find pacing around in the lobby works really well to dislodge my smarts-box. It’s always fun to find out something you thought was uninteresting, but unique to you is actually legitimate and more common than you expected. Makes me feel like less of a weirdo :)

  • Steve

    Perfect solution to the “desk death” has arrived. FitDesk is like an under the desk exerciser on steroids. FitDesk is a high quality lightweight and foldable exercise bike with a built in desk. What makes it so effective is the arm rest. With your arms resting on the shelf you can type, use a mouse or my favorite play a video game. See the reviews on amazon.com. Outstanding solution to make your internet time healthy.

  • Boondocker

    Cool idea. I would definitely give that a try. It might even improve my posture!

    Also, that baby is SUPER-CUTE OMG CUDDLESPLZ! Who’s a precious little future-do-it-yourselfer? Who is? You are!

    • walkerdeskranger

      Have you followed through with this? Wondering if you noticed your posture improve any? I’m using the treadmill desk and an inversion table hoping to fix the bad posture I now have from crouching over my keyboard 9-5, and then doing the same while studying and playing around with my computer.

  • Anonymous

    OMG DO WANT.!

    What a great idea, I spend so much time in front of my computer. It would be fantastic to walk for 8 hours a day on top of that :) And if you didn’t want to walk you could just pop a bar stool on top.

  • narrowstreetsLA

    I love this idea. How much is the treadmill, though?

  • Anonymous

    Doesn’t anyone here remember the “Execusizer” seen from “Bananas,” when Woody Allen’s product tester gets his ass kicked by an exercise machine at his desk?

    • MajorD

      You’re right. It was Fielding Mellish, not Miles Monroe who was testing the Execu-cizer.

  • Antinous / Moderator

    You could just duct tape your laptop to the trunk of the car while your spouse runs errands. Then you’d get some fresh air, too.

  • Anonymous

    and lookey– Olivia Judson was writing about the need for this very thing today in NYT: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/?partner=rss&emc=rss

  • Ronald Pottol

    http://brainrules.net/ suggests that people may well think best at a leisurely walk, and thus a treadmill and a standing desk would be ideal.

  • Daemon

    The perpetual star trek engine hum would result in murder…

  • walkerdeskranger

    I’m totally pumped about using my treadmill desk. Coming up, I should be able to use it three days a week when I work from home. My goal is to lose 80 pounds!
    Check out my progress at http://walkerdeskranger.com

  • batu b

    better would be a recumbent stationary bike attached to a generator and batteries!

  • arkizzle / Moderator

    Somehow I parsed the title as “$150 [thousand] treadmill desk” and was expecting something a little (read: obscenely) grander.. :)

    Antinous FTW

  • redjar

    Steelcase has a similar product called the Sit-to-Walkstation you can buy for only $6500.

  • BillGlover

    I’ve put about 300 miles on my treadmill desk so far and recommend it. But be sure to get good walking shoes and expect at least a week of acclimation. Also, it works well if you mostly type at work, but it’s nearly impossible to do any fine work with a mouse or pad. Fortunately, I hardly ever use a mouse.

    On a good day, I can get in ten miles while rattling like a maraca on my Unicomp Model M keyboard.

    There’s a whole Ning community for “Office Walkers” with tips, treadmill and shoe reviews and progress and experience reports. (I’m a member)

  • Anonymous

    And if you do really good work, it dispenses a cookie and shot of coffee from Starbucks!

  • MajorD

    I think my pal Miles Monroe tested one of these back in the 70s.

  • kevinsky

    Oh, good! Now we never have to stop working, ever!!

  • AirPillo

    That little smile was adorable.

  • Anonymous

    A horsebackriding / saddle desk is better : http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275436@N06/3383121398

  • Snig

    Used treadmills come up for sale frequently. Millions of them lie fallow across the nation, covered with laundry, waiting to be further repurpoused.