Treadmill Desk

I spend a lot of time sitting.  I work in an office where I am sitting at a desk the majority of the day.  I come home and spend time sitting in front of my laptop or sitting on the couch watching TV.  I’ve been slowly working to reduce my amount of screen time.  We drastically cut back on the amount of TV we watch, but I still find myself sitting in front of my laptop for too long!

One day I casually mentioned to my hubby that I wish I could have one of those standing desks that would allow me to walk while I worked on my laptop.  He tells me he could build me one.  I assumed he meant in theory, once we could afford it.  I didn’t understand what was involved.  He asked me when I wanted it.  I said, “uh, like, tomorrow!”  Again, I thought he was discussing a concept, not an action plan.  I came home the next day and found him in the garage with some sort of power tool running.  Thankfully that man just loves creating new things!

The first thing he had to do was to create a “desk” surface for my keyboard and mouse.  I thought this was going to be the hardest part, but it turned out to be pretty easy.  He used a piece of wood that he braced on the underside.  He cut holes in the board for the speed and incline buttons.  Then the piece of wood just sits over the arms of the treadmill, and I have an instant desk.

Once the desk surface was created, we had to figure out a way to hold my laptop.  We went super high tech and used the plastic ends off of mini blinds!!   😀   The brackets are stuck to the treadmill with heavy duty double sided tape, and my laptop just slides into the brackets.  I open it all the way, and the display is at a great angle for me to see!  I plug a usb keyboard in so that I am not reaching up to type on the actual laptop keyboard.

Here is a shot of me testing it out.  Obviously I am not normally wearing jeans, but this was a trial run.  Like my Jennifer Hudson poster in the background?   😉

I have definitely spent more time walking thanks to this creation.  I tried using it while jogging at a 5.0, and that did not go well.  I usually walk between 2.5 and 3.0 at a 1.5 incline.  Sometimes I get frustrated that it takes so long to burn calories walking at this pace, but it’s better than sitting!  I owe my hubby for this one!