Well well well….here I am again! I’ve been working on a BIG BIG project all summer (announcement to come soon!), and part of the time at least, I’ve been doing it on a treadmill desk that I finally got around to putting together. Because several people noticed my dramatically increased step-count on Fitbit.com and Twitter (I use the Fitbit pedometer to track my steps) and asked me what was going on and why I was walking 10 + miles per day now, I thought I would just give you a little breakdown of the desk with a photo. I really love it, and it was not complicated at all to set up.
The Treadmill: The first component in the treadmill desk is, of course, the treadmill. I use this Confidence Power Plus treadmill, which is super inexpensive and foldable. I got mine from Amazon for $199 (not a typo) and because I have Prime, it was delivered for free in two days. Winning!
The Desk: I used the IKEA “Fredrik” desk, which unfortunately they have stopped making. I got mine on Craig’s List for $60, then modified it to only have one shelf. Side note: if you are going to buy something from Craig’s List, take a friend, because MURDER. It also works great as a standing desk (I’ve been using it that way as well). If you are crafty, I bet you could just build a similar one by looking at the photo or Googling “IKEA Fredrik Desk” and downloading the pdf of the plans/ directions from IKEA. I’m just saying.
The Setup: Here’s where I give props out to Super Husband Stephan Cox, who took time out of his day to put the initial desk together, then worked with me to position it correctly. The only thing that took some finessing was actually getting the desk to fit over the treadmill, which we achieved by putting shelves underneath the base. I read an article where the guy actually disassembled part of the treadmill in order to get the controller loose, but I didn’t think this was going to have a successful outcome if I did it, so I solved this problem by bending the controller all the way forward, then setting up the top part of the desk on top of it. Yes, this does mean I have to start the treadmill by bending under the desk, and yes, this does mean that I can’t actually control the speed while I’m on it, but this has not been a problem at all (I just hop off if I want to adjust or stop it).
The Speed: This one took some trial and error. Because I am a nerd, I did all this research on how fast the treadmill should be going in order to actually get work done (including this New York Times article). I’ve found that I can keep it going at 1 mph (no, it’s not that fast) for regular writing and emailing (i.e., things that require thinking), 2 mph for things like Facebook, Twitter, and phonecalls in general, and that I need to stop and sit down for actual analytical thought/ creative problem solving. This speed is going to totally vary for you, so you will need to try it out. Also, yes, I did get a headache the first week, trying to teach my brain to multitask in this way.
Feel free to ask questions about this, which I will update within the post. If you have a home office, I highly suggest setting this up!
