Inspired by articles such as this one in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, over spring break this year I purchased a walking treadmill. This post will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about it.
I checked out some manual treadmills, but they were too hard for me to move. I could never have done any work while trying to get the belt to turn. Instead, I purchased a small, walking treadmill. My wonderful husband built me a simple tray to hold my keyboard and mouse. I moved a monitor bookshelf to the front treadmill to hold a large monitor and my laptop on a stand. That done, I was ready to get to work.
Being part of a treadmill desk is hard on the treadmill. It is more difficult for the motor of the treadmill to move slowly than quickly. They heat up more at lower speeds. As a result, this treadmill shuts itself off automatically after 30 minutes of use. If I had a full-time desk job, that would make this useless. However, since my desk work is fitted in-between classes, this works pretty well. Even when I do have an extended period of time to work at my desk, the 30 minute limit is not a problem because there are things I cannot do on the treadmill, such as budget work or fine graphic work.
For other tasks, I find I am better at them on the treadmill. For example, tedious work such as cut-and-paste work or setting up blogs is easier on the treadmill because part of my attention is being occupied by moving and not falling off. Phone calls are fine. Responding to emails are great, especially because now that I have Mountain Lion I can dictate them if I am the only one in the office. Given our crazy schedules, that happens more than you might expect.
There have been some funny moments. When I first started using the treadmill, I hadn’t realized that its quiet noise masked the sound of a door opening. Someone walked in and started talking to me nearly giving me a heart attack. Fortunately the only damage was to my pride. Another instance happened when I started wearing my Fitbit Flex. I forgot that it would vibrate when I reach 10,000 steps. Having my wrist suddenly vibrating startled me so much I yelped and almost fell off.
I no longer have the setup show in the photo. Over the summer, we went from having two people in the room to having four people in the room. That necessitated me moving my desk so that it’s now facing the windows. I could close the blinds completely but I really hate not being able to look out. Instead, I tilt them a bit but the backlighting is not optimal.
In my new arrangement, I am not able to set the laptop next to the monitor by the treadmill. As a result, I no longer use extended desktop. Fortunately, I have a new, much larger monitor so I can usually fit everything onto the screen that I need to see. Here is a very rough sketch of my new setup.
In this new arrangement I keep my laptop on the computer counter on a laptop stand. When I sit at the computer counter, I plug my desktop monitor into the laptop and extend my desktop so I can work on both the laptop screen and the external monitor. When I switch to to the treadmill, I just swap out the monitor cables so I can use as different large monitor in front of the treadmill.
When I am on the treadmill, I only mirror to this monitor since the laptop is down on the counter. Fortunately, my Macbook Pro is smart enough to remember different settings for different external monitors. My old Lenovo was not that smart. Now, I only need move my laptop if I want to dictate on the treadmill. In those instances, I just pull the laptop to the edge of the counter so that my headset cable can stretch all the way from the laptop to the treadmill.
I made a few refinements in the months I’ve been using this setup.
- I switched to using a trackball as my input device. Since my arm doesn’t need to move to operate it, that is my stable point while the rest of me is in motion.
- When I had to move the treadmill to its new location, I ended up with my back to the door. I put a small mirror on my bookshelf so that I can see the door when I am on the treadmill. The movement in the mirror warns me when someone arrives in case I don’t hear them open the door. I haven’t been startled off the treadmill since I did that. It also lets me see when the visitor is for me so I know to stop walking.
- I found an old wired Mac keyboard to use on the treadmill. It has a function key which makes it easy for me to start dictation. My bluetooth keyboard can be used on the treadmill but it lacks a function key.
- I plug most of the peripherals into a powered hub so I don’t have to swap cables when I move from treadmill to desktop.
Looking at this set up, you probably noticed I have more kit than most people. Fortunately, one of the keyboards and one of the monitors were old ones taken out of storage. Also fortunate that I had a trackball mouse in a drawer at home and the tray was made from an old IKEA shelf which we found by a dumpster. My only expenditure was the treadmill itself. I don’t remember how much it cost. I think in Singapore dollars the price was around $650.
So, has the experiment improved my health? I think so. In the past, days I spent at my desk made it difficult to reach my goal of 10,000 steps. Now if I manage to fit in even an hour on the treadmill, I end up easily reaching my 10,000 step goal by the end of the day. I’ve lost a bit of weight. My concentration is better on the treadmill, and I tedious tasks are less mind-numbing.
I’d say the only negative is that my deputy principal seems a bit worried. I think he doesn’t want to become a trend. I can’t imagine that it will. I would never have this set up in a classroom. It is only for us cubicle drones. My officemate tried to set him at ease by telling him that I was part of the electrical grid. He told him that my walking was powering the entire wing we are in. Something tells me he didn’t believe it.
Do you have a treadmill desk? I’d love to see your setup and hear about your experience.