Here are several ways to accomplish both goals:
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You can buy an overpriced corporate-designed concept as a belated Christmas gift for the blogger hoping to follow through with fitness resolutions. It’s called The Walkstation, a treadmill rigged up with a laptop, and users claim that if you walk slowly enough (evidently the Walkstation won’t let you go fast even if you want to), you can type and walk at the same time, burning around 1,000 extra calories per day without breaking a sweat. Here’s a rather uninspiring but short video of a businessman trying it out…at least you can see the setup…and how slow the treadmill rolls.
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There’s a similar product called Walk N Work for about $500, and…
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Here’s yet another item called The Net Runner , a strappy thing that costs around $100, made of webbing that supposedly attaches any sized laptop to any treadmill-type console (I guess it can work for a bike, climbing machine, or elliptical as well as a treadmill).
So, what do you think? Could you do it? Could you walk and type and concentrate at the same time? Or do you think you would lose productivity and focus?
Or, worse yet, do you fear that you would lose your balance and slip even at an unbelievably slow pace?
9 comments
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December 26, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Meredith
I am always joking that this is what I need–had no idea such a product actually existed!
December 26, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Rocks In My Dryer
I think I would be inclined just to type over and over, “I hate exercise. I hate exercise….”
December 26, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Anna
Hmm…. I’d be tempted to try it if I had my own office and worked on the computer all day. It’d be nice to spend a couple of hours standing up and walking instead of sitting. But for exercising? It doesn’t even break a sweat… I don’t think it would be as effective as just doing a regular workout.
December 26, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Lynn Hopper
You may not get bored because you jog in the great outdoors, but boredom is a major factor in treadmill use…that’s why they put up TVs in the gym. In my little gym there are only two TVs, so you have to get to it first, or else are stuck watching whatever is on…and often it’s a sports show that I don’t care about. If I am watching something I like, I can walk and walk. If there is nothing on I care to watch, I’m in and out in 12 or 15 minutes. (But of course, that’s after half-hour or 45 minutes on the weight machines.)
But you are right, concentrating enough to think and type is courting disaster!!!
December 27, 2007 at 7:52 am
Fiddledeedee (It Coulda Been Worse)
Well that’s just crazy. As it is, I need a seatbelt just to type at my computer. If I stand too fast, and my legs are asleep, I fall to the floor. Oh yes ma’am, I’ve done it.
December 27, 2007 at 10:34 am
Mrs. June Fuentes
Very interesting!
December 27, 2007 at 11:16 am
annkroeker
The article that grabbed my attention was in U.S. News & World Report, and they told about a lady who rigged up her own version using a two-by-four, and in the first week lost almost five pounds.
And they quoted Dr. Levine, who created the prototype for what would later become the Walkstation. He recommends making sure you go slowly, make sure you’re comfortable (forearms parallel to floor, eyes level with middle of the screen), and start out doing stuff you enjoy (like watching TV or a movie on the computer, surfing the Internet). He predicts as a person becomes comfortable, they’ll be eager to work on it, too. Or blog on it.
I can multi-task sometimes, but not with everything…in fact, I often become less effective at the two or three things I’m juggling than if I did first one and then another.
December 31, 2007 at 2:11 am
MamaBearJune
No way. On the treadmill is where I catch up with my reading. Yes, of real BOOKS!
I was doing it 6 days a week until my doctor told me to STOP. (I got really sick and he said I needed to rest. I actually lost more weight sitting on my butt for several weeks than I did walking 6 days a week. Go figure.)
(Visiting you through FiddleDeeDee’s site.)
June 10, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Timmy
These treadmill desks work, no doubts. I use one and have lost close to 30 lbs in less than 6 months. But if you use it for extended periods you will notice stiffness in your neck and shoulders unless it is height proportionate. I found a great product called TrekDesk at http://www.trekdesk.com which has all this figured out for me plus a pretty interesting ball chair for when I need to sit.