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Tuesday 30 April 2013

Just Keep Walking

The treadmill desk arrived on Friday evening. It's pretty big and we had to rearrange the lounge in order to fit it in. We decided to put it in the window so I've got something to look at when I'm not looking at the screen.

Minor Issues:

When I first tried to work on the treadmill on Friday evening, the desk was a little wobbly. Neil packed the bracket with a piece of thin card and it stopped (thanks for the hint below, Brant - we tightened the nuts with a socket wrench and it's great).

I think I probably need to adjust the desk to make it a little higher, but it's quite heavy and I need to get someone to do it with me (Neil did this last night - I think it will probably need to go a bit higher so I'm not looking down all day).

I don't have Bluetooth on my phone or laptop so I can't access the online stuff which sounds great (stats, exercise plans etc.). I'm not too bothered about this at the moment as I can write down how far I've walked and how much time I've spent walking at the end of each day.

Things I've learned:

It's very easy to walk while typing/marking essays/messing about on the internet/talking on the phone.

Different tasks seem to work with different walking speeds. 1 mph is about right for editing and typing.  

Good stuff:

The desk itself is pretty big so there's loads of room for piles of marking and/or books and files etc. 

It's much easier to walk than it is to stand still, so even if I'm just checking my emails or messing about on Facebook for 10 minutes, I switch the treadmill on.

I've walked more than 20 miles since Friday evening and my calves are zinging (in a good way).

I can see that if I just stop eating so much chocolate it's going to be a great way to lose weight. Plus, while it's easy to walk and type, it's actually quite hard to walk and eat and/or drink (yes, I've tried both).

The treadmill goes up to 4 mph which, if you've got legs as short as mine, is a jog, so there's scope to go a bit faster at times.



6 comments:

  1. This looks amazing! I wish I had one of these in my office! Ultimate way to multi-task! :)

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  2. Would this mean it wouldn't be great for us guys due to our limited ability to multi task? :)

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  3. If you tighten the nuts with a socket wrench then the desk will be as solid as a rock. :)

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  4. It actually doesn't feel like multi-tasking - perhaps because the rhythm holds you in a sort of thrall and after a few minutes it just feels like you're typing, you really forget about the fact that your legs are doing something different.

    Thanks for the tip Brant. You're right, solid as a rock.

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  5. Don't you have difficulty focussing on the screen when your head must be moving, at least a bit?

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  6. Clare, I think the trick is to walk so slowly that there's really not any movement in your upper body. I've started walking at less than 1 mph and it's working really well.

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