The Trek Desk

Stick with your instincts! These chairs are gimmicky and not well suited for sitting or working for any length of time. Your spine needs stability and combining exercise with work probably is not a good idea, as both will get done poorly. The best bet is to take frequent stretch breaks and change up your tasks often. Also check out OSHA's website. It's not very webbish or modern, but full of solid seating/ergonomic information. Make sure to follow the link about seated postures. Link: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/components_chair.html

I seriously doubt this would work. I would personally find it very difficult to exercise and concentrate at the same time. Maybe if you were just doing data entry or something, but not full on work. But it would be worth trying to see how it goes.

Some people appear to have no difficulties in focussing reading books or magazines while using the treadmills at my gym.... I imagine they would have no problems focussing on a screen!

www.walkingwithattitude.com.au

It's not so much the typing/movement - I think I'd have difficulty walking with that giant green ball in the way.

I think typing would be difficult, but I guess it depends on how much typing vs. staring at the screen your job requires. I also have a feeling it might cause a bit of motion-sickness for me... I can't even think about reading in a car - even a map for short periods of time makes me sick - so I'm not sure I could look at a computer screen while walking without getting queasy.

As a sophomore in university who spends 80 hours a week preparing for science courses SEATED, I don't think I'd be able to focus on understanding concepts and exercising at the same time. Whatever happened to maintaining a balance in our lives?? I am fully capable of studying from 9am-9pm and working out before or after the study sessions. And on weekends, more time to work out is always at bay!!!!

So...I really don't think anyone would enjoy this new fad toy unless they're a statistician.

I travel for business four days/week, and I stay at the Westin, where I have the option of the "Westin Workout" room which has a treadmill and other exercise equipment right in the room. It is not designed for this, but I've found a way to balance my laptop on the treadmill so that I can walk while I do my evening work (I work about 8 AM to 8 PM at the office, then take a break for dinner, and finally head to the hotel and do a few more hours of work). I can't walk very fast while typing - only 4 MPH - but it's a thousand times better than being stuck sitting all day and night. Don't knock it till you try it! I would give anything to have an actual treadmill desk at the office.

I agree with the others that it would probably be really hard to type while using a treadmill. I have a hard time concentrating on reading when I'm on a treadmill, or something similar. Many people read when they use machines like this, and I just can't do it. Something about the movement makes it hard for me.

I have looked into this and discovered the "walking workstation" (now marketed by the Details division of Steelcase as a walkstation) which is based on research that shows the importance of "non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)" in maintaining a healthy weight and fitness level. The key is to be on your feet and moving for most of the day, at 1 mph or slower! It takes special equipment to do this; not a treadmill designed to go 4 mph or more. See my blog post at http://charlesgoldman.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/exercise-who-needs-it/ and also see http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/levine_lab/about.cfm

The concept is kind of neat, but I have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, let alone trying to walk and type/concentrate at the same time! My husband has a really sedentary job and he has to do a lot of computer designing that requires quite a bit of coordination...I doubt this would be a good idea for that sort of work.

It's probably just a better idea to get up and take a couple of breaks during the workday to go up and down the stairs or take a nice brisk walk at lunch.

I've been using a treadmill desk at work for almost 18 months. I started off walking 1 MPH and now walk 1.5 MPH. It took about a day to get used to walking, typing and talking at the same time; and 4- to 6 weeks to get used to standing up all day rather than sitting down. Hand writing is still difficult - walking makes it worse than ever.

On a typical day I'll walk at least 5 miles, and sometimes as much as 7 1/2 or 8.

I love how walking makes me feel, and hope I never have to return to a traditional "desk" job.

Yes, can be done, and I'd love to have one. I read about it first here, How I burn 600 calores a day blogging, http://jonathanfields.com/blog/how-i-burn-600-calories-a-day-blogging/. It's a great read.

Incredible. The lengths people will go to try and fit exercise in. I doubt that this would work. It would be hard integrating work and exercise. Also i cant imagine that it would create great connotations with exercise. I'm sure the Michael Dell's of the world would love such a product.

This is no joke. This could become reality sooner than you think. Businesses are getting pressured by their insurance carriers to increase the fitness levels of their employees. http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/corporate-workplace-fitness-has-your-desk-been-replaced-by-a-treadmill/

It may still be a "rat race" out there, but maybe now we are going to race on our Trek Desks.

How sad.

It doesn't jump out at me as such a great idea. Even if you could manage to concentrate on working and "walking" on that invention at the same time, I'd question the quality of the work you'd produce. I've read about studies that showed people's performance and quality of work usually is reduced when multi-tasking.

I've been walking for years, first thing in the morning, year round (even in the snow, with my snowshoes!. I've arranged my schedule around getting in the early am walk. I walk on rail trails (abandoned railbeds made into hiking/walking trails), and use it as an opportunity to relax and renew, as well as to get in an hour of light aerobics. Oops, did I just admitted to multi-tasking? (kind of, LOL!)

I can't even read and walk on a treadmill at the same time, so I can't even imagine trying to work on a computer or write something out.

I have a great solution (and a lot cheaper too!). I keep a large exercise ball in my office to work on balance throughout the day, not all the time. I use it only for certain tasks - for example, when I'm just checking emails in the morning & after lunch or when I have informal meetings with those I supervise. It's a great way to incorporate exercise into my work routine - and it can be really fun to bounce around my office a little too!

I built my own treadmill desk. From container store, I built some wire frame shelves on casters to fit around my treadmill. It works okay. it is definitely feasible to read from the internet and do occassional very short mouse work.

If I am trying to do a walking workout, typing proved too difficult to me. Yet, I was going at 3.5 mph up a 10 incline.

If I walk at 0.6 MPH with a slight 1.0 incline. I can type. The issue is really trying to get the keyboard at a comfortable arm level while trying to get the screen at a comfortable eye level. I'm still working on a keyboard/mouse connector for my treadmill desk.

People think treadmill, and they think running or walking fast. That's not the goal with treadmill working.

I think the speed is the key. People who are trying to run on a treadmill obviously are not going to type very fast. If you read about the original NEAT study and hypothesis, the idea is to get moving slightly instead of stagnation.

From what I have read here most of the comments against this concept have been made by people who have not tried using a treadmill desk. I made my own and I walk 1.2 mph easily and feel energetic at the end of the day, never get tired after lunch or in the afternoons, and am more productive then I ever was. I have lost a lot of weight as well. Just watched the PBS special "Change Your Brain Change Your Life" and one of the major points stressed for optimum brain health was walking! Anyway, I am a convert. Treadmill desks work. The problem with mine is not adjusted to my height like you could do with this TrekDesk. I also like the idea of the exercise ball chair and have researched it as well, apparently the worse thing you can do for your back in sit in a regular chair for 8-10 hours a day.

Well, I've never tried one, but I think it's a great idea. Better than getting up from the chair to break concentration every fifteen minutes or half hour or hour... And I do a lot of my best thinking walking or showering or heading between appointments, all on my feet... Why NOT give up your chair? Definitely worth a try. And no reason to complain that we are becoming a race of gerbils on exercise wheels... if we are chained to our computers already, we might as well do something more natural to our species... walking! I say go for it. (even if it is a bit expensive)

I have read that standing burns calories, so all you need to do the avoid the problems of sitting all day is create a stand up environment to work at. I have done it at my home office and find that I am a lot more productive standing and moving. Easier for filing, organizing, typing etc. Of course you have the option to sit at your desk when fatigued.