Desk with treadmill
Steelcase announced its Sit-to-Walkstation, which "combines a complete, low-speed treadmill with an electric, height-adjustable worksurface, so it’s easy to add movement and burn calories as you work, whenever you want." It costs $4,899, minus the chair.
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With the addition of a rope, you can attach the chair to the desk and simply place it on the treadmill.
The bearings on desk chairs are not designed for extended travel, so you may need to replace them every couple hundred miles traveled on the treadmill, but the tradeoff for exercising while in relaxed comfort is small to pay.
Seems like a riff on the steelcase walkstation: http://www.steelcase.com/na/walkstation_products.aspx?f=30670
How much would it cost to buy a workstation, a chair, and then a desk? I suspect significantly less than $5k+ after tax.
I'd like this better if it was a generator you could power your laptop by. I like the theraball as desk chair better. $15 minus the desk.
Or, you could build a resistance desk. Chair on wheels, desk on wheels. Slant the floor 30 degrees. Within a month you'd either be strong as hell or crushed to death.
Does no one remember Fielding Melish, Woody Allen's unlikely hero in Bananas? Before falling into a Central American revolution, he worked as a products tester, attempting to demonstrate something just like this exerdesk.
Chuckles aside, there are some very real problems addressed by this. Humans were not designed to sit at a desk for 8, 10, 12 hours a day. Granted, this looks silly and you'd be the laughing stock of the office (if your company were so inclined to buy you one of these), but I'd bet that people would soon envy your setup.
There was an article some time back, on Salon or somewhere, where the author tried one of these for a few weeks and the experience was transformative. I, for one, would love this setup, or at least the option to switch back and forth from a chair. As long as it was whisper quiet and very slow, it would be great. It might take a while, but I'm sure cheaper knock-offs are on the way.
I'm with #8. I feel that my coworker looks terribly foolish on his exercise ball (he's totally gotten rid of his chair), but I enjoy kicking that ball when I go by or hiding it in odd places (I only had to deflate it a little to get it into the ceiling).
Our local PD's entire dispatch office is filled with industrial versions of this workstation. They can't be any farther from their desks than the cords on their headsets will allow (wireless have proved too unreliable for 911 call situations). They have a restroom and kitchen within reach as well. I don't know how many people are in there at once, but I wonder what happens if they accidentally cross the streams?
These are a great idea, just not the specially designed set-up that costs a huge amount of money.
this was a prize on the price is right last friday, drew couldn't believe it was $5,000!
I've heard of the Steelcase Walkstation. I actually like the concept a lot. I imagine that it would be impractical to have it my full time desk but it'd be neat if my office to had one available and allowed me and my fellow cube dwellers to reserve some time on it when we wanted to.
All you need now is a laminar airflow system to reduce the spread of disease in high density buildings.
Oh and a giant water bottle in one corner, a tray of food pellets, and some straw bedding material.
Your cynicism about just "running the treadmill" in your career can now be made manifest.
Seems an awful lot of money to pay for a treadmill and desk when I built two treadmill desks for less than half the amount these guys are charging for just one. Either way you do it, it's a good way to burn calories though.
http://www.justinlloyd.org/category/treadmill-desk/
They've been investigating these for some years at the Mayo Clinic. Here's one link but you can Google for many more.
my office has wifi and a gym in the basement. I've got a 4" x 11" x 4' cardboard box sitting on top of the treadmill to hold my laptop and I have my office phone forwarded to my cell.
they are kinda life changing. I've dropped about 15 lbs, and have tons more energy.
my system costs a lot less than $5000, tho...
someone did a study by bringing gym equipment into an elementary school classroom. Student grades soared. Got the blood flowing to those feral little brains.
Generators are an excellent idea, I think I'll set up a call center where exploited third world workers can answer phones and produce the juice to power them.
This is a bit expensive, but there's more here than just "A desk, a treadmill, a chair".
The desk height can be adjusted so it's at a comfortable working height for standing, walking OR for sitting. It does this with motors, so you don't have to take all your crap and your computer off the desk before adjusting it, meaning it's actually practical to change the height.
If you DON'T have some way to adjust the height of the work surface, you won't be able to walk within arms reach of the desk, and if you stand over it you'll wreck your back for stooping all day.
However, a cheaper way of raising the desk MUST be possible. I'm visualizing a hydraulic pump that might take a few minutes to operate (either by hand or with a motor) but will still do the job. Yeah, you can't work for a few minutes - you should be taking a break every now and then anyways.
This concept is catching on quickly now that people are learning about the concept of Chair Disease (yeah, it is actually a term). Turns out the more we sit the more we mortgage our health. Should not be a big surprise if you think about it.
The treadmill desk above though is pretty expensive. I found a very affordable alternative called the TrekDesk at http://www.trekdesk.com. Very informative website too which details some incredible facts about why we should all get off our duffs.
The best I have found searching for treadmill desks is the TrekDesk. You can see it at http://www.trekdesk.com. I like the fact that it offers a large work area, comes with some cool accessories and works with my existing treadmill.
There are many case studies that have been done regarding this Chair Disease, and the results are amazing including weight loss, increased energy, and more productivity. Get Up America!
Here is an affordable option...http://www.treadmilldeskinc.com
I have been working at a treadmill desk for 10 months now and highly recommend them. I looked at the Steelcase version first but it was too expensive for me and I then came across the TreadDesk after reading the "Office Walkers" blog and purchased one of their models for $1840.00.
I have lost 23 lbs and average 4 miles per day. I can't tell you how much better I feel at the end of the workday as I have more energy and never feel sluggish anymore. I have found that I am also more productive and creative, which are both very helpful as a self-employed software designer.