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I do. Against all the online advice to not DIY I have a normal running treadmill (a freebie from the people we bought our house off, who didn't want to move it)

by vosper 8y ago

I do. Against all the online advice to not DIY I have a normal running treadmill (a freebie from the people we bought our house off, who didn't want to move it) with a couple of polystyrene blocks across the bars. The blocks support a bluetooth keyboard and a wireless mouse. I use normal garage shelving (also left for us) to support a 32" 2560x1440 monitor. My laptop sits on the shelves, but the one screen is plenty big enough for work. I use the treadmill for 2 hours every day, and have done so for the last 6 months. I do 40 minute sessions, with a decent break in-between, at 5.3km/h, with the incline set to the point where I can feel it, but not to where it changes my gait or makes me sway so much that I can't type. Honestly, it's great. Because I work from home I don't get any of the walking exercise I used to from going to and from work. But I get more now - 10kms a day, at a fairly fast pace. Combined with intermittent fasting I have been slowly losing weight over the past 6 months. And it feels really good to walk. It was something I missed. Being able to work it into my... work... has been great. I don't think it's probably a good idea to walk all day. After some experimenting I settled on 2 hours. I used to do 3 hours, but by the end of the week my back would be getting a bit sore.

ykevinator 8y ago
Wow, this is exactly the situation I was looking for and your practical "get healthier slowly" approach is exactly what I have been contemplating.
- vosper 8y ago
  If you can get a cheap treadmill I'd say give a shot. It doesn't have to be expensive to setup. Especially if you're working remotely and noise isn't an issue (my treadmill is in the garage; I have noise-cancelling headphones that help a lot, but it's really not that bad without them - and this is an old treadmill). The (well-intentioned) concerns that I see about posture if you DIY I think are aimed at people who are planning to walk all day. To me walking slowly all day never made sense, I'd much rather walk faster for a short period of time and then return to my desk and rest. I also think the safety concerns are overblown. I look straight ahead at my screen, which is at head height; I'd also be looking straight ahead if I was walking without working. I've never fallen, tripped, etc... I don't see how it's any more dangerous than running would be, probably less so because is everything is moving a lot more slowly. If you do try it out be sure to put the speed up periodically to see what you can handle. I walked at 3.5 kp/h for months before my wife mentioned she was walking at 5 kp/h and I discovered I could handle faster speeds, too.

by vosper 8y ago

ykevinator 8y ago

Wow, this is exactly the situation I was looking for and your practical "get healthier slowly" approach is exactly what I have been contemplating.

vosper 8y ago
If you can get a cheap treadmill I'd say give a shot. It doesn't have to be expensive to setup. Especially if you're working remotely and noise isn't an issue (my treadmill is in the garage; I have noise-cancelling headphones that help a lot, but it's really not that bad without them - and this is an old treadmill). The (well-intentioned) concerns that I see about posture if you DIY I think are aimed at people who are planning to walk all day. To me walking slowly all day never made sense, I'd much rather walk faster for a short period of time and then return to my desk and rest. I also think the safety concerns are overblown. I look straight ahead at my screen, which is at head height; I'd also be looking straight ahead if I was walking without working. I've never fallen, tripped, etc... I don't see how it's any more dangerous than running would be, probably less so because is everything is moving a lot more slowly. If you do try it out be sure to put the speed up periodically to see what you can handle. I walked at 3.5 kp/h for months before my wife mentioned she was walking at 5 kp/h and I discovered I could handle faster speeds, too.