5 ms·

Walking Desk

48 points by peedy 12y ago

rosser 12y ago
When the standing desk thing got boring for me, I added a balance board instead of a treadmill.
eglover 12y ago
Even if I did this, I'd be too embarrassed to put such a picture on the internet.
- cfpg 12y ago
  Why would you be embarrassed about something you do? It's your reality.
  - avalaunch 12y ago
    By that reasoning nobody should ever be embarrassed about anything. And that is definitely not a good representation of reality.
  - eglover 12y ago
    Wow, you never use other peoples views of you as a wake up call for self-improvement? Jesus, I can't imagine how lazy and disgusting your are. Seriously though, there's plenty reason.
KhalPanda 12y ago
I'm totally not sold on the practically of so-called walking desks. Reading text on a screen whilst your head is bobbing up and down, trying to make fine-motor-movements to click and type whilst walking, sounds like a recipe for low productivity. Why not get 3 hours of real work done, followed by 1 hour of real exercise, rather than 4 of neither? Or if you're determined to combine (computer) work with exercise, a reclined exercise bike you can slide under a proper desk might be the better bet... at least your upper-body will be stable then. Kudos for at least thinking about your health, anyway!
- Raphmedia 12y ago
  The screen looks big enough and is in front of the treadmill. This should be alright. I used to read my kindle while running on a treadmill. This shouldn't be much of an issue at all, especially since we are talking about walking slowly.
- bluedino 12y ago
  It's not a good solution for say, a programmer or graphics designer. It is good, however, for someone who makes a lot of phone calls and such.
  - ripter 12y ago
    It's great for a programmer. Source: I'm a programmer that loves it.
  - WalterSear 12y ago
    It's a good solution for a programmer or designer. It's a terrible solution for someone whose phone calls will be distracted by the, otherwise minor, ambient noise of a treadmill.
- daeken 12y ago
  For the last month and a half, I've been using a treadmill desk for 1-3 hours every day. I walk at 2mph (a nice slow pace I can do consistently without thinking) and it's been absolutely fantastic. It doesn't make reading or typing difficult (the desk is well-stabilized and my Thunderbolt display is on a very heavy arm), and I'm down nearly 25lbs since I started, thanks to a combination of diet and exercise. I truly can't recommend a treadmill desk enough. Edit: You can see my setup (sans laptop) here: http://imgur.com/Jqfy8eG http://imgur.com/Jqfy8eG
- deweller 12y ago
  I program all day long and I spend about half my day at a walking desk like this one. I was distracted by the bobbing up and down for the first day. It was a little less distracting by the second day. And by the third day I didn't even notice it. I was able to get in my regular programming zone with ease. In fact, I find that walking can often get me focused faster. But, I am somewhat of a kinesthetic learner. Motion helps me think. So your mileage may vary.
at-fates-hands 12y ago
Funny, one of the companies I was contracting with last summer got so wrapped up in this craze, they devoted an entire room to walking desks. You could go in there when you wanted and work. They have 8 treadmills rigged with a desktop so you could plug in your laptop and mouse and work while you were walking. Never saw more than two or three people in there at a time, but the company made a big deal out of it. It looked pretty awkward, even when people were walking really slow.
angersock 12y ago
Oh god, it's a battlestations thread. On HN. For shame. :(
kushaldas 12y ago
I use bigger fonts and I code all day. Having no problem after first 30 minutes.
stevepotter 12y ago
I built something similar a few years back. Walking at a snail's pace for a few hours a day was nice for bloodflow and focus. Then I started getting major headaches. I went to the doctor and couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then I realized that my head bobbing up and down while staring at my screen was causing it. Stopped using the desk and it went away. I raised my screen to eye level and that helped. But the headaches still occurred so I reluctantly quit. Maybe I walk funny or I'm sensitive to it, but I'd like to warn anyone doing this to make sure you don't make yourself sick. Beyond that, have fun and good luck explaining it to others :)
vxNsr 12y ago
What's that book you seem to have a thousand of?
- kushaldas 12y ago
  It is a very old detective story series, written in Bengali. I recently bought all parts together. Finished reading them.
  - swatkat 12y ago
    Name of the series? Feluda? Byomkesh Bakshi?
    - kushaldas 12y ago
      Dasyu Mohan.
reustle 12y ago
I built one of these too! http://reustle.io/blog/cant-stand-sitting http://reustle.io/blog/cant-stand-sitting
zwieback 12y ago
Has anyone tried a chord keyboard with a walking desk, something like the Twiddler? http://www.handykey.com/ http://www.handykey.com/ I imagine it would enable faster walking speeds.
- matznerd 12y ago
  How fast can you type with one of those?
whiddershins 12y ago
I am in the minority on this, but quite skeptical of exercise for exercise's sake. If exercise isn't fun, your brain is probably trying to tell you it isn't that great for you. Yes, I've read the research but remain unconvinced, I think the "need" for constant exercise may be a symptom of an underlying physiological problem.
- dpark 12y ago
  Your body is optimized for saving energy, because for millions of years starvation was a plausible outcome of wasted energy. This is the same reason sweets and fatty foods taste better than kale. You're evolved to prefer energy-dense foods. Given that you post to HN, starvation is not a likely scenario for you. Diabetes, obesity, heart failure, these are all health issues you could face, and they are not things your body is evolved to avoid, because they were comparatively minimal issues for millions of years. The "underlying physiological problem" is that we are just not evolved to overeat and be sedentary.
  - whiddershins 12y ago
    I don't think the data supports the scarcity hypothesis. Unquestionably we evolved to cope with scarcity. But humans often lived in periods of high food availability. I think it is reasonable to assume my body is evolved to deal with both high and low calorie environments, if it is functioning properly. Anecdotal data bears this out as well. There are many people, including myself, who have dramatically varied their caloric intake and exercise habits with fairly minor changes in body composition.
    - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
      >But humans often lived in periods of high food availability. // It's not just high food availability we have - I'm a few steps away from a ton of high calorie foods and could get more sent to my house without leaving my chair. In the past, even with plentiful supply, one had to [generally] put in some effort to get food. That doesn't seem to be the case for many now. In the scenario of high food availbility meaning there's plenty of fruit to gather (and process to save for winter) and there's plenty of deer to chase then I can see I'd get more exercise.
CoffeePower 12y ago
This seems like it would be difficult to work on
canterburry 12y ago
I used a walking desk for 4 months straight at 2 mph for 6 hours a day. The first few months where good but then I started getting terrible hip and joint pains. I ended up quitting because it hurt too much. After the fact, I think I just wore out my shoes and had no dampening left in them. Get good shoes...often.
lukifer 12y ago
This is a cool project. However, when I tried this, I hound the forced rhythm (and noise) too distracting to be productive. When I removed the treadmill and went to a pure standing desk, something magical happened: it became a dancing desk instead. I still got the high heart-rate and full body motion from jamming to music, and could trivially bounce and pace around the room when stuck and needing to think. (I'm one of those people who paces while thinking yet before this I seldom integrated this into code.) My $.02, YMMV, etc.
- tfandango 12y ago
  Yea, I think that's generally the idea. It's less about the standing and more about the constant weight shifting one does while standing up, everything remains engaged and you get some normal health benefit from it. My back hurts a lot when I sit in a chair all day (even a really nice chair), so I prefer to spend most of the day standing.
newman8r 12y ago
I have done this with a recumbent bike and it's pretty enjoyable.
- yitchelle 12y ago
  Love to see a picture of a setup of if you have any?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

Walking Desk

48 points by peedy 12y ago

rosser 12y ago

When the standing desk thing got boring for me, I added a balance board instead of a treadmill.

eglover 12y ago

Even if I did this, I'd be too embarrassed to put such a picture on the internet.

cfpg 12y ago
Why would you be embarrassed about something you do? It's your reality.
- avalaunch 12y ago
  By that reasoning nobody should ever be embarrassed about anything. And that is definitely not a good representation of reality.
- eglover 12y ago
  Wow, you never use other peoples views of you as a wake up call for self-improvement? Jesus, I can't imagine how lazy and disgusting your are. Seriously though, there's plenty reason.

KhalPanda 12y ago

I'm totally not sold on the practically of so-called walking desks. Reading text on a screen whilst your head is bobbing up and down, trying to make fine-motor-movements to click and type whilst walking, sounds like a recipe for low productivity. Why not get 3 hours of real work done, followed by 1 hour of real exercise, rather than 4 of neither? Or if you're determined to combine (computer) work with exercise, a reclined exercise bike you can slide under a proper desk might be the better bet... at least your upper-body will be stable then. Kudos for at least thinking about your health, anyway!

Raphmedia 12y ago
The screen looks big enough and is in front of the treadmill. This should be alright. I used to read my kindle while running on a treadmill. This shouldn't be much of an issue at all, especially since we are talking about walking slowly.
bluedino 12y ago
It's not a good solution for say, a programmer or graphics designer. It is good, however, for someone who makes a lot of phone calls and such.
- ripter 12y ago
  It's great for a programmer. Source: I'm a programmer that loves it.
- WalterSear 12y ago
  It's a good solution for a programmer or designer. It's a terrible solution for someone whose phone calls will be distracted by the, otherwise minor, ambient noise of a treadmill.
daeken 12y ago
For the last month and a half, I've been using a treadmill desk for 1-3 hours every day. I walk at 2mph (a nice slow pace I can do consistently without thinking) and it's been absolutely fantastic. It doesn't make reading or typing difficult (the desk is well-stabilized and my Thunderbolt display is on a very heavy arm), and I'm down nearly 25lbs since I started, thanks to a combination of diet and exercise. I truly can't recommend a treadmill desk enough. Edit: You can see my setup (sans laptop) here: http://imgur.com/Jqfy8eG http://imgur.com/Jqfy8eG
deweller 12y ago
I program all day long and I spend about half my day at a walking desk like this one. I was distracted by the bobbing up and down for the first day. It was a little less distracting by the second day. And by the third day I didn't even notice it. I was able to get in my regular programming zone with ease. In fact, I find that walking can often get me focused faster. But, I am somewhat of a kinesthetic learner. Motion helps me think. So your mileage may vary.

at-fates-hands 12y ago

Funny, one of the companies I was contracting with last summer got so wrapped up in this craze, they devoted an entire room to walking desks. You could go in there when you wanted and work. They have 8 treadmills rigged with a desktop so you could plug in your laptop and mouse and work while you were walking. Never saw more than two or three people in there at a time, but the company made a big deal out of it. It looked pretty awkward, even when people were walking really slow.

angersock 12y ago

Oh god, it's a battlestations thread. On HN. For shame. :(

kushaldas 12y ago

I use bigger fonts and I code all day. Having no problem after first 30 minutes.

stevepotter 12y ago

I built something similar a few years back. Walking at a snail's pace for a few hours a day was nice for bloodflow and focus. Then I started getting major headaches. I went to the doctor and couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then I realized that my head bobbing up and down while staring at my screen was causing it. Stopped using the desk and it went away. I raised my screen to eye level and that helped. But the headaches still occurred so I reluctantly quit. Maybe I walk funny or I'm sensitive to it, but I'd like to warn anyone doing this to make sure you don't make yourself sick. Beyond that, have fun and good luck explaining it to others :)

vxNsr 12y ago

What's that book you seem to have a thousand of?

kushaldas 12y ago
It is a very old detective story series, written in Bengali. I recently bought all parts together. Finished reading them.
- swatkat 12y ago
  Name of the series? Feluda? Byomkesh Bakshi?
  - kushaldas 12y ago
    Dasyu Mohan.

reustle 12y ago

I built one of these too! http://reustle.io/blog/cant-stand-sitting http://reustle.io/blog/cant-stand-sitting

zwieback 12y ago

Has anyone tried a chord keyboard with a walking desk, something like the Twiddler? http://www.handykey.com/ http://www.handykey.com/ I imagine it would enable faster walking speeds.

matznerd 12y ago
How fast can you type with one of those?

whiddershins 12y ago

I am in the minority on this, but quite skeptical of exercise for exercise's sake. If exercise isn't fun, your brain is probably trying to tell you it isn't that great for you. Yes, I've read the research but remain unconvinced, I think the "need" for constant exercise may be a symptom of an underlying physiological problem.

dpark 12y ago
Your body is optimized for saving energy, because for millions of years starvation was a plausible outcome of wasted energy. This is the same reason sweets and fatty foods taste better than kale. You're evolved to prefer energy-dense foods. Given that you post to HN, starvation is not a likely scenario for you. Diabetes, obesity, heart failure, these are all health issues you could face, and they are not things your body is evolved to avoid, because they were comparatively minimal issues for millions of years. The "underlying physiological problem" is that we are just not evolved to overeat and be sedentary.
- whiddershins 12y ago
  I don't think the data supports the scarcity hypothesis. Unquestionably we evolved to cope with scarcity. But humans often lived in periods of high food availability. I think it is reasonable to assume my body is evolved to deal with both high and low calorie environments, if it is functioning properly. Anecdotal data bears this out as well. There are many people, including myself, who have dramatically varied their caloric intake and exercise habits with fairly minor changes in body composition.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    >But humans often lived in periods of high food availability. // It's not just high food availability we have - I'm a few steps away from a ton of high calorie foods and could get more sent to my house without leaving my chair. In the past, even with plentiful supply, one had to [generally] put in some effort to get food. That doesn't seem to be the case for many now. In the scenario of high food availbility meaning there's plenty of fruit to gather (and process to save for winter) and there's plenty of deer to chase then I can see I'd get more exercise.

CoffeePower 12y ago

This seems like it would be difficult to work on

canterburry 12y ago

I used a walking desk for 4 months straight at 2 mph for 6 hours a day. The first few months where good but then I started getting terrible hip and joint pains. I ended up quitting because it hurt too much. After the fact, I think I just wore out my shoes and had no dampening left in them. Get good shoes...often.

lukifer 12y ago

This is a cool project. However, when I tried this, I hound the forced rhythm (and noise) too distracting to be productive. When I removed the treadmill and went to a pure standing desk, something magical happened: it became a dancing desk instead. I still got the high heart-rate and full body motion from jamming to music, and could trivially bounce and pace around the room when stuck and needing to think. (I'm one of those people who paces while thinking yet before this I seldom integrated this into code.) My $.02, YMMV, etc.

tfandango 12y ago
Yea, I think that's generally the idea. It's less about the standing and more about the constant weight shifting one does while standing up, everything remains engaged and you get some normal health benefit from it. My back hurts a lot when I sit in a chair all day (even a really nice chair), so I prefer to spend most of the day standing.

newman8r 12y ago

I have done this with a recumbent bike and it's pretty enjoyable.

yitchelle 12y ago
Love to see a picture of a setup of if you have any?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]