Walking 10,000 Steps
I recently wrote and article Walking 10,000 Steps A Day For A Healthy Lifestyle. So in efforts to improve my health, I committed myself to walking 10,000 steps each and every day!
10,000 steps may seem like a lot of steps and truthfully, it is…but with some simple lifestyle changes you can slip 10,000 steps right into your routine!
So how did I do this? With a custom built treadmill desk.
What Is A Treadmill Desk?
Treadmill desk what??? Alright, lets talk about how many of us just don’t move enough. So much has changed over the years and quite frankly we are not moving enough.
I recently purchased a Jawbone Up to record my activity and I was shocked that I wasn’t moving enough. I am an active person…but I also sit at a desk to work for 6-8 hours a day.
Studies show that just by finding ways to move more you can dramatically improve your health. So in efforts to move more I began to research and stumbled upon a treadmill desk.
A treadmill desk is a desk that is attached to a treadmill which gives you the ability to work while you walk on the treadmill.
Move More By Walking
What is better, sitting or moving? Moving of course! With a treadmill desk you do not move fast at all, instead you walk at a slow pace of 1.2-2.0 miles per hour so that you can still continue to work.
So I do my first 3 hours of working just walking a normal, slow 2.0/mile pace on my treadmill desk. That is 6 extra miles that I walk a day now (2 miles per hour) that I wasn’t getting before. That is 42 extra miles a week (6 miles extra a day x 7 days a week) that I am moving! Wow, right?
I can easily work standing up rather than sitting on my bum and burn calories and earn steps while working. I hit my 10,000 steps for the day just by working in the morning on my treadmill desk and I feel refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the day!
Don’t work from a desk in the day? No problem…watch your evening shows while walking with the treadmill desk. You can watch just about anything these days on the computer, so instead of sitting on the couch, watch from your computer while walking on your treadmill.
The Benefits of Walking
There are so many health benefits when walking is added to your daily routine. Here are just a few:
- Weight loss
- Maintaining an ideal weight
- Prevention of heart disease, high blood pressure and and type 2 diabetes.
- Strengthen your muscles and bones
- Helps in balancing hormones and lifting your mood
- Saves money from gym memberships
- Helps improve your sex life
- Reduces your chances of stroke
- Can reduce your chances of developing dementia later in life (source)
So with all these healthy benefits, makes you want to walk more right? So lets move on to how to build an inexpensive treadmill desk.
How To Build A Treadmill Desk
So when I researched treadmill desks, I was shocked how expensive they were. So I went on a mission to build my own. Many of the instructions required you to drill holes into the treadmill and I did not want to do that.
The other important element was that I wanted the treadmill desk to be easily removable so I could run on it when I desired to. I use my treadmill a ton in the winter months in Wisconsin when it is below 0ºF.
So I stumbled upon this website, Think Space, and altered the instructions slightly. Could it really be this easy to build your own treadmill desk?? Yep, it sure can be!
Here is what you will need. This will fit a standard size treadmill.
- (1) Wood Shelf ~ 11.8″ D x 35.8″ W (find this at a local home improvement store) At my store they came in maple and cherry color. In the picture above it is maple color. This board cost under $10.
- (4) Screw Eyes ~ 3-1/2″ with 5/16″ Thread
- (2) Bungee Cords ~ 24 inches
- Drill and 15 minutes time
Drill two holes into both sides of the shelf (as pictured below) and screw in the screw eyes. Do this to both sides.
Place the shelf onto the treadmill (as pictured below) and attach the bungee cords (on the underside of the board) from one side to the other and attaching them to the hooks. The desk should be securely attached and shouldn’t move at all and be tightly in place.
Place your computer on the desk and start walking at a slow pace. Remember, it isn’t about speed, you have to be able to work as you move. Try walking 1.3-2.0 MPH. I walk for 3 hours in the morning. I would be sitting for 3 hours so instead I just walk at a slow and steady pace.
You will be amazed how this little change can dramatically improve your health and also help with losing weight! That’s it, easy right? How do you get in extra steps?
My husband constructed this for me yesterday for only $13! Today I begin my walking while working routine 🙂 thank you so much for this!
This is great! Thank you so much for the idea! My treadmill is a little wider, so I plan to use a 48″ board, and then use tie down anchors underneath, secured with standard screws, to hold the bungee cords in place. This will allow me to keep awake and moving while I study for my CPA exam, and not break the bank (the study materials made my checkbook weep, as it was!). Thanks again!
Happy it will work for you! Good luck on your CPA exam!
Best thing I’ve seen online all year! I’ll be building myself a treadmill desk this weekend.
Happy to hear! Let me know how it turns out for you! 🙂
Just converted mine tonight and it worked great! Perfect height, super steady. Thank you so much for this; you’re a lifesaver since no way could I afford to buy a ready-made treadmill desk. This cost less than $20 and some time and effort. So worth it ?
It’s really an awesome idea, i just did the same in last 30 minutes with even less than 5 Dollars, actually everything was available in home. Actually i am writing this comment from my own made trekdesk as per your idea 🙂
Congrats Ammar, so happy to hear it worked out so well for you!
What a great idea! My husband is a retired carpenter and retired carpenters NEVER throw away any kind of wood no matter how large or small. I’ve been contemplating making some sort of desk for my treadmill and finally did a search this morning for ideas. Lo and behold I come across your posting and with a quick search through my husband’s stack of wood, I now have a desk on my treadmill for virtually zero cost. Thanks very much! I am training for the Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in Las Vegas in Nov that I will be doing with my granddaughter. Being able to get in a extra miles everyday and still get some work done on my laptop is a going to be a wonderful thing!
As always, I’m a bit late to this party – but this is amazing! I’ve been looking at treadmill desks and they’re so freakin’ expensive. Thanks for posting this 🙂
I tried the $8 desk board and had some issues. The material is particle board and when I tried to drill one end and insert the screw eyes, it caused the material around it to bulge and ultimately crack the board. I went back to Home Depot to the lumber department and asked for a 12″ W x 35.8″ L x 0.725-in D Oak board. The lumber specialist said Oak is a good quality board and far superior to pressed particle board. The oak board was twice as expensive as the original desk board but it was much easier to drill on either side and it looks a bit classier and less glossy .
What type of treadmill is this specifically?
It was a Nordictrack.
Hi,
Thanks for posting this Instructable! It was great to show the variations on the design (attaching everything to the treadmill, mounting stuff on the wall) and the pros and cons of each. I finished my own variation on the idea last night, and today marks my first walking day of work. So far, so good. I went with the mini-desk attached to the rails for the keyboard and mouse, and the monitor on a shelf attached to the wall. The desk is made of 3/4″ plywood. The desk slips onto the rails of the treadmill without modification to the tread.
With Regards
Albert
Sounds like a great treadmill desk. Do let us know how it works for you and happy walking! 🙂
Thanks for posting this. I’ve had some ideas swirling around in my head but when I saw this I knew it was what I was looking for! I put a lip on the bottom end and cut a hole to hold my water bottle. I already had scrap lumber so the only things I had to buy were bungee cords and eye hooks for a grand total of $2.01.
I was mulling over how to do this on my treadmill and found this. The hooks and bungee cord make all the difference. Thanks! Isn’t it great that something you wrote years ago is still providing value?
Hi Jill! So happy you are finding value in this post, and yes it is wonderful that people are still enjoying this post. Thanks for stopping by…