Because of the mounting evidence that sitting for long periods of time is bad for you, I’ve been taking steps (Haha! A pun!) to decreasing the amount of time I spend sitting. I set break reminders so I would get up and stretch every 20 minutes. At home when I played video games I alternated between standing, pacing, and sitting on the couch. Wireless controllers make that pretty easy. But when I looked at everything, I was still sitting for hours upon hours.

I began to formulate a plan to be more active at work, while I was working. There were standing desks. Although standing is better for you than sitting, people weren’t meant to stand for hours upon hours either. The human body was designed to walk. And that’s how I became fixated on treadmill desks.

There are expensive pre-built solutions, like the LifeSpan Treadmill Desk or Exerpeutic WorkFit Treadmill Station. You could also mix and match other expensive solutions, like pairing the TrekDesk with a LifeSpan Treadmill (designed to fit under a standing desk). Although I’m all for investing in my own health, I also wanted to be wise about it. What if I spent over a thousand dollars and ended up not taking to it as I thought I would? An inexpensive solution was what I needed to take the plunge.

Discovering the Treadmill Desk Diary, particularly this page about setting up the treadmill, changed my life. Well, at least it made up my mind how I wanted to proceed. I would modify the inexpensive Confidence Power Plus Treadmill and use it with my existing desk.

The only thing I needed next was something to elevate my keyboard, mouse, and monitors. I was looking at products like the Ergo-Stand or the Safeco Desk Riser, but these were inexplicably expensive for what they were. And what were they? I asked myself. They were like small coffee tables! Look up “coffee table” on Craigslist and you’ll get pages of listings. And so I came home with a $5 table that was absolutely perfect for the job. I set everything up over the weekend, and this is what it looks like:

So how did my first day go? Very well! I started using it this morning and various coworkers popped their heads through my door to check out my setup. Pretty much all of them laughed, but not in ridicule. It was more disbelief that I actually went through with something like this and was actually using it. Because the coffee table was nice and sturdy, there was no wobbling and I was able to use it to steady myself on the treadmill as I walked and typed. The treadmill itself is a little narrower than I would like, but it presented no big problems. The sides of my shoe would occasionally drag along the side rail, but I never lost my balance. I continued to use the reminder program I had installed, but this time I would take a break to go sit down for a minute instead of standing up and stretching. Sometimes I would turn off the treadmill and stand for a bit.

Around 3pm I decided it was enough. I didn’t want to overdo it on the first day, so I pushed the treadmill into the corner and removed the coffee table from my desk. Back to normal! I really like this setup. The only thing that would make it even better would be a sit-stand solution that would easily move my keyboard, mouse, and monitors up and down as needed. I really liked the Ergo Desktop Kangaroo because it seemed very sturdy and well made. The WorkFit-S would probably work too, but seemed like it might be a bit wobbly for my needs. In the end it comes down to how much inconvenience you can stand. If you you can stand more, then you can spend less.