Can I jury rig a walking desk?

August 7, 2018 8:35 PM

I realized that most of my day I'm just answering e-mails - could I set a small Chromebook up to a treadmill at my gym to make a walking desk?

Have you done this? If so, how did you set it up so the Chromebook didn't fall and smash on the treadmill - or you didn't fall off the treadmill while walking and typing? I want to not just watch a video or read - I want to be able to type. Creative ideas welcome.

posted by Toddles to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

Do you know anyone who owns a treadmill desk? I know a few people, and it seems like the walking/typing thing isn't too high a hurdle to cross.

Personally, I'd measure the treadmill bars and consider just using some plywood and 2x2 to make a platform for the computer that you can carry in with you. The plywood is the same depth as your laptop, and four pieces of 2x2 cut to the same length get screwed into the bottom, two on each side, with a gap to fit over the side bars. You don't really need to worry about it sliding back and forth.

But I'd also check in with gym management to see if this is cool with them -- I know you're paying to be there, but the service is modeled around people coming for a workout and leaving, not people staying for hours and monopolizing a machine at a very slow pace.
posted by Shepherd at 2:56 AM on August 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Zoe Williams has just tried a cycling desk.
posted by paduasoy at 3:01 AM on August 8, 2018

I would love to be able to do this at the gym. It's probably about the only thing I'd pay an upcharge for--unlike all the other stupid little crap they keep trying to get me to pay for like locker keys and fatblastclasses and whatever else. I say you make or acquire the little tray table thing and if the gym has any sense at all, they'll see another potential upcharge and get a bunch in and rent them.
posted by Don Pepino at 3:36 AM on August 8, 2018

Many standard treadmills force you to stop after a specified period of time (usually an hour?), after which you'd have to reset the speed, etc. to get moving again. You may find that disruptive even if your gym is okay with this.
posted by miratime at 3:55 AM on August 8, 2018

I honestly don’t know how you’d do this with most standard gym treadmills. They don’t really have a spot for a laptop.

You’d eeally need some sort of plank to lay across the hand bars to set the laptop on. This would be unwieldy to crate around though as it would probably have to be 3-4 feet wide to span the gap.
posted by bitdamaged at 8:51 AM on August 8, 2018

This thing clips/hangs on the control panel and has a strap to retain your tablet or Chromebook. Would that work? It looks small enough to fit in your gym bag.
posted by a halcyon day at 12:13 PM on August 8, 2018