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Coolest Workspace Contest: The Treadputer


The last featured submission into Lifehacker's Coolest Workspace Contest comes in from Walker, who converted a treadmill into a computer workstation to lose weight while working by walking. Walker's launching a startup company, so he spends long days at the computer - and he's lost 30 pounds (!) out to lose 50 pounds walking while doing it!

Walker says:

I spend anywhere from 12 to 20 hours at the computer every day, and have done so for the last year and a half while working to get a startup off the ground. Needless to say this has taken a bit of a toll on my body.

In a recent effort to halt and reverse my physical decline, while not taking away time from working, I've set up a 'treadputer'. Now instead of sitting in a chair at the computer I stand on a treadmill and walk all day, at the computer.


The desk is a biomorph Maxo that I've had about four years. It has a variable height surface that I used to switch between sitting and standing heights (very infrequently) which has made it possible to sort of integrate it with the treadmill.


I need a lot of screen space, I often need to be working on 3 or 4 computers simultaneously, editing code and testing. The desk held four 21" CRTs at one point. This was a bit of a heat problem in the summer. Now I've got the two LCD panels and a remote KVM and switcher. This allows me to directly access a rack of computers that are in my basement. The heat and noise are out of my work area but my access is unimpaired.


Besides the useful equipment setup I have the obligatory GTD file cabinets and support material. I also reduce the reflected sound level in the office with two huge wall hangings. These are Indian elephant motif cloth I bought in Singapore. They are back padded with other cloth to give them a lot of bulk and absorb sound. Out my window I have a nice view of a yard full of trees, the kids' playground and most importantly the deck where our hot tub is. This hot tub has been very handy this past year, helping me to survive the long hours by soothing my aching wrists to stave off complete RSI breakdown.


I'm keeping a log of my adventures with this at treadputerblog.com. My goal is to lose 50-60 pounds of fat over the next year, and gain back 20 pounds in muscle, I calculate I've lost 30 pounds of muscle since I started working intensively on the startup.

Thanks, Walker!

With that, Lifehacker's Coolest Workspace contest is coming to a close. Tomorrow, the readers vote on all the featured submissions! Stay tuned to have your say on who should win the $100 Amazon gift certificate.