Work Out while you Work
[Guest post by DRJ]
This Walkstation sounds like a good idea:
“A number of employers apparently are willing to let their workers walk. Steelcase Inc. says many companies have expressed interest in its newest product, which combines an office workstation with a treadmill so workers can burn calories while earning a paycheck. The nation’s largest office furniture maker will begin taking orders for its Walkstation beginning Nov. 19.
“What we have done is taken science from the lab to a product that could potentially help millions and millions of people,” Walkstation developer James Levine told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Thursday. “I think it’s the next iPod. Everybody is going to want one.” Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who has spent the past 15 years studying energy expended during daily activity, collaborated on the Walkstation with Steelcase.
He approached staff members of the Grand Rapids-based company with the idea while they were doing research at the renowned medical facility. Within a month, a prototype was built that combined a height-adjustable workstation produced by Details, a Steelcase subsidiary, with a treadmill from the company’s fitness area.
The final product, which will sell for about $4,000 and be the first product of Details’ new FitWork line, incorporates a specially designed treadmill by St. Louis-based True Fitness Technology Inc.”
It’s set at a slow-walk speed (3.5 rather than 10 mph) with low noise, and lets users burn calories while they work.
– DRJ
Very funny, DRJ. The employers could, of course, achieve the same result by eliminating the lunch hour and forbidding food in the office.
Comment by nk — 10/27/2007 @ 11:57 am
You don’t like it, NK? I don’t think workers should be forced or even encouraged to use this but I’d like to have one available in the office. It looks like a good way to stay limber and work at the same time. It even looks fun.
Comment by DRJ — 10/27/2007 @ 12:02 pm
Let’s see them come out with a press brake model.
Comment by Paul — 10/27/2007 @ 12:03 pm
I think it’s funny. I went through nineteen years of school to have a sit-down job and now it seems I’m not supposed to be doing that.
Comment by nk — 10/27/2007 @ 12:17 pm
Heh. We could wait for the reclining bike model, or even the recliner model.
Comment by DRJ — 10/27/2007 @ 12:27 pm
You know, DRJ, I half-expected the link to go to an Onion story.
Comment by Paul — 10/27/2007 @ 12:33 pm
You have a point, Paul, and it doesn’t look like this will be the next iPod either.
Comment by DRJ — 10/27/2007 @ 1:09 pm
I think it’s a great idea. I first became aware of Dr. Levine’s research on a work-station treadmill a few years back, and have been trying to convince my lawyer brothers who don’t get enough exercise to rig one up. Maybe now they’ll try it, although it’s gotten a lot pricier since Levine first rigged one up in 2005!
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
Comment by driver — 10/27/2007 @ 1:31 pm
And you could hook them up to generate electricity!
/channeling Ed Begley
Comment by stoo — 10/27/2007 @ 1:32 pm
I guess this is the kid version, courtesy of Amazon.com.
Comment by DRJ — 10/27/2007 @ 1:39 pm
I guess this is the kid version
ROFL!
Comment by Paul — 10/27/2007 @ 2:11 pm
“Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don’t need it: if you are sick you should not take it.”
Henry Ford
Comment by tmac — 10/27/2007 @ 2:33 pm
I’ve been thinking about trying to write legibly while walking. It’s hard in the grocery store, why would it be any easier with this contraption? Think of all the typos too.
Comment by kimsch — 10/27/2007 @ 2:45 pm
Well, in the grocery store you have to watch where you’re going. The actual pace he used in his research was about 1mph, which is a pretty slow stroll.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/80411
Comment by driver — 10/27/2007 @ 3:08 pm
Rumsfeld always stands when he works. However, I guess you have to like the way Rumsfeld thinks to view that as support for this product.
Comment by DRJ — 10/27/2007 @ 3:11 pm
Personally, I prefer a desk with the build in refrigerator and microwave.
Comment by Perfect Sense — 10/27/2007 @ 3:40 pm
stoo, #9…
That would be required at “Green” companies.
Comment by Another Drew — 10/27/2007 @ 6:51 pm
Score another point for Woody Allen’s prognostication ability: his movie Bananas opens with his character, Fielding Mellish, product-testing an exercise desk.
(This comes on top of his prediction in Sleeper that hot fudge sundaes would eventually be regarded as health food.)
Comment by djmoore — 10/28/2007 @ 8:47 am