Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Walking While Writing

Posted by: Joely Sue Burkhart
Since sitting is the new smoking, I decided I had to get UP more in 2016.  I tried setting my phone with an alarm every 20 mins, but it was too easy to forget to set it again. Plus I often have hour-long meetings for the Evil Day Job (I work from home, so I have flexibility in how I set up my workspace), or I'd get involved in something, and look up and it's hours later.

Finally I found a treadmill desk that was in my budget! But....

There are a few adjustments I'm working through.

For one thing, I guess I have really short arms.  The desk itself has a 3-4 inch area in the front for handles and the console -- which puts my keyboard and/or laptop too far away for me.  However, I worked around that issue by using a cushioned lap desk I'd already bought to use my Asus all-in-one in the living room.  It comfortably sits over the console without bothering the settings, and allows me to bring the keyboard closer.  This also helps lift it up just a little bit too.  I maxed out how high the desk will go, but with short arms and all, I'm not getting the 90-degree angle for my hands.  Lifting the keyboard up an inch or so is perfect.

My Evil Day Job laptop is all wired --keyboard, mouse and monitor. I need to work up to walking long distances, so trying to come up with a configuration that doesn't take too long to set up, but allows me to walk a bit and then move to my normal desk has been challenging.  All those stupid cords!!

I don't know why I hadn't invested in a wireless keyboard and mouse for work. A simple fix.

I'm starting out slow, about a mile a day, with the goal of eventually walking several hours at a time.  I'm not very coordinated so I'll either kill myself -- or bust my laptop!  We'll see how it goes.

Are you making any health changes in 2016?

2 comments:

  1. one tip I've discovered - try changing the speed every 30 minutes. that helps change things up for my body and keeps the muscles and joints from getting so stiff later. good luck! Also, we have a writers who walk FB group if you want to join :-)

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  2. I bought an adjustable standing desk (http://www.amazon.com/Safco-Products-1929CY-Adjustable-Workstation/dp/B001MS70Z2/) before I read that standing is the new sitting. Sigh. So I added a treadmill (www.amazon.com/dp/B00G124PV6/) under it and panicked when it arrived and I realized it wasn't quite the right fit (one inch too wide to slide between the base of the desk). Then I found a short wooden table that was wide enough and put my standing desk on top of it and adjusted the height of the desk to account for the table. Works pretty great. Except for the fact that I don't use it. Heh.

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