How I Put Together My Treadmill Desk

by Shawn Collins on June 2, 2011

I have pulled everything together to have a treadmill desk to use for work and exercise at the same time.

Now, for anybody who is not familiar with a treadmill desk, it’s a way to get some work done while walking. Some people build attachments to their treadmill, as well as free-standing desks to go up and over the treadmill.

Since I’m not particularly handy, I relied on things that were available to purchase, and I’ll share all of the items I assembled to have a comfortable, productive environment for walking and working.

The treadmill desk is setup in an area of my garage with a TV used as a monitor, desktop computer pulling in WiFi, wireless keyboard and mouse.

The three most important elements are the treadmill (Precor 9.23 Treadmill), the treadmill desk (SurfShelf), and the keyboard (SIIG Wireless Mini Multimedia Keyboard).

Next up is the computer. Some people work with a laptop on their treadmill desk. I sweat a lot, and didn’t want to kill my laptop, so I got a new computer (Dell Inspiron 560) that would sit far from my sweat.

I got the slim-tower version with Intel Pentium dual-core E5800 (3.20GHz, 2MB); 6GB DDR3 SDRAM 3X2GB, integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500; and 500GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache.

One thing it didn’t come with was the ability to pull in a WiFi signal, and I don’t have a hard Internet connection in the garage. So I got a little USB network adapter (Cisco-Linksys WUSB54GSC Compact Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SpeedBooster).

I’ve got the computer sitting on a little fridge near my treadmill desk – I need my cold water!

That’s a little iPod stereo thing on the top, so I can play podcasts, music, and audio books when working.

Finally, I use a 32″ LCD HDTV for a monitor (LG 32LD350 32-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV).

The TV/monitor is mounted to the wall with a bracket that swings out with a tilt and swivel articulating arm (CheetahMounts 32″-55″ LCD TV Wall Mount Bracket), so it can be comfortably positioned for either the treadmill desk or elliptical machine.

I connect the TV/monitor to the computer with an HDMI Audio Video Cable that is 6 feet long.

This setup enables me to do any of the tasks I usually would do at my desk, and once I had all of the pieces, it was easy to get everything up and running.

I started out walking 4 miles per hour with the treadmill desk, but I found that was too brisk to get things done with accuracy.

I played around with various speeds while working, and I brought it to around 3 miles per hour to keep moving, but still do everything I do at my old, wooden sit-down desk.

If you’d like to see my progress, check out my dailymile profile.

You can also follow my adventures in eating healthy and exercising at FatShawn.com.

{ 15 comments }

Shawn Collins December 8, 2011 at 5:58 pm: Do you have a keyboard there or a laptop?

One thing I changed to work easier was to slow down the speed of the mouse. I was having a hard to putting it where I wanted it when going at 3 mph.
Nick Loper December 8, 2011 at 5:31 pm: I’m only at 1mph so far, but hopefully I can up that as I get more used to it!
Shawn Collins December 8, 2011 at 11:35 am: Good to hear, Nick. What speed works for you to type?
Nick Loper December 8, 2011 at 10:42 am: Hi Shawn, I saw this article in FeedFront this summer and it inspired me to create a treadmill desk of my own. It took a while to get my act together but we got it build last weekend and it’s working great. It’s kind of addicting to watch the miles add up and still be getting work done. Although I can’t type very well at 3mph so I have it set much slower
Shawn Collins June 7, 2011 at 9:02 pm: Yeah, I tried at faster speeds and it was a struggle. I can do everything I need to do at 3.0.
Tricia June 7, 2011 at 8:47 pm: Told you that you could work at 3.0!!!
John Robberson June 5, 2011 at 5:07 pm: Very cool idea. Thanks for the tip. Now I have to take the clothes off of my treadmill…..
Shawn Collins June 3, 2011 at 9:37 am: You’re welcome – if you already have the computer and monitor and other stuff, the SurfShelf and wireless keyboard with trackball mouse come to about $100.
Carleen June 3, 2011 at 9:32 am: This is awesome! I am seriously going to consider doing this if I get a treadmill. Thanks for the instructions!
Shawn Collins June 3, 2011 at 6:56 am: Which part is crap? It’s not like it’s a package.
Shawn Collins June 3, 2011 at 6:44 am: I really like it – it seemed like everybody was cutting up wood to make them, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it without a saw, but this is just right.
Shawn Collins June 3, 2011 at 6:43 am: Thanks – I’d say the SurfShelf and the keyboard are the two things that make it – everything else could be done with other stuff.
Adam June 3, 2011 at 2:32 am: Very nice setup. I may have to try and duplicate this.
Adeel June 2, 2011 at 11:47 pm: This is crap… I seriously doubt anyone would consider buying this…
Meg Geddes June 2, 2011 at 9:59 pm: This is so awesome. I would love to have a setup like this. Now that you’ve shown me *how* you put it together, I have something to work towards. Thanks – and good luck with it.