The Best Way to Exercise While You Work?

Where are you right now? I'll bet you're lumped in an office chair or sunk in a sofa as you're reading this.

See the photo at the left? That's my wife. She's also surfing the Web. Except, she's simultaneously cycling away the calories on a gadget called FitDesk. After she dismounted, I hopped on and started writing this post while cycling.

The more attentive among you might have noticed I wrote a blurb about FitDesk last week. In that blurb, I noted I was getting one.

I got one. And I'm positively giddy about it.

As I noted in that earlier FitDesk blurb, my previous exercise regimen consisted of walking – briskly – from my bedroom to my home office, from my home office to the kitchen, from the kitchen to my home office. And periodically, to the bathroom. During the course of a normal day, I must walk – briskly – around 100 feet. Whew, by the end of a long day I am ex-HAUSTED.

But seriously, folks… My lack of exercise was not only affecting my energy and waistline, but I felt totally guilty about my sloth.

FitDesk is one of those "why didn't someone think of this before?!" things. It's a stationary bike with a mounted a foam tray (the actual "FitDesk") on which you can place a laptop.

Unlike most stationary bikes, FitDesk is not that big – it's vertically upright, perfectly suited for a small apartment. It even scissor folds up for storage (although I'll be on it too much to want to store it). But best of all, FitDesk is (relatively) cheap – just $290, marked down to $230 for a limited time.

I did a cursory search of workplace exercise gear and found Kickstand Desk, a bike stand+desk combo for nearly $2k; TrekDesk, a treadmill+desk for $480; and, a more ornate treadmill+desk system from Steelcase called Walkstation that the aforelinked Kickstand article says is priced at more than $4,300, but doesn't seem to be available.

For me, with its simplicity, utility, size and price – and allowing you to at least sit – FitDesk was a no-brainer.

Some assembly required

You do have to put FitDesk together, but everything you need comes in the box, including the tools. But if you've ever assembled a crib or anything from Ikea, you really don't need directions. It took me around a half hour to put FitDesk together without referring to the directions once.

The seat is height adjustable, but recommended for those less than 5'6" and 250 pounds. I'm six-foot, 195 pounds, but I find FitDesk comfortable even though I can't fully extended my legs. The company will offer a seat height extender, but at FitDesk's current height, my wife doesn't have to adjust it. According to FitDesk inventor Steven Ferrusi, "I have found that most people who use the FitDesk are not cyclists and prefer the seat low." Being lower also makes it easier to type.

If you've got a sensitive or boney tush (I do, or is that TMI?), you can accessorize the standard bicycle seat with a gel saddle pad.

You can adjust the cycle to one of eight tension settings, to make pedaling cycling hill-climbing tough or level-surface easier. FitDesk comes with a meter that Velcros on the front of the laptop tray so you can time your cycling, check your speed and monitor how many calories you're burning.

You even get a FitDesk squeeze bottle for liquid refreshment as you cycle.

The foam laptop tray has a cover on it with small pockets on either side for, say, a TV remote (talk about multi-tasking – I'm watching TV while cycling while typing) or your cell phone, although the pockets are a little tight – a little elastic would help.

Work while you workout

You can lean on the foam tray while you surf and cycle, and a vertical ridge on the tray keeps your laptop from sliding off.

It took me only a couple of minutes of fidgeting to figure out the optimal palms-on-laptop arrangement for comfortable typing. Cycling only minimally interferes with typing accuracy or precise curser placement, but it certainly doesn't affect your Web browsing, email reading and presentation reviewing.

Ferrusi admits FitDesk is "not designed for maximum power but for comfort. We are working on designs for the full power crowd but find it will miss the mark as you will never ride at very high heart rates and use a computer."

Okay, so maybe FitDesk won't shrink my waistline. But I feel better and, best of all, FitDesk alleviates most of my non-exercising guilt. That's definitely worth $250.

P.S. Ferrusi tells me they're having trouble keeping FitDesk in stock – apparently I'm not the only one enamored of the idea. "But by June we should be able to fill more orders, faster."