Treadmill Workstation 264
coondoggie writes "Did you know you could lose as much as 66 pounds by sweating on your PC? Well using the Mayo Clinic's vertical workstation, that just might be the weight loss wave of the future. The vertical workstation is basically a desk mounted over a treadmill that lets office workers to kill two birds with one stone — send emails, check invoices and write reports and burn calories at the same time, say Professors James Levine and Jennifer Miller of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who came up with the machine/desk. There are other things you can try as well. For example, the FPGamerunner, a USB full-size treadmill that works with any first-person shooter (FPS) game, has you covered. Walking on the treadmill moves your character through the game. Handlebars and buttons at the front of the $1,299 treadmill control your direction and fire your weapons." This seems like a lot better idea than me trying to collect Pokemon on an elliptical trainer which will no doubt one day lead to a very embarrassing obituary.
My workout (Score:5, Interesting)
It works fantastically...I find that I will stay on that bike for a MUCH longer time (roughly 30 minutes longer) if I am actively engaged with something other than my legs moving
Have you ever been in a gym? (Score:3, Interesting)
Some of us need a reasonable level of quiet to be able to concentrate and work effectively.
Your mileage may vary? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hard to Watch While on a Treadmill (Score:3, Interesting)
Not practical (Score:2, Interesting)
And another (Score:5, Interesting)
Apparently the treadmill actually will sell for $495 plus S&H, once they get their store going.
And from looking at the actual manual for the thing (warning: PDF! [gamerunner.us]) it looks like it uses two USB connectors (one for keyboard, one for mouse) and the display panel is powered by two AA batteries. You'd think there would be enough bus power in two connectors to power a low-end LCD display.
I had this idea years ago (Score:2, Interesting)
So, what's the game? Has to be a racing game.
The kind of game I have in mind is like Twisted Metal, cars going fast. Some parts would have proper racetracks to run around on, other parts would be like city streets. The goal is to blow up the other exercisers you're playing against in the gym.
If the combat angle isn't as fun, then you can just settle for a more conventional racing game where the pedaling rate directly translates to your in-game speed. I'd love to see a pedal-power flight sim with the kind of graphics we can push these days. That'll get people in the gym!
Weight loss thru exercise alone is a fallacy (Score:5, Interesting)
Exercise has important health benefits and you should be doing it. But to lose weight, you need
to control your food intake. All the fad diets and pills are bullshit and possibly harmful as well. Eat less calories, and you will lose weight. And while you are at it, cut out all the hydrogenated fats. Eating lard would be less harmful. If you are addicted to nicotine, get your fix thru a method other than smoking or chewing.
Yes I am ranting. But I hate to see people oblivious to the fact that they are
ruining their health and quality of life by ingesting obscenely excessive amounts of harmful "food" products and nicotine delivery systems. Know why all the old people you see on the street are thin like birds? Because most of the fat people died when they were 50 years old, and the rest of them are confined in a nursing home waiting to die.
Re:My workout (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:My workout (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Weight loss thru exercise alone is a fallacy (Score:4, Interesting)
I've used the hacker's diet (which adheres basically to what you state). But I've found I do much better just consciously eating less, and exercising a lot more. It's now cycling season, and I have for the most part recovered from the surgeries that were keeping me from exercising over the winter months, and the lbs are melting away without me having to suffer through a strict calorie-counting diet.
Granted, I'm not a typical case. Most people certainly would not do a few days a week on the bikes (a couple of days of singletrack, and a few on the road), and certainly wouldn't go through 50ish miles at a time with a lot of climbing.
But to state that exercise has little to do with weight loss depends on the type of exercise that you do. It certainly does feel a lot better to exercise more than it does to eat less. And at the intensity levels that I personally exercise at, it certainly does have a large impact. Of course, eating less is also part of the equation, but if you put the emphasis on that part, you will be miserable, at least for awhile. And who wants to be stuck in calorie-counting mode all their lives in order to control their weight?
Re:Whatever, won't work where I am (Score:3, Interesting)
But you act like entertainment is not a necessary part of life. Like you can just give up on having fun and just exercise and work, and that'll be fine. Some of us need a little de-stressing time from work, and exercise doesn't do that for me, no matter what it does for other people. Everyone's always saying how the endorphins will make you feel better, etc, etc. Doesn't work for me. I'm just as stressed afterwards as before. I need a good book or video game to de-stress. While it's marginally possible to watch TV while on exercise equipment, it's nearly impossible for gaming or reading.
So don't be so quick to lump the entire human race together as if we're all identical. We each have different needs.
Re:And another (Score:2, Interesting)
$495 seems steep for a non-powered treadmill, but you're paying for the controller anyway. Probably $15 worth of parts in the controller. The thing that makes me raise an eyebrow is that their "press release" dated Oct. 2006 states they are accepting preorders immediately, with shipping an estimated 10-12 months away. They want $300+ up front, for an estimated ship date a year away? I'm guessing they've built 3 of them, and need the cash to finish development and get it ready to produce.
They also state they have patents pending on this thing, but all I see is prior art.
On the bright side, at least their controller is emulating a keyboard and mouse, which means it should be able to control any game, rather than some of the hard-wired controllers I've seen on this sort of thing before. You should be able to navigate web pages as well. Too bad about replacing the mouse with buttons, though; aiming with the speed of the mouse works much better for me. It would be handy to have some software to run that allows you to configure the keymap on the controller, maybe on a per-game basis.
Re:I built my own... (Score:2, Interesting)
Like you, I built something similar (though without the wall-mounted shelf).
I don't do this at work, but the concept of playing video games on a treadmill is one that I've also personally put into practice, and it seems to work pretty well for me. I've lost about 50 pounds since I started, though of course, I've also altered diet significantly at the same time. Everyone's mileage varies, of course. Try it, don't try it, what do I care?
My set up is a treadmill with a shelf over the handlebars, similar to the pictures seen several comments up. I've got several straps that hold my laptop to the shelf, and then I've got a wireless mouse. I play World of Warcraft, so I'm not generally needing twitch-sensitive decision making, and I've found that I can't really do instances (as a healer) while walking - too much concentration required. However, I can grind quite easily, fish, gather herbs, farm, etc - I set the treadmill to about 2.7 mph, walk for an hour, and I've done my exercise. I find the time flies - I don't notice the walking, and I don't notice the exercise either. I can keep up with chatting - typing while walking isn't that hard once you practice it, and WoW chat can hardly be described as error-free in any case.
I'd echo getting a good treadmill - cheap ones break - or get a good service plan. I've already worn out one walking platform.