I Work on a Treadmill — In an Apartment Without Room for a Special Desk

Summary

The author describes their experience working on a treadmill in a small apartment, sharing tips and insights for those considering a similar setup for long-term work-from-home situations.

Abstract

The author, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with their partner, has converted a small nook into their office. With no room for a desk, they have installed shelves over a treadmill to hold their monitor and laptop. The treadmill is a Lifespan model optimized for walking, which the author uses during most meetings and sometimes while reading. They typically walk at about 2.2 mph and cover between six and eight miles a day. The author has found that working on a treadmill has been beneficial for their mental and physical health, especially during the pandemic.

Opinions

The author prefers not to walk while writing longer pieces, opting to sit at a table instead.
The author finds that canceled meetings, previously a joy, are now a mixed bag as they make it harder to achieve 10-mile days.
The author tracks their daily miles in a spreadsheet and finds the treadmill's built-in tracking reliable.
The author chooses to walk in Birkenstocks instead of sneakers for comfort.
The author has found that their partner's small office space, which is only 5' high, works well for chair-bound activities.
The author and their partner joke that in their respective offices, one cannot stand up, and the other cannot sit down.
The author has switched back to writing on the treadmill for most days since starting exec coaching and working on a novel.

How to walk up to 10 miles a day while taking Zoom meetings

All photos by the author.

In video meetings, my head bobs up and down slightly. Nearly everyone asks, “Are you on an exercise ball?” I’m not. Instead, I’m on a treadmill — in a one-bedroom apartment that I share with my partner. I don’t even have room for a desk, but through the pandemic, this machine has been the bedrock of my mental and physical health. If you’re looking at a long-term work-from-home situation, you might want to consider something similar. Here’s how I walk the walk.

When my partner and I moved into our Brooklyn apartment about two and a half years ago, we converted a nook off the living room into my office. The previous owner used it as a closet. It has windows — but at 8’ x 4’, it’s compact. The treadmill, a few bookcases, and small trash can take up 100% of the floor space.

With no room for a desk, we hung shelves over the treadmill. Here’s what it looks like:

The top shelf, which holds the monitor, is 15” deep. The bottom shelf, which holds my laptop, is 28” deep. I have a wooden box on the bottom shelf that bumps the laptop up to the proper height for typing — and hides behind it the treadmill control panel and some wiring.

Here’s a video of the whole space:

And here’s what people see when they’re in meetings with me:

The treadmill itself is a Lifespan model optimized for walking. (NB: This is not sponsored content.) What makes a walking treadmill special? They’re usually smaller than running treadmills, and quieter. Plus, unlike regular treadmills, the motor is designed to run for long periods of time. This one doesn’t have incline settings, which I miss a little bit, but it’s otherwise served me well. I don’t use the Bluetooth feature and am not even sure what it’s for.

You might click through and notice that this isn’t a cheap piece of equipment. Indeed, I have owned cars that cost less. I bought it knowing that I was ready to spend, because for years before this, I worked intermittently on a standard treadmill that I bought on Craigslist for $100. It died about a month into the pandemic, after I started using it a lot more, but it held up with light use for nearly a decade before that. I definitely recommend trying something similar as an inexpensive way to test tread-desking. (In our previous apartment, where I originally had the old treadmill set up, we had less room, and we couldn’t install hardcore shelving. If you’re interested in how we handled that, check out this post from 2011.)

These days, I walk during most meetings and sometimes when I read. I rarely walk when I need to write something longer than a few sentences; for focused writing — like right now — I sit at our table. That’s just my preference. It’s quite possible to type and walk. (In fact, I used to do the opposite: I walked while typing but not during meetings because the old treadmill was too loud.)

On this machine, I usually tread at about 2.2 mph. Most days, I walk between six and eight miles. I’ve had one 50-mile week and keep thinking I’ll have more of those. Canceled meetings — previously an unalloyed joy — are now a mixed bag, as they give me breaks in the day, but make it harder to get in 10-mile days. As of this Summer 2020 writing, I’ve logged 458 miles in the pandemic, tracked daily in a spreadsheet. Early on, I tried to use my Fitbit to track steps, but it was a hassle to get it to work on the treadmill — and the treadmill itself tracks steps, distance, and calories pretty reliably.

I’m too lazy to put on sneakers every day. But prolonged barefoot walking makes my feet hurt, so I walk in Birkenstocks. (This is still not sponsored content.) I did walk enough to get blisters in the first few weeks with the new treadmill. Nothing a little moleskin couldn’t soothe. [Fall 2020 update: about three months after writing this, I wondered if sneakers would let me walk faster. Still too lazy to lace up anything, I’m using these slips-ons — and I do, in fact, walk faster now, usually hitting close to three miles per hour.]

[March 2024 update: Since the beginning of the pandemic, I‘ve treaded more than 2,850 miles. Since November 2023, I’ve split my time between exec coaching and working on a novel. I’ve switched back to writing on the treadmill most days. I walk about three miles per hour for meetings and a little more than two miles per hour for writing.]

My partner’s home office is a loft area over the bedroom that’s 10’ x 10' — but only 5’ high. He’s 6’1” and makes it work by using his office solely for chair-bound activities. We say often that in his office, you can’t stand up, and in my office, you can’t sit down. It’s also true that in my office, your head can bob up and down freely.