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Comment by subroutine | Hacker News Reader

I know it's not really the point of this missive, but I average right around 12 miles per day at my treadmill desk. So for anyone who'd like to multitask their walking and work, I'd highly recommend trying it. After about a month the walking bit really becomes second nature.

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I recommend trying a decently long slow walk first. The mechanics of walking slowly are not the same as walking at a normal pace. Some people get sore, some do not, better to find out before spending real money on the walking desk. Or be like me, know already from experience walking with slow people that I can't walk that slow and not hurt, buy the treadmill desk anyway, sell it six months later after giving up.

To counter, try standing for a few hours vs. walking slowly and you will be surprised that walking is actually easier. Humans anatomy seems to prefer walking over standing. It's particularly obvious after those long moments where you are deep into woking through some code, where you totally forget to move for about 20 min. The treadmill takes care of that. So if you already bought that standing desk...

https://www.lifespanfitness.com/products/tr1200-dt3-under-de...

I don't disagree at all. I can walk many miles at 3mph. At 1.5mph I'll be in pain pretty quickly. But if I really want to suffer, I'll stand for a couple hours.

So I don't have a standing desk, either. I primarily sit when working at the computer. But every 30-45 minutes I get up and go for a stroll, even if just around the yard.

Yeah I gotcha. Don't get me wrong, nothing beats sitting down to work. It's the best. But with kids I don't have time for the gym, and a stroll in the yard wasn't helping my growing waistline.

fwiw my walking desk is set to 2.4mph, which seems to be the sweet spot between my natural walking speed and a pace that I can still comfortably read and type. Pretty much a linear ramp up from 1.0mph to 2.4mph over 1 year period.

I recently bought one of these to pair with my standing desk and I'm losing about one pound per week from walking a leisurely 5-6 miles a day during work. Took me a few days to get acclimated, but after a few weeks I felt fully productive. Wish I'd figured this out sooner.

I'd argue that what you are doing is treadmilling, not walking. Maybe an analogous activity but different in some important ways too.

Ok guy.

Can the treadmill go backwards?

It can if your standing desk is shaped like a donut; then it can go forwards, backwards, and sideways ;)

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