While looking online for ideas for at-work fitness tools I found this odd contraption -- Climb Stairs Wheels, described as follows:

Detailed Product Description

PROMISE: We guarantee product quality, price concessions, credibility and reliable. If necessary, please contact us, we are willing to wholeheartedly for you.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t find this description very helpful. When I first saw this I wondered if the buyer was supposed to strap it to his/her feet in order to ride up stairs instead of walking -- making it an anti-fitness tool.

Climbing the steep steps in the fire stairwell to our fifth-floor office has been my ongoing attempt to stay fit (-ish) while on the job. But since I keep coming across articles detailing how terrible sitting at a computer all day every day is for your body and overall health I am investigating other ways to insert fitness into my work day.

Here is what I have come up with so far. I'd love to hear if anyone out there comes across any other ideas.

I read about The Treadmill Desk in The New York Times a few weeks ago. Apparently you just set the thing to go at one mile per hour and do what you need to do on the desktop provided. They warned that detailed mouse-work (like drafting, I assume) might not be possible while walking, but you could use it while making phone calls or typing up meeting minutes.

There seem to be several options for biking while working. This one (above) doesn’t even have room for a mouse, but others that are more cobbled-together-looking (below) do:

Wow. I really don’t want this desk.

I found a variety of exercise ball chairs, too, some better-looking than the one pictured -- including just sitting on an exercise ball like they have at the gym. The benefit? The exercise ball chair makes sitting an unstable act, thus preventing yourself from rolling over on to the floor strengthens your abdomen and back muscles even while you are seated.

Desk yoga? I don’t think anyone would take me seriously if I started behaving this way at my desk. Maybe I could get away with what this distinguished gentleman is doing.

Or maybe I could lead the office in morning calisthenics -- but I’d probably end up doing them alone. As it is, I never encounter anyone in the fire stairwell. I have been motivated into activity by the negative effects of spending 40+ hours sitting in front of a computer every week. Maybe I am just trying to stave off the need for “Climb Stairs Wheels” (whatever it is!) but I think it is worth the effort.

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