In recent years, I’ve seen plenty of homemade solutions where enterprising geeks have tried combining the necessity of earning a living with the joy of having a great workout. There’s plenty of videos of people using treadmill/stationary bike/workdesk combos on YouTube with unfortunately inconsistent degrees of effectiveness.
Three weeks ago, after Googling about a “professional” solution I’ve heard about, I decided to make the jump and order myself a Fitdesk. Even though I started working from home full time on GAS last year, I’ve found myself with less and less spare time as the site grows. Sure, running outside, swimming, and hiking are all enjoyable activities, but sometimes, life has a way of stealing all your spare time, leaving you breathless at the end of the week. Those of you with kids will especially understand what I’m talking about.
So now, as I write this review, I’m currently pedalling away calories on my Fitdesk. I’ve been using it for a little more than a week now, and I’m REALLY happy with my new toy.
First, you should know that the Fitdesk comes flat-packed, but fortunately, all the required tools come shipped along with it. The instructions are short but well written, and within 10 minutes you’ll be ready to use your fat-burning joy machine. Here’s a picture of it dissasembled.
The Fitdesk is small, sturdy, and foldable. When you’re done using it, you just remove the pin that locks the device in position, fold it, and store it in the location of your choice.
Now for the important part: using the excersise bike itself. The fitdesk comes with everything you’d expect from such a device — a wide, comfortable seat, a resistance dial (from 1 to 8, but I’ve read in the instruction manual that the resistance can be increased further) and a foam pad that you need to slip over the front of the bike. The pad is covered by a washable cover, so if you drip sweat all over it, you can just throw it in the washing machine and install it back when it’s dry.
Once you start pedalling, you can use the Fitdesk to play games or work on your laptop. Just put your forearms on the pad, secure your laptop via one of the provided rubber straps, and start being more productive! Nothing makes you feel better than doing two things at the same time. So far, I’ve clocked in about 10 hours on the bike, and everything is still working great. And the best thing about it? It’s silent… really, really silent. It makes about as much noise as a spin bike. It also comes with a simple computer that calculates the time spent on the bike, the distance you travelled, and the amount of calories you burned.
I’ve had it checked by one of my friends who works selling professional fitness equipment, and he was surprised by the quality of the bike. The pedals are of excellent quality, and the frame is sturdily built.
To wrap this review up, I’d say that if you’re looking for a solution that will let you work while burning calories and improving your cardiovascular health, this is a perfect solution for you. If you’re looking for something to train on, then you should probably look for something a little more specialized.