Treadmill desk is up and running
Jerry Carr says his fitness invention once would have been too wacky for the workplace.
The entrepreneur has created the TreadDesk, which allows a person to work at his or her desk while walking on a treadmill.
"Ten years ago, this was not a viable business option," Carr said. "But corporate wellness is such an important word in today's business world, and the timing couldn't be better."
Carr, 47, of Fishers, Ind., launched his company in December at a cost of $75,000 after he quit his job as a sports industry salesman. That job kept him in a sedentary position that he said led to a 20-pound weight gain.
He moved a conventional treadmill into the office to help him shed the weight, but found he couldn't work while working out on a machine next to his desk.
Carr said with his invention, he can make calls and burn calories at the same time.
He imports most of the parts for the TreadDesks and builds them himself. His goal is to find a manufacturer close to home to provide the parts and assemble the finished products.
Carr said he has had 20 to 30 orders for the machines, which cost from $1,500 to $4,000, and that he is talking with several employers. He forecasts first-year sales of $1.36 million.
"Ninety-five percent of the people who have seen it say to me, 'I need one of those,' " Carr said. "Anybody that sits at a desk all day will say the same thing."
Jamie Delaney, with INShape Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels' health initiative, called the invention "innovative.
I would say that is the most unique thing I have heard about recently," Delaney said.
The TreadDesk looks like any other workstation, but at the touch of a button, hydraulics raise the desk and a monitor starts up the treadmill, all in a few seconds.
Demonstrating its use, Carr never broke a sweat as he walked at a 1.5-miles-per-hour pace in street shoes.
It's unclear if he has competitors.
The Mayo Clinic studied the walking-while-working concept in 2005 and determined a worker could shed 100 calories an hour at a 1 mph walking pace.
Dr. James Levine, a Mayo endocrinologist, designed a standing desk with a computer platform and variable-speed treadmills. Employees in that prototype office wore mobile phones on their belts, and a "standometer" measured their vertical time and recognized when they sat down. The device also registered how much activity they would need to meet their individual activity goals for the day. Users could lose 50 pounds a year under ideal circumstances.
Carr predicts his concept will find footing because many employers emphasize health as a way of cutting company medical costs. Companies offer inducements such as gyms for employees to use, discounts for gym memberships and free health screenings, plus push better diet and antismoking efforts.
Carr acknowledged companies may balk at the cost of equipping individual workstations with TreadDesks, but said the idea of a room dedicated to workstations with three or four machines might be realistic.
Pam Kufahl, editor of Club Industry's Fitness Business Pro, a Kansas-based publication for health club owners, applauds Carr. She said the only similar thing she has heard of is a worker who sits on a ball, instead of a chair, to build abdominal strength.
"(The TreadDesk) is a neat idea and would be great if it was implemented," Kufahl said. "I think it would allow workers who are workaholics and can't make it to the gym to get in a half-hour."
Carr knows there are skeptics. But not as many as there would have been 10 years ago.
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