walking treadmill thoughts

walking treadmills have been all the rage over social media—haven’t seen ‘em yet? well trust me, you’re about to! and I’ll be honest, i caved and bought one for myself. it was so appealing! i already have a standing desk but sometimes i feel like my posture starts to become poor and ultimately defeats the purpose of having a standing desk to begin with. i realized there are times i wish i could move my body more throughout the day. a girl i follow posted how she reaches her goal of 10k steps/day solely on her treadmill, and has more steps than that due to her daily activity—i.e. walking around your home, running errands, etc. if you work from home, this piece of equipment may help improve your productivity, energy levels, and overall well-being. but! there is also the debate that walking treadmills are toxic to our health. it’s all about how you perceive the benefits obtained from owning a walking treadmill. i’ll get into that more, as well as my personal experience. i’ve been using mine for ~12 weeks now and here’s what I’ve concluded.

for me, i typically start my day by walking to the gym (about 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back). this is a great start to my day and helps wake me up. once i’m home, i’ll start my day by organizing my thoughts in my planner and really get my game plan for the day, which takes about 30min. once that’s done, I set up my treadmill and get to it! I usually start around 9am and will walk for an hour or two. this varies based on my work tasks and overall comfortability.

one of the main reasons i love my walking treadmill is because it provides me with an increase in energy levels. I start my work day by checking emails, and getting prepared for what I need to get done. I prefer walking first thing in the morning to help keep me energized and focused or to create that energy entirely. on the topic of energy levels, i am someone who commonly faces that 3pm slump almost daily. i’ve tried a few different ways to attempt to mitigate this issue but could not find anything to help me. …until i purchased a walking treadmill and placed it under my desk. utilizing this equipment to help cure my afternoon slump has been an absolute game changer for me. i try to avoid caffeine as much as possible since it really just makes me jittery and anxious, so this natural boost of energy has been so great for my day-to-day life.

another pro that I didn’t even consider when purchasing my treadmill is that it warms me up?? I am someone who is chronically cold. freezing really. I have a space heater placed under my desk for this reason. and of course, my room is the only one in the house that doesn’t get good heat flow from the vents. but! when I walk, it warms me up almost immediately. now, I get that that’s very normal, but it wasn’t something I had considered until it happened! definitely an unexpected bonus.

one thing you really need to consider when pondering the purchase of a walking pad is: what’s my intention with this purchase? why do you want it? what’s my relationship to it going to be? if you’re doing it because you feel you need to obtain a smaller body or burn as many calories as possible, it may not be the right fit for you. if you truly do not want to be walking on the walking pad but feel you “have to”, it probably isn’t a good fit. if you feel you have to track every step on your Apple Watch otherwise it doesn’t count…it probably isn’t a good fit. and that’s ok! it’s better to recognize that now and get your mindset right before you make this purchase.

for me, I know that my intention is to feel pleasant physically in my body, but also mentally and emotionally too. for my job, I have to do a lot of computer work, which typically requires a lot of sitting and I have an sacroilliac joint dysfunction that causes sciatic pain. so! this walking pad allows me to move my body and relieve that pain by not having to sit all day. it makes me feel good. I love walking in general, so I truly enjoy walking on it. honestly, sometimes it’s the only form of movement I am able to do in a day. and that’s ok! I am truly grateful that I even have this ability & option to do this from home.

it’s up to you to decide whether or not you think this would be a good fit for you!

if you’re interested in researching for yourself, this is the walking pad I bought for myself!

here are a few things to consider:

pros