Now that you have a treadmill or recumbent bike desk, or not, what can you do at home when you otherwise would be sitting? More importantly, where will you ever find the time? For a hint as to when a person might “find the time”, the following is from a 6/22/11 release from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics: (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm)
“Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.7 hours per day), accounting for about half of leisure time, on average, for those age 15 and over.”
Now, even if you only watch TV for one hour per day, that’s something to work with, right? Once you commit to not sitting for that hour, the things that you can do to “just move” are as varied as your imagination. Here’s a couple of examples:
1) Take a look at this link: (Note: I’m not at all endorsing Schwinn or any
particular product. This is just an example of what looks like a solid, somewhat upper end home bike.) http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-250-Recumbent-Exercise-Bike/dp/B0055WRY02/ref=dp_ob_title_sports.
This bike could work well with your Airdesk; for watching TV, it is likely quiet enough that you could use it without disturbing other people in the room. Just get started with even the lowest resistance setting for a very short period of time. As long as you commit to just getting on the thing in any given day, you will naturally work up to doing more.
Note on home versus commercial duty equipment: there is a big difference. The equipment installed in a commercial fitness center can easily see duty cycles of 30-50 hours per week or more. Most home equipment might see an initial 2-3 hours per week tapering off to nothing. If you already have the “fitness habit”, you might want to consider at least a lighter commercial unit: http://www.americanfitness.net/magnumR150H_commercialbike-2.aspx
2) What can you do if you don’t yet want to commit to any more funny furniture in the living room? Start by standing, rather than sitting, then move your feet a little. Progress to walking in place; later, as you feel up to it, you can start exaggerating the movement by lifting your knees more. Eventually, you might want to jog (then maybe even run) in place during the commercials.
You get the idea: just get started. Resolve to not allow yourself to sit for some percentage of your TV time; then, just move more and more as you naturally feel more and more up to it.