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Tonight I created the ultimate home office setup. I now have my workspace set up so that I can work and exercise at the same time. In fact, I’m writing this blog article while exercising.

I’ve known for a long time that one my problems is that I don’t “move around” enough, which has contributed to my being overweight. It’s hard to move around a lot when your job more or less chains you to your desk, and you’re working long hours trying to make a fledgling small business take off … by the time I’m not working, all I want to do is read a book, watch TV, or sleep.

My diet isn’t really a problem; I eat well, and I don’t generally overeat. In fact, some days I only eat one meal a day.

So, I’ve been hemming and hawing about getting more physical activity in for a while. I talked about joining the YMCA up the road, but never did it because it would have been relatively expensive, and we didn’t have too much income to spare at the beginning of the year.

But … I’ve wanted to have an exercise bike in the house for a long time. If I had thought I could have afforded it, I would have bought one before I got married.

Tonight I bought a cheap one from Wal-Mart; a recumbent model. It’s not top-of-the-line by any means, but it’s functional, and actually seems to be pretty well made.

I got it home and got it assembled. However, my wife balked at the idea of keeping it in the livin’ room, which didn’t sit well with me at first. See, my idea was to be able to exercise and watch TV at the same time. I figured I could record Andy Griffith, M*A*S*H, the X-Files, and whatever was on the Hitler History Channel, and watch that while riding. That idea was now out the window unless I wanted to move this beast into and out of the room every time I wanted to use it.

Then I came up with an idea. Perhaps the front portion of the bike would fit underneath my desk.

Well, whaddya know, it does. Mind you, I had to remove one crossbrace from underneath the desk, but it works, and the desk seems as sturdy as ever. I was able to push the bike just far enough under the desk so that I can reach the keyboard and mouse, and still keep my knees from banging on the desk. Touche!

It’s gonna be hard to come up with an excuse to not exercise on a regular basis now …

Update: Added a photo of the setup.

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