Experts Rate The Best Treadmill Desks

What is a Treadmill Desk?

A treadmill desk is really just a height-adjustable standing desk paired with an under-desk office treadmill, allowing you to gently while simultaneously performing tasks at your computer. When we say “walk” we really mean pacing while talking on the phone, not a cardio heart rate-inducing full-out walk. For most people, this is somewhere between 1 and 2 mph, not 3 mph or above. As we like to say here, “if you’re sweating, you’re doing it wrong.” The entire idea is to deliver more oxygen flow to the brain, not have your muscles steal all the oxygen. It’s about adding movement into your workday, not about getting exercise (you can go outdoors or to the gym for that).

Working on a treadmill desk is an ideal way to reduce your sedentary time at the office, and users find the increased focus and productivity—not to mention the increased metabolism, reduced stress, elevated mood and all the other health benefits—downright addicting. Unlike conventional exercise equipment that ends up in the garage or attic after 50 hours of use over 85% of the time, nearly 100% of people who adopt a treadmill desk never switch away from it. Companies that offer them as a benefit, whether as a shared resource for departments or on a per-employee basis, find them to not only boost productivity and lower health care costs but to improve employee satisfaction and retention as well.

But how to find the right treadmill desk for your space, your budget, your size and physical condition, and your computer configuration? We’re here to help! Over a million people a year rely on WorkWhileWalking.com to learn about treadmill desks and standing desks, from general advice to our in-depth product reviews. So let’s dive in…

As You Begin Your Search

When you’re shopping for a treadmill desk keep in mind that you can mix and match components or you can buy an all-in-one treadmill desk system. The ones we review here in this round-up are the integrated treadmill desks that are already ideally paired. If you’re more of the DIY type and want to build your own walking workstation, check out our reviews of the Top Standalone Under-Desk Treadmills and Top-Rated Standing Desks.

At WorkWhileWalking we review a lot more standing desks and associated ergonomic accessories than treadmill desks because that’s just the reality of the marketplace, but rest assured we always test every product specifically for its suitability to the walking workstation application since we’re indelibly rooted in that history. So when you check out our round-up reviews of the best monitor arms for standing desks or best keyboard trays for standing desks know that we will always point out which products we specifically recommend for the more rigorous requirements of the treadmill desk application.

When you walk on a treadmill and then touch your hands to a two-legged standing desk the oscillations from your body sway will be induced into it, and amplified through the monitor arm and keyboard tray. This could make for a shaky experience if the components of your system are not as rigid and stable as they should be. So those are the kinds of things we’re always on the lookout for. The apt analogy here is “if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere,” meaning if a product (e.g. a monitor arm) works well on a treadmill desk, it should work superbly well on a standing desk.

Other add-ons that may be necessary to truly complete the workstation of your dreams might include anti-fatigue standing mats, cable management kits, storage options, balance boards, and ergonomic seating, as well as treadmill desk specific options such as treadtop anti-fatigue mats, treadtop seating, under-treadmill anti-static mats and treadmill lubricant. We have lab tested and reviewed all the most relevant products in these categories.

Of course, if you’re looking to hack something together from a running treadmill you already have on hand be sure to read our DIY Guide on How to Build Your Own Treadmill Desk, DIY Guide to Standalone Adjustable-Height Desk Bases and our roundup of the Top Standalone Under-Desk Office Treadmill Base Reviews. Given the plethora of great commercially available treadmill desk options there are these days this isn’t as popular a path as it was ten or fifteen years ago, but we still have all the advice content for those who want to give it a try.

Our Unique Treadmill Desk Review Process

With the sheer number of choices available to consumers, it can be daunting to find the right one. That’s why we’ve done the leg work to compile the specifications and create apples-to-apples comparisons of the different products in the market today.

As we explain in our Integrated Treadmill Desk Review Criteria, when we review, we look at a number of qualities and attributes. They include:

• Claimed user weight rating versus powertrain specifications
• Maximum desk height
• Desk stability
• Noise signature
• All ergonomic considerations
• Customization options
• Difficulty of assembly
• Suitability of use in enterprise environments
• Warranty and service terms, field reliability history

If you want to learn more about our review process in general, visit our Anatomy of a Review primer.

Two Treadmill Desk Product Categories

To separate treadmill desks into meaningful blocks for comparison, we’ve created two categories:

1. Treadmill desks with built-in ergonomic keyboard trays (Jump below)
2. Treadmill desks without built-in ergonomic keyboard trays (Jump below)

Why make this distinction over the addition of a seemingly minor accessory? After years of working on treadmill desks, we’re convinced that typing ergonomics is the most oft-overlooked aspect of a solid integrated treadmill desk.

Working without an ergonomic keyboard tray is potentially hazardous to your health. While walking and typing, it’s almost unavoidable to brace your palms on the edge of your desk for stability. Do this often enough, and you’ll quickly develop problems in your wrists and/or in the nerves at the base of your palms. The solution is to angle your typing downwards so that your wrists rest naturally and you neutralize any ‘anchor stressing’ pressure on your palms, working in a more ergodynamically correct position.

The best approach we’ve seen is to build a tilting keyboard tray into the tabletop itself. You lose some desktop space, but the desk stability while typing and walking will be incomparable. iMovR owns the patent on this “SteadyType” technology so we haven’t seen anything like it from any of the other standing desk or treadmill desk manufacturers, at least not yet.

The good news is that over the years iMovR has also introduced add-on keyboard trays like the SteadyType Exo and SteadyType Slide that allow you to add SteadyType to most any standing desk, leveraging the same patent. (The Exo attaches in 30 seconds to the front edge of any standing desk, while the Slide mounts on retractable rails underneath the desktop.)

The Development of the Ergonodynamic Treadmill Desk

The first generation of treadmill desks generally combined a converted running treadmill with an adjustable height standing desk. While these fledgling workstations did the important work to start the active office revolution, they were not ergonomically sensible. They left a lot to be desired in height reach and stability, with some models displaying a tendency to get very shaky as soon as the user started walking or touching the keyboard.

We’re now solidly in the second generation with desks that were designed specifically for the ergonomic requirements of a walking computer user. Select iMovR desks are the only models on the market that feature a built-in keyboard tray (SteadyType®) that allows users to assume the proper ergonomic position while walking and working to avoid strain of the back, neck, shoulder, and wrist muscles.

These SteadyType-equipped desks are rock solid, where other two-legged standing desks can be quite shaky, especially if those other desks have an ergonomic keyboard tray that increases the “moment lever” on the fulcrum. Watch this video for a demonstration of the difference in stability between a SteadyType desk and any other two-legged adjustable-height desk.

In the quest for achieving the most neutral posture possible, keep in mind that conventional ergonomic keyboard trays were designed for sitting users, and thus only go to -15° of tilt adjustment. However, the highest typing productivity, greatest comfort, and least exposure to repetitive strain injury are known to be achieved at keyboard tray tilt angles of -30° to -45°. These SteadyType-equipped desks can hold onto their keyboards even at extremes of up to -85°of tilt and are typically used at 20° to 35° when standing, or 30°-45° when walking.

Such angles simply cannot be achieved by conventional under-desk mounted keyboard trays. Furthermore, conventional keyboard trays can’t even be mounted on the vast majority of standing desks because the crossbars of the desk frame interfere with the slide-in rail of the retractable keyboard tray. Hence the novelty of the SteadyType tray, and why these products get their own grouping in this comparison review. If you already have a different brand or model of standing desk you can add a SteadyType tray to it with something like the SteadyType Exo or SteadyType Slide.

A Note About Today’s Treadmill Desk Market

When we first started lab testing treadmill desks in 2012 there were only a handful of players – Steelcase, LifeSpan Fitness, TreadDesk and Exerpeutic. Steelcase didn’t invent the treadmill desk but they were the first to introduce one, at the behest of Dr. James Levine of The Mayo Clinic. The Walkstation was the first but also the most expensive treadmill desk ever introduced, and was unfortunately infamous for its poor ergonomic design and mechanical reliability issues. Lifespan came along with the first commercially popular treadmill desk models, the TR1200 being the best-selling of all time, popularized on at least eight prime-time TV shows. Until about 2018 Lifespan led the market, and attracted numerous competitors to the stage.

Over the years we reviewed many new treadmill desk challengers to Lifespan. From undercapitalized startups that flailed and died, like Some manufacturers, like Rebel Desk and TreadDesk, to major cardio fitness brands that stuck a toe in the water and exited as soon as they realized that they knew nothing of how to build an actual workstation, like LifeFitness, Proform, TrueForm, Woodway and NordicTrack. Sadly, most of the makers of treadmill desks that have entered the market since 2007 are now enshrined in the Office Fitness Dead Pool. In terms of mainstream viable players it’s really down to two: Lifespan and iMovR.

While the Lifespan Treadmill Desks have long been the most popular brand due to their many choices of models at lower price points, recent changes at the company have forced us to remove our buy recommendations after nearly a decade of good ratings from our expert review staff. With the founders and pretty much the entire US management team having left the company and control now in the hands of their exclusive Taiwanese manufacturing partner, prices for the Lifespan TR1000, TR1200 and TR5000 have been jacked up about 40%, while component quality has been significantly reduced to keep prices from going even higher.

⁣The new Unsit treadmill base is 50% wider and 20%-45% shorter than typical running treadmill bases, creating twice as much usable walking area while reducing the equipment’s footprint in your office.

As we update this round-up in late 2022, iMovR has sunset the Thermotread GT—our long-time #1 pick in office treadmill bases—due to supply chain challenges. The company instead partnered with InMovement on the Unsit treadmill base, which has taken over the #1 spot. While it lacks some of the enterprise features of the Thermotread it is supremely quiet and its unique form factor delivers 50% more usable walking area while taking up less floor space in your office.

While we hope to see more competition come into the market—always a healthy thing —this isn’t something we expect to happen while the world is still recovering from the pandemic economy and global supply chain challenges. Even though treadmill desks are definitely having their moment more than ever with the work-from-home revolution it’s a tough time to get into any business that relies on the availability of steel, chips, rubber, plastic, cardboard, etc.

While there are a lot of “treadmill desks” being marketed on Amazon these are generally frauds that consumers should be extremely leery of. Chinese manufacturers of cheap home treadmills have taken to the habit of inserting the phrase into their marketing copy to win more searches, but as we describe on our reviews of products like the Walkingpad, these are not units you’d ever want to put under a desk. (There are many reasons to distrust Amazon reviews in general, but in the office fitness category in particular there are many fraud schemes on Amazon to be keenly aware of.)

Here’s another golden rule we have learned to live by… the lighter the treadmill the less durable and reliable it is likely to be. And that’s the fundamental reason that any treadmill you can buy on Amazon is likely a “consumer-grade” home running treadmill that won’t have the motor strength, frame weight, deck weight and overall rigidity to cut the mustard (you can learn about that in our primer on Treadmill powertrains; is your treadmill’s drive system sufficiently powered for walking?). The low-end torque required to pull a dead weight at 1-2 mph while overcoming the friction between the belt and the deck for hours at a time requires a lot more brawn than a running treadmill is geared for. So unless your new office treadmill is being delivered by a freight truck on a pallet, it’s likely not going to last very long.

If you want to have a little fun, take a peek at Alibaba’s Treadmill Desk Showroom to tour a veritable shop of horrors of what some Chinese manufacturers have cobbled up as treadmill-desk solutions. Basically, anything that qualifies as a treadmill screwed together with anything that qualifies as a work surface. Few of these contraptions have ever seen the light of day, at least not in this country, but it does give you some insight into how the companies that manufacture so much of the cheap crap that Americans buy from outlets like Amazon, Target, Walmart and infomercial channels come up with these short-lived, landfill-destined contraptions. The unsuspecting consumers who buy them do about as much pre-purchase research as the resellers who hock them. (Thankfully you’re not one of those people, since you’re reading this article!)

After You Click Buy, But Before Your Equipment Arrives

We recommend taking a little time to get your space properly prepared for your new treadmill desk, and to learn about the best way to ramp up your usage in our primer What to Expect When You’re Expecting Your First Treadmill Desk. Written and researched by users who spent a decade working on a treadmill desk, the article has many useful tips to enlighten the new user.

If you want to make sure a treadmill will work for you, you should read our article on guidance to see how you can test one out for yourself.

Still have questions? Ping us in Live Chat in the bottom right corner of your screen. Sometimes we’re all busy in the test lab, so if we’re not online we promise to get back to you as soon as possible.

Looking For More Treadmill Desk Reviews And Inspirations?

• Best Under-Desk Office Treadmill Bases

• DIY Treadmill Desk Guide

• Health Benefits For Treadmill Desk Users

•  Treadmill Desk Ergonomics

•  Treadmill Desk FAQs

Completing Your Ergonomic Workstation

Acquiring the best standing desk for your decor, budget and performance requirements is Step One. But making it a true ergonomic workstation involves adding the appropriate accessories you’ll need to keep your body in a correct posture, and have a neat and tidy setup. Check out our comprehensive guides to monitor arms, keyboard trays, anti-fatigue mats, ergonomic seats, cable management kits, power management modules, foot rests and under-desk treadmills for both expert advice and lab-tested product reviews of options in each of these categories.

Need more help? Read how to find your correct desk height, then check out 10 ways to improve your office ergonomics and answers to the most common standing desk questions.

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Treadmill Desks