Desk that doubles as an exercise gives you a workout while you work

CLEVELAND - If you've been struggling to find more time in your daily work schedule for exercise, the answer may be your furniture. You can keep moving all day with a new kind of work station, and lose weight without going anywhere.

Dan Young is an avid cyclist. He rides to his software company every day, and then he just keeps on going at his desk. It's a bike too. The idea to build it grew out of a gripe session with fellow cyclists.

"Sitting in my office going yeah, I'd much rather be outside but I have to be here," Young said. "In just that amount of time, the conversation came up, why can't I just take my bike, get a trainer and have some kind of work surface on it?"

Two large new studies link prolonged sitting with shorter life spans, even for those who do 30 minutes of exercise a day. The bike desk helps counteract that, and Young said it has other advantages as well.

Once you start to really push it, you start to realize that your ability to multi-task starts to degrade, and you have almost like tunnel vision on the task at hand," Young said.

Young said users may spend two to four hours a day pedaling at their desks, something cyclists especially appreciate in winter.

Everyone is not convinced their are benefits to biking at your desk.

Software developer Sean Muron said, "It's like one of those things where you're trying to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time. I always get confused when I try to do that."

If you don't want to bike all day, the desk doubles as a stand up desk. Plus, there are different kinds. A recumbent bike is an option so you can sit back while you work. That's good for people suffering from back or neck pain.  

"I've used stand-up bikes a lot, but with my size the recumbent is actually more comfortable. I can keep that going longer," software developer Bill Davis said. "If we put some of those into the office I would definitely want to give it a shot. I need more exercise."

Bike desks start around $700, but go up to over $1,500. Or you can build one yourself if you're handy with tools.

If you're not an avid cyclist, you can still exercise at work with a treadmill desk. Researchers estimates that you can burn up to 130 calories an hour walking at speeds under two miles an hour while working. It's a way to earn a paycheck and melting pounds away at the same time.