Standing Desk – Three Years Later

Its hard to believe its already been 3 years since building my standing desk for $22.

I gave a two-week update about 3 years ago, which you can find here.

I’m still using it daily and here’s what I’ve found on top of the regular productive boosts/etc.

70/30 Standing/Sitting Split

I work about 70% of my day standing up. The other 30% is sitting down. Initially, I had to take it down and put it back up each time, that was a pain. But I eventually grabbed my spare monitor, set it up on another file cabinet I had and I used that as my standing desk. When I no longer want to stand I’d move my laptop and wireless keyboard and mouse to my desk. Total transition time – between standing and sitting: 30 seconds.

 

Wear Comfortable Shoes

Personally I’m a minimalist shoe kind of guy. I wear Nike Metcons as my day to day shoe. Wearing shoes helps my feet become less fatigued through the day and helps ensure my feet are not banged up from being on them the majority of the day.

Use an Anti-Fatigue Mat

 

Personally use a GelPro and I find it to be the best one I’ve found yet (other friends who use standing desks agree with me as well). This will help save your feet, lower back and posterior chain from major fatigue.

A Footstool is very helpful

Here’s a very simple utility footstool that works very well. Simply put the footstool on the ground and alternate putting a foot on it every once in awhile. This helps change things up and helps reduce fatigue.

I’m Ready for a Real Standing Desk

I was originally very apprehensive about spending hundreds of dollars on a standing desk.

What if I did not like it? What if it was the wrong size? What if my body didn’t agree with standing up a lot?

Well, I know that I’ll be standing and working for probably the rest of my lifetime after doing this continually for 3+ years.

There are soo many options out there for standing desks now. It’s hard to decide which one to choose. For me, I’m going off of intuition, some recommendations by other standing desk folks I know and some online reviews and gut feeling. I know, not too scientific, but … I can’t really go into a store and try them all out. That said, I’ve been working on a $22 stand up desk for 3 years so anything will likely be a major upgrade. Based upon those inputs I’ve decided that I’m going to upgrade by the beginning of the year to either an EvoDesk, Standesk or something I have not even found yet (soo many options out there!).

Considerations

A couple of things I needed to consider (and you will too if you’re looking for a standing desk) were:

What is the height of the desk? At full extension, is it tall enough for you? I’m tall, so I need the desk to have some excellent vertical height.

Programmable Memory Controller
A programmable memory controller has a few buttons that remember certain heights for quick operation. For me, this is a requirement because when I’m ready to work I want to just get to work – I don’t want to hassle with up/down/up/down/left/right/select/a/b/start combos just to get it at a perfect height. I want to tap a button, have the desk to go proper height and then I no longer have to worry about it. This minor thing may not seem like much and may be a way to shave a few dollars off your purchase price, but trust me … this is a luxury that you’ll be happy you splurged for.

During my hunt for a standing desk here were some of the options I considered –

Standesk

The Standesk claim to fame was a cheap standing desk. Unfortunately to keep the quality high the prices have gone up, but it’s definitely worth considering.

 

EvoDesk

To me, the EvoDesk one seems to be the “nicest” out of them all, but I’m noticing some reports of instability at tall heights. This is a concern for me. There definitely are better ones in the market but for the price and options it seems like a good deal.

 

IKEA Bekant

The IKEA Bekant was recently released and because of the price point I was considering this one first. However, after looking into it I noticed it did not have a programmable memory controller.

Varidesk

I’ve tried the Varidesk but I felt it was too low for me (I’m 6’4”) and it was too clunky and took up too much desk space. I’m a minimalist and I like to have my desk clean and clear. The Varidesk simply too up too much space. However, some of my friends have reported that they do love theirs – so definitely evaluate that option if you’re looking for a standup-sitdown option that is cheaper than a full blown standing desk (or just use the $22 IKEA desk like I did).

 

Should You Get a Standing Desk?
This is 100% up to you. However, I feel its a great investment for your health if you’re going to be working at a desk a lot (more than 30% of your day). If you’re like me and you’re very apprehensive to spend $700 on a stand-up desk, simply build an IKEA $22 Standing Desk like I did. I’ve been working with this one for over three years now and I still use it (though I will be upgrading soon).

Don’t have an IKEA near you and still want to try out a standing desk?

Grab an end table from around the house and put it on top of your desk. Place a couple of large books or a box under the monitor until the top of your monitor is at eye level. Make sure when you’re using your keyboard your elbow creates a 90 to 100 degree angle. That’s it, try it out.

Did you buy a standing desk? If so, which one do you have?