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Slingbox + exercise = no more couch potato

A few months back, I got an elliptical trainer in order to get some exercise indoors during the cold winters. I found myself barely using it (it's quite boring) until a friend mentioned that he could balance a laptop on the top of his and surf the web. Once I heard that, I knew what I should try on my own elliptical trainer. I could kill two birds with one stone, getting 30-40 minute workouts while also catching up on the previous night's programs on my TiVo.

It's pretty easy to do. As you can see by the picture, I've got an elliptical trainer, a laptop perched on the vertical grips, and I'm running a full-screen slingplayer that's talking to my TiVo downstairs. It helps to enable the 30 second skip, so jumping through commercials only requires 5 or 6 clicks to jump back to the program.

I never seem to have time for late night comedy programs and I don't like taking time out of my workday to sit on the couch watching them, but with this setup, I can get through the previous night's Daily Show and Colbert Report shows in about 35-40 minutes together. It's the best of both worlds: I get my exercise out of the way (sweating) and I get to watch TV (laughing) doing it. When I'm finished, I'm amused and slightly exhausted, but it feels great for the rest of the day.

by Matt Haughey April 11, 2007 in Hacks

Comments

If only you could do this on your recumbent bike!

Posted by: blasdelf at Apr 11, 2007 7:46:51 PM

Why not simply position a TV in front of the trainer?

Posted by: WS at Apr 12, 2007 5:45:16 AM

I do something similar with an exercise bike and a rowing machine and HTPC running Snapstream. Works great!

A laptop also works quite well for a cheap HTPC. I am surprised that more people don't do that, especially with the sharing functions available in Snapstream and TiVo.

Posted by: Greg at Apr 12, 2007 7:36:50 AM

I've been doing this about 6 months, but I added an LCD monitor on a swing arm and a wireless keyboard so I could just sit the laptop off to the side where it was a bit more safe. The keyboard shortcuts for the Tivo remote on the slingbox player are a great help.

Posted by: Marcie at Apr 12, 2007 10:55:27 AM

I wouldn't stick my laptop on my elliptical, instead I use a PSP with Sony LocationFree running from my old Showstopper (ReplayTV).

Posted by: David at Apr 12, 2007 11:41:44 AM

What kind of eliptical did you get? I've been thinking about getting one myself. And yeah, exercising sucks and its boring. Thats why God made tv.

Posted by: Tony at Apr 12, 2007 3:19:11 PM

"Why not simply position a TV in front of the trainer?"

Well, I've got a laptop and a slingbox already, so I just came up with a reason not to buy another TV even though a TV would be cheaper.

"What kind of eliptical did you get?"

I got this one at amazon, based on good reviews (and I had a bunch of gift certificate money to spend there):
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000EI05VM/metafilter-20/

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Apr 12, 2007 7:03:20 PM

Another option if you already have the TV in front of the elliptical trainer, but not TiVo connected to it: Get the Sling Catcher - a due-out-soon hardware version of the SlingPlayer that can you can connect to a TV.

Posted by: Jason at Apr 13, 2007 7:10:49 AM

Hi folks,

I have designed a system for fitness clubs just for this reason. Take a look www.currentinternet.com -- I am still developin g it, using SageTV as the core, customized for an easy fitness club experience.

Please let me know if you may be interested. My solution uses a remote, no need to balance any laptops :)

Posted by: Alex Sirota at Apr 15, 2007 5:56:02 AM

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