Working Out From Your Office Desk Is About To Get A Whole Lot Simpler

Working Out From Your Office Desk Is About To Get A Whole Lot Simpler

By now, the research on the subject has made itself painfully clear: Sitting all day at a desk job is not at all good for you.

While many have used this knowledge to pursue a number of options -- including standing desks, treadmill desks and other setups -- to try and solve this health issue, many of the possible solutions come with a high price tag or take up too much space, not to mention office managers often need to be on board with an alternative desk arrangement.

Twenty-three-year-old Arnav Dalmia knows the obstacles well. After he graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in economics, he moved on to an office job. It was there where he noticed his health was declining -- he was frequently tired and felt lethargic -- despite no other change in his diet or exercise routine. He realized then that sitting all day at the office was taking its toll.

The result of his dilemma is Cubii, a unique under-desk elliptical trainer that Dalmia has developed along with two former U of C classmates, Ryota Sekine and Shivani Jain.

On Monday, a Kickstarter campaign for the Cubii ended after raising almost $294,000 from over 1,000 backers -- more than three times its initial fundraising goal. The campaign marks Kickstarter's most-funded Chicago design project of the year so far.

While other products -- like the DeskCycle -- have also attempted to offer under-desk exercise solutions for the office, Cubii is different from its competitors. For one, Dalmia says their product has been designed to offer a range of motion that is less distracting to users and others nearby and won't result in banged-up knees from hitting the underside of the desktop. The product -- which will weigh about 25 pounds -- also comes with a handle, making it easily movable but still sturdy.


Cubii's range of motion should result in fewer bruised knees than other under-desk fitness options.

Another thing setting Cubii apart is Bluetooth technology that allows users to sync up their at-work exercising with fitness-monitoring apps, as well as a "green wellness" element that allows users to charge their cell phones using the energy derived from the workout. The Cubii team estimates users will be able to burn about 120 calories an hour using the adjustable-resistance device.

The enthusiastic response to the Cubii Kickstarter came as a surprise to Dalmia, considering his team is relatively green when it comes to the product world.

"None of us on the team are engineers or designers, we're all fairly young and we had set out to make this physical product right out of college," Dalmia told HuffPost. "That was our biggest challenge."

The Cubii will retail for $349, though it is currently being offered for a $299 Kickstarter pre-order price. Dalmia is aiming to have them available for purchase by next January.

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