Fitness chair for working out while you work

Like most desk-tied people, I have my concerns about leading such a sedentary lifestyle. I got a standing desk a while ago and am happy with the difference it made. I still spend a decent amount of my time sitting down, however, and couldn’t help but think about replacing my office chair with a desk bike. The company that makes my standing desk also makes fitness chairs, so I thought, why not give it a try? This is the FlexiSpot Sit2Go test.

• FlexiSpot Sit2Go: $ 399.99 / £ 399.99 / € 329.99
• FlexiSpot Sit2Go Pro: $ 449.99 (US only)

The Sit2Go fitness chair is partly an exercise bike and partly an office chair, so you can burn calories while sitting at your desk. It’s not just a desk bike, it also works like any other ergometer, so you can roll it out of your home office after work and comfortably crank a few kilometers in front of the TV before dinner.

The FlexiSpot Sit2Go has a wide gel saddle and a full mesh backrest for more air circulation and all-day seating comfort. It doesn’t have a laptop desk mount, so you’ll need to pair it with your regular desk or standing desk.

It is height adjustable and in my experience can be typed comfortably at heights of ~ 80-110cm (up to the bottom of the desk). Although it technically works with any static or standing desk, you can move it from pedal to pedal thanks to its small width of 42 cm. Note, however, that if you actually want to pedal, you will need space for your knees. I’m six feet tall, have long legs, and I couldn’t ride a bike without hit my knees if the bottom of my desk was less than three feet off the floor. This is important if you don’t have a height-adjustable desk.

Setting up the Sit2Go fitness chair is as quick as attaching the seat and pedals and unfolding the rear roller legs. As soon as you sit down, the wheels will snap into place; get up and they roll free again. A paddle under the seat allows the seat to be raised or lowered quickly and you can make minor adjustments to the horizontal position of the seat and backrest during assembly. I like the build quality of the Sit2Go – it feels very sturdy and stable – but it’s quite heavy if you plan to take it up or down stairs regularly.

The Sit2Go is available in black or white. There’s also a Sit2Go Pro model in the US, which costs $ 50 more and has a second paddle under the seat that you can use to slide the seat forward and backward and up and down. There are also versions with more of a “bicycle saddle” seating style and with a laptop stand.

Having been disappointed with similar Desk Cycle products in the past, I was pleasantly surprised at the various resistance settings on the Sit2Go. I’m a cyclist, so I really want an exercise bike – even a hybrid office chair like this one – to be able to offer me a wide range of levels of difficulty. This is what the FlexiSpot Sit2Go does.

In the simpler settings, the Sit2Go offers a relaxed cruise that you might want when you’re rehabilitating, not very fit, or just want to get a little exercise while working without breaking a sweat. Turn the dial all the way on the hard side and it’s impressively hard, like going uphill – definitely not something you want to do in the middle of a zoom call.

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The reason I like the resistance area here is because Sit2Go can grow with your fitness. I asked FlexiSpot what the resistor settings mean and they said that at 60 RPM the lowest setting is 20 ± 5W and at the high end it is 145 ± 5W. For reference, top athletes generate between 300 and 400 W, the average person around 150 W. If you keep a little over 100 W all day, even in short bursts, your calorie consumption will at least change slightly.

For someone like me (165 pounds / 75 kg semi-trained cyclist), I can mindlessly ride medium difficulty all day and then crank things up when I want a harder workout later. It’s really great that I can do all of this on a machine that is also an office chair. The best part is that you won’t even notice you’re pedaling half the time and the Sit2Go is incredibly quiet so you won’t disturb anyone around you.

The digital display shows all the usual things: timer, speed, distance, calories burned, odometer and RPM (you just need to remove the front panel to insert two AA batteries). At the end of your work day, you might be surprised by how far you’ve driven without realizing it. You can easily burn between 500-600 calories per hour, which is pretty awesome compared to what you would normally burn if you were sitting idly at your desk.

What’s not so good?

Even at full seat height, the Sit2Go offers a fairly cramped bike position for taller users – you can see how far my leg is from full extension in the photo above. If you’re not a cyclist you might not even notice it, but if you ride regularly you will find that the muscle strain is a little unusual. Burning a few calories while sitting at your desk during the day is less of a worry, but if you want to log serious miles on the Sit2Go it becomes more noticeable and uncomfortable. An optional bike saddle mount with a longer or reclined seat post would be a great addition if FlexiSpot is listening.

Speaking of comfort, the seat itself is decent, but not exceptionally comfortable. As for regular office chairs, it’s somewhat comparable, but if you currently have a really nice office chair, prepare for a step to take advantage of desk workouts. I tried to make something good out of it: every time I felt that Sit2Go was getting a little uncomfortable, I switched from cycling to standing at my desk. The more variety you bring into your day, the better anyway.

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FlexiSpot Sit2Go Review: Should I Buy It?

For $ 249 (MSRP $ 399, currently on sale), the Sit2Go is a pretty good option if you’re looking for a simple office chair paired with an above-average fitness bike. It’s not what I would call an all-day office chair replacement in terms of comfort, so I’d recommend using it either in addition to a regular office chair or with a standing desk so you can change things up. It’s definitely still more comfortable than sitting on a bike saddle all day, and being able to exercise while you work is worth a little discomfort.

As for the desk cycle part of the equation, I was impressed. It has all of the usual display features you’d expect from a stationary bike, plus a wide range of resistance options suitable for beginners to active cyclists. It’s well designed, well built, stylish enough for what it is, and whisper quiet which means you can use it in an open office environment. Personally, I leave this one at home with my sweaty armpits, but I happily made it a part of my work-from-home workout anyway.