If you’ve ever been so frustrated with work email that you wanted to punch your computer–or toss it out the window, à la the Office Space printer beatdown –you might appreciate this new keyboard design. Designers replaced each letter with a punching bag, so if you want to write anything, you’ll have to kick or bodyslam it out.

For the designers, the “workoutcomputer” was a more interesting way to approach our sedentary work lives than a typical standing or cycling desk. “We were inspired by personal needs for physical activity during daytime, and back pain in the evening after a full office day in front of the computer,” say designers Desiree Heiss and Ines Kaag, from the European design studio Bless.





Instead of splitting the day into time for working and time for working out, the designers wanted to combine both simultaneously. Of course, it’s not exactly the most efficient way to type a page.

“If you were using it the first time, it might take approximately two minutes per word, depending on the length,” say Heiss and Kaag. “But when you know where all the keys are, you could actually write relatively fast. Of course, it still takes 10 times longer than using a normal keyboard, seeing that the distances between the keys are vaster.”

Even though the keyboard is conceptual, the designers hope that it can inspire more active computers for actual use.

“It would be great if the mouse function could be performed eventually with the feet,” say Heiss and Kaag. “Or the workoutcomputer could even become invisible, and the whole room could be covered with active surfaces that replace the keyboard.”

The workoutcomputer is currently installed at the Istanbul Design Biennial.