This is not something I ever thought I would be writing about, but well here we are. So for several months now I have been walking outside during the day and using the treadmill in the evenings after weight training. I don’t recall ever having a problem where I was being shocked repeatedly while walking on a treadmill. Like it’s something that would happen on occasion, but absolutely not a regular basis. I think this problem started after I changed my shoes of all things.
On an aside…
If you are looking for a decent shoe, I recommend the Hoka Bondi 8. This is not an advertisement, I just really like these shoes. My podiatrist recommended it to me when I was experiencing some severe big toe pain (I have flat feet). His recommendation is great.
Back to being electrocuted while walking
I switched to these shoes and they are fantastic, honestly. It’s like running/walking on very cushy pillows. Great shock absorption and most importantly my big toe pain went away! Now for these shoes to be as cushy and springy as they are the material is some kind of very soft and pliable dense foam. I suspect that the constant rubbing of my shoe bottoms to the treadmill belt combined with my legs rubbing workout shorts material is a recipe for static electricity production. If I don’t discharge on the heart sensor every 20-30 seconds the build up is so high it stings me. I can literally feel the hair on my arms standing up when they get close to the handrail guards which are made of a hard plastic.
How to ground yourself
I looked for solutions on this and I didn’t love what I was finding, so I went back to my roots of being an electrical engineer to solve the problem. Like you can buy these shoe straps that help you ground yourself, but the idea of putting an adhesive strip on the bottom of my shoe that snakes its way around and into the inside of my shoe doesn’t sound like a good long term solution. Well, to ground yourself you can touch the electrodes and that works just fine, so why not just tether yourself to the electrodes?
Ghetto rigging your grounding strap
Not being able to sway my arms while walking is really annoying, so I needed to find a solution where I could be tethered to the existing electrode without damaging it. No problem, we will use two very simple things:
- Anti-static wrist strap – this is used for working on sensitive electronics and things like fireworks
- Automotive grounding straps – this is used for cars to ground two separate bodies together. It is flexible woven wire that allows independent movement.
With these powers combined you can create a very flexible and durable ghetto rigged grounding solution!
Now you don’t necessarily need to use the automotive grounding straps, I did this because I wanted a flexible bare metal solution. You could in theory just use some solid wire of any metal type, but the problem with solid core is it will break after you flex it too many times. You cannot reliably use stranded core metal because it will not hold its shape. Also you don’t want to be twisting and untwisting wire when your hands are moist. You will more than likely shred your fingers.
Constructing your grounding strap
The beauty of this solution is that there are no permanent fixtures, ties, clamps or twists. What I did was flatten one of the O-ring terminals so that it would pass through the other. This gives you a type of cow hitch (loop) or Honda knot. I have a picture to demonstrate below. The only thing that is missing is the handle of the treadmill where the heart rate electrode is, but you can just use your imagination for that I believe in you (forgot to take a photo while in the gym).
- Place wrist wrap on your wrist.
- Adjust to comfort level.
- Place automotive grounding strap around electrode.
- Pass flattened end through the other ring terminal.
- Pull taught.
- Place alligator clip on the tail end closest to the ring terminal so that it cinches in place and makes decent contact with the electrode.
- Perform walking or running motions while flailing your hand freely like a maniac and you are now 100% grounded. All static electricity being generated is immediately being discharged into the electrode.
Congratulations, you no longer have to be zapped intermittently.
Links to what I bought
These are links to what I purchase above. I am sure the links will go dead at one point. This isn’t advertisement and I do not have an affiliation with these vendors or Amazon.
- Static electricity wrist strap https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G4GRFZW
- Automotive ground strap https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4QJXSNG
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