Video Fitness

Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog

I will admit that I’ve never really been a big fan of video game-based exercise plans. I tried Dance Dance Revolution and have seen other fitness-based games, and I remain convinced that while they may work for a small group of people, they are generally ineffective. Though I don’t have anything to back it up scientifically, it doesn’t seem like they do much in terms of encouraging a healthy lifestyle or even in demanding much in the way of sustained exercise. For example, I was slightly horrified to hear about how some schools were trying to use Dance Dance Revolution in gym class. Sure, if you go about it like this kid, then you’re undoubtedly getting some exercise out of it:

But, let’s face it, most people aren’t playing at that level of difficulty or intensity.  Not to mention that 3 minutes of dance pad maneuvers followed by 15 minutes of waiting for your turn again don’t really meet the standard of what I would expect from a school gym class.

Anyway, despite my reservations with the whole video game fitness thing, we went ahead and bought Wii Fit.  And I may have to eat my words.  Which isn’t entirely bad, because my words taste like sweet, sweet chocolate donuts.

I’m not going to go through the whole spiel of what Wii Fit is and how it works because, alas, Nintendo is not paying me to promote it for them.  (Not that they would need me to anyway, since the darned thing is sold out everywhere.)  But there are a few things about it that I think are very promising when it comes to video game fitness:

1. You can actually work up a sweat doing some of this stuff, and there’s a good variety of different things to do, from Yoga and calisthenics to aerobic exercise.
2. The game system makes an effort to provide guidance and feedback on doing exercises correctly.
3. There’s a really cute and creative way to track your progress, build up points for new games/exercise programs, set goals, and so on.  The downside is that the little character that represents you in the game reflects your weight/body size, which can be a tad depressing for those of us who could stand to lose a few pounds.  The good news is that your little cartoon avatar only gets chubby in the midsection, and not (thank God) in the thigh or chin regions.
4. Finally, there is an awareness to the game that this is not meant to be your only source of exercise, but more of a fitness option or doorway into a healthier lifestyle.  The fact that it’s not meant to be some kind of miracle weight loss tool scores a lot of points with me.

Of course, if we were going to go about this scientifically, I would give you my weight and let you all track with me whether the Wii Fit is actually effective.  That’s not going to happen.  In the anonymity of the internet, I would prefer to be something along the lines of a Filipino Cindy Crawford (or maybe Salma Hayek) rather than the more prosaic truth.  The reason I am going into the subject at all is because with the concern about childhood obesity and general fitness levels, some parents are looking at different ways to make sure that their kids get their much-needed daily exercise.  Because boys tend to enjoy video games, it seems like the obvious answer would be to find a good exercise-based video game to engage them.  And while nothing can (or should) take the place of more traditional exercise, I will admit that the Wii Fit does seem promising.

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