As Exercise, Nintendo Wii Doesn't Cut It

[XGhozt 410]

As Exercise, Nintendo Wii Doesn't Cut It

 

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian students have given each other a Wii workout to see if the top-selling videogame console can get couch potatoes to work up a sweat.

 

Twenty-eight students at Dalhousie University in the East Coast city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, put the Nintendo Co console up against more traditional forms of exercise to see if playing games could actually be considered a workout.

 

"I was playing Wii boxing with a friend and noticed how exerting it was," said Justin White, a fourth-year kinesiology student.

 

"I thought to myself, 'I'm working up a sweat doing this Nintendo thing; I might run with that.' So I put together an outline and the class thought it would be a good project to take on," he said.

 

White and 27 students in the Applications in Exercise Physiology class tested the impact of playing the Wii boxing game for 30 minutes against a 30-minute walk in a local park and an equal amount of time doing a boxercise video.

 

Every student did each activity and their heart rate was measured as well as how hard they thought they had worked out for all three activities.

 

They found that the Wii did get people off the couch and more active but, as a cardiovascular workout, it didn't pass the test.

 

"If they're looking for cardiovascular fitness, I'd advise them to do something else because it's really not intense enough," White explained in an interview.

 

"But if they're just looking to lose weight, it's a good way to get started. It can also be a gateway to other things and may get people interested in the actual sports themselves too," he added.

 

The students said the most energetic exercise was the boxercise video, while the walk through the park was the least demanding.

 

White, who is thinking about publishing his findings, believes interactive fitness could be a good way to get people to enjoy exercise more and therefore do it more.

 

"I've always held that the best exercise is exercise that a person will do," Jo Welch, the professor of the class, said in a statement.

 

"Because different activities appeal to different people, the more options that are readily available, the more likely it is that exercise will occur."

 

Nintendo plans to release Wii Fit, an exercise game later this year that allows the user to perform a variety of exercises—and tracks changes in their body-mass index. It has already sold more than a million copies in Japan.

 

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2252349,00.asp

[Azqato 503]

Moving your arms up and down isn't an exercise GG NINTENDO.

[Kenshyn 638]

Moving your arms up and down isn't an exercise GG NINTENDO.

But doing that while jumping is. (Jumping Jax {Jacks})

[Speedskater 167]

just like the other topic we had, wii isnt really the best way, and like it said its a good way to START losing weight. in addition to that they hope it would inspire other people to do the real thing. wheres blight i want to hear his opinion about this

Edited January 25, 2008 by Speedskater

[dragoonerzerg 0]

NO NO NO.. Wii.. FTW, running that damn mile that everybody hates, FTW, PE teachers FTW!!

 

 

ITS ALL ABOUT DDR AND STEPMANIA!!!..... woot

 

 

Stepmania may be used for keyboard, but you can buy pads with it and metal pads are good for stepmania. these games are so damn good in exercise. it fun at the same time. a lot of schools in Virginia replaced their everyday PE sports with DDR and that game burns more fat faster than many of the sports and it makes good results. its all faster than those bull shit diets and those retarded "follow along" exercise shows on TV.

 

DDR is a latest defense against child obesity!!

 

 

stepmania in my opinion is better than DDR

 

 

1.keyboard is easier than taht damn controller

2. its more customizable, and you can get more songs and you can get your own songs urself

3. there are these "skins"

4. no need for messy online adapter for online play

5. comp can be plugged into the Big Screen.

 

EDIT: in just 1 and half weeks, i lost 9 pounds from playing 9 hours of hardcore DDR songs like Fascination ~eternal love mix~ & The legend of MAX

[Speedskater 167]

Drangooner i wish that more ppl where like you lmfao! and oh boy 1 mile your gona die from that. even if wii didnt cut it they're still making millions so who really cares?

[blight 0]

just like the other topic we had, wii isnt really the best way, and like it said its a good way to START losing weight. in addition to that they hope it would inspire other people to do the real thing. wheres blight i want to hear his opinion about this

 

Well since you asked ...I'd hafta say that I can pretty much agree with what they said. It sounds a lot like what we were talkin about in the other thread. I'd say they're totally right about it not being a worthwhile cardio workout...I mean, to raise your maximum heart rate, I think you're supposed to keep it near the max for at least 3 minutes or so(don't quote me on that), and I think if you get that from the Wii then your vitals are probably about to flatline anyway. But it's not a bad way to burn a few calories when you're bored, either.

 

And like you said, they mention that it's "a good start"...Gateway drugs are supposed to lead to worse drugs, but there are positive gateway activities, too, and I think that if something fun like this happens to be one for somebody, then lucky them, right?

 

And I hafta say that the professor's philosophy is dead-on: "I've always held that the best exercise is exercise that a person will do". You can make the perfect workout for someone, but if it isn't one they'll actually do, then it's worthless anyway. That's why a lot of classes at gyms nowadays aren't just "fitfitfit work hard doing the same old thing to get fit"...if you have a gym membership to like Omni or Powerhouse, get a schedule and look at it...there are probably a lot of things on there that sound untraditional as far as gyms are concerned like bellydancing and hula. My gym actually had a striptease class. They're making classes that sound more interesting so people will come to them. And sometimes, in order to do that, you sacrifice some of the "fitness" of the time spent in exchange for it not being boring and/or just downright hard, thereby encouraging more people to take part. And that's why if something sacrifices more of that fitness aspect, but in turn draws a few more people into it, then it's still okay as far as I'm concerned. Course, I'm no doctor.

Edited January 26, 2008 by blight