How to Stay Fit Using Video Games | A Review of Workout Games for the Wii, the Playstation and the XBox

Over the past two decades, obesity rates have skyrocketed in America. The causes of this growing epidemic include the increase in fast food intake, time-managment constraints that make exercising difficult, and the increase in technology which has drastically decreased physical activity for many adults and children.

These changes have led to the growing issue of weight management in America, where one-third of all adults are currently categorized as obese, as well as almost 25% of all children.

Being obese is not only unhealthy, but it is also costly. Those who are classified as obese are at much higher risk of suffering from conditions like diabetes, strokes, cancer and heart disease.

In 2008, the total cost of medical bills due to obesity was over $140 billion in the United States. Studies found that individuals who were obese wound up with an average of $2,000 more in medical bills than individuals not struggling with obesity.

Ten years ago the idea of using video games as a form of exercise would have sounded insane, but today the concept is far from crazy.

With more and more video game manufacturers designing games focusing on physical fitness, video game workouts could be the beginning to a fitness revolution in America.

According to Doctor William Bryant, chief science officer at the American Council on Excerise, video games like Wii Fit "are great for the person who hasn't been doing a whole lot, but for individuals who exercise quite a bit, it isn't going to be a huge challenge."

He does say however that "it has the ability to be a bit more challenging for those who are already engaging in physical activity. It's not a substitute, but it could certainly be a nice complement to a regular exercise program."

Dance Dance Revolution will always be considered the game that started the video game workout craze. Released in 1998 in Japan, then in 1999 in Europe and the United States, DDR was one of the first video games to combine the components of gameplay with physical fitness. Since then, thousands of games have been released aimed at increasing physical activity levels and combatting the obesity problem worldwide.

A typical workout using Dance Dance Revolution consists of three songs, and lasts approximately fifteen minutes. The game comes with a pad with different colored arrows to step to the rhythm of the game. The idea is to complete the steps shown on the screen in congruence with the beat of the chosen song.

Although the game doesn't provide serious strength training, it can provide a solid cardio workout for those who play regularly, and opt for the more advanced levels available.

Dance Dance Revolution was such a big change for how we had been approaching physical fitness in America that some schools have started incorporating the game into their gym classes. The first school system to make this move was the West Virginia public elementary school system.

There are already a plethora of video games designed to help both children and adults increase their physical activity. No console is exempt anymore from providing games to help encourage individuals to start exercising, and all of them offer a wide variety of workouts, from cardio training to strength training.

Games for Wii to Help You Get Fit:

• Dance Dance Revolution
• Wii Fit
• Zumba Fitness
• Just Dance
• EA Sports Active 2
• Gold's Gym Cardio Workout

Games for XBox to Help You Get Fit:

• Dance Dance Revolution
• Nike+ Kinect
• The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout Challenge
• Your Shape Fitness Evolved
• EA Sports Active 2

Games for Playstation to Help You Get Fit:

• Zumba Fitness
• Sports Champion
• EA Sports Active 2

Consumer Reports did a study covering the impact that fitness focused video games could have on a person's physical health.

For their study, they took five particular games and tracked the complexity of the movements in each game, how exciting each game was (in order to encourage continuous use needed for optimal health), as well as the extensiveness of both the game's skill based elements and conditioning elements.

The five games they used for the study included Zumba Fitness, Just Dance, Your Shape Fitness Evolved, Nike+ Kinect Training and UFC Personal Trainer. They used two of the company's in-house fitness experts and our resident gaming expert evaluate each game.

The study found that Your Shape Fitness Evolved was ideal for extremely sedentary individuals and worked well as a transition from a lifestyle with no exercise to a more active one. Overall, they found that this game wasn't involved enough to substitute for a more traditional workout routine, but was instead a good choice to add to a non-video game regimen.

UFC Personal Trainer also failed to pass the test, falling far too short in the amount of physical activity involved to be substituted for regular exercise. The testers did say that the game was a great way for those unfamiliar with boxing or mixed martial arts to get acclaimated to the sports, but wasn't intense enough to keep a person in shape.

Zumba Fitness was the game that got the second highest marks from Consumer Reports. The testers said that the game provides an intense cardio workout that is engaging and encourages users to continue playing consecutive days in a row. The only downside Consumer Reports found for the video game was that it lacked strength training and emphasized cardiovascular activity for the most part.

The top choice by Consumer Reports was Nike+ Kinect. Offering extensive, lengthy workouts combining both strength building and endurance building workouts, the game showed to be a great way to lose excess weight and increase muscle mass.

Just Dance 4 got the worst ratings, only excelling in one area, excitement and user engagement. Although the game proved to be fun to play, it didn't have intense enough components to be used as a form of exercise.