Gaming and fitness

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 5:39 am

Okay, first off, I hate to admit it but at 34 (January 14th, coming up) I feel like my youth is pretty much gone. My body ain't reacting to food and movement the way it used to, which for the first 33 years had a kind of good-natured, occasionally sluggish but always willing attitude. My back aches and my neck cracks a whole lot.

I used to be a runner, but I find exercise really damn boring these days. I'm no slouch, though. I do lift moderate weights in short bursts and I can usually keep up with a minimal stretching quotient. I was talking to a cop tonight and he noted I probably wouldn't have much trouble defending myself, but I don't know. The one thing I suck at, ironically enough for a runner, is my cardio.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I found a Fist of the North Star game in the arcade. You've probably heard of this or seen it, but I'm pretty ignorant. It's like that classic Sega boxing game with the extending paddles (you probably saw it in Shenmue if you were too young to see it in person). You fight an enemy in a first person view and hit the paddles as they flip out and blink red. At the end of the round, when Ken goes into his hyperspeed punch, the paddles go crazy and you have to throw out a ton of punches to finish the enemy.

It was amazing! I was hunched over the machine letting the Japanese dialog play because I needed to catch my breath. It took all my effort to throw the punches by the end. My arms screamed in protest the next day.This was it. This was my cardio machine.

Now it takes two plays to get midly to moderately winded, and I'm going to be moving soon. I probably can't afford to purchase a machine for my room, so I looked over the Wii and PS3's motion control selections to get an idea of if I could replicate that experience at home.

Unfortunately, the console experience seems to be really watered down in all regards. Even Victorious Boxers on the Wii was accessible to kids, and thus unaccessable to my needs. Evan brought some of his selection and nothing was doing the trick. I don't give a damn about the Fit or those specialized programs because they're too much detail and not enough game. The only thing so far that seems to fit the bill is the really hokey PS Eye game Kung Fu Live, which looks kind of fun and promises (several reviews back the claim up) a good cardio workout. I got a Move bundle for the Eye (and got a killer discount) and the Wii Sports ripoff actually does an okay job with extended play, but still isn't what I'm looking for.

Well, there's my life story. I was thinking I'd throw out the bare details and solicit a conversation, but I suffer from bad writer habits.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:40 am

I hear you there. As queer as this probably sounds, I played Dance Dance Revolution four three or four years. It started off as a general interest in the beat/rhythym music genre (It seemed pretty awesome after coming from Frequency on the PS2), but after a while it turned into a staple of my workout routine. Once you really pick up the pace in that series and become quite capable, you wouldn't believe the kind of cardio workout you get from it. It's ridiculous. Keep in mind I hate running. Always have and probably always will. But man, I played the hell out of DDR.

A year or two after beginning DDR (I started in '02 or '03, I think), I started benching again and would use the game as my cardio after. Many times I would end the weights portion early just because getting excercise from the game was a lot more fun. It kept my interest and I could go for an hour or two at a time. In 2005 I think I weighed a good 160 (I'm 5"8 ), I was pretty thin from all the cardio. God damn did I do a lot of cardio because of that game.

I've let my body go since then though and am a fatass now. Can't seem to get into a proper workout plan either (no more DDR for me these days). I'm only 28 and I already feel the pains you are talking about, ha.

Post by **3DOKid** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:40 am

Huh. So last year I got this mega-fandango job. I also gained 2 stone (28 pounds, 14Kgs) started smoking and drinking again and doing no exercise. I feel, sat here writing this on New Years day, like hell.

When I got married in 2004 I lost 2 stone (so that's 4 stone lighter than I am now) and I did that with Dance Dance Revolution and an exercise bike. I used to peddle away for hours like a hamster playing video games. At this point I was under my ideal weight.

I find exercise amazingly dull, it's just something that does not appeal to me. For such a small town where I live there is a massive running club, and I often wonder what they think about while running, I can't bring myself to do it. it just strikes me as boring.

I think, and don't laugh, I'm going to join Weight Watchers, I need the peer-pressure. I'm also going to book a holiday in the summer for somewhere really hot, so I'll be expected to walk around half naked, and there is no bloody way I am doing that in this state.

I haven't smoked for two weeks now. I have a trip to the USA in a few days, so I hope I can make it unscathed. I'll be expected to drink while I'm out there. I might pretend to be ill.

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:16 pm

I need to recant my statement that Sports Champions isn't good exercise. I put on a small but notable amount of muscle and I'm pretty sore in the lower arm region.

I don't know what the average runner thinks, but for cross country meets here's what went through my head: "Oh god they're going to push me into a tree RUUUUUUUUUUN". There was quite a lot of that going on in Tampa, and it was a fantastic motivator. That and snatching Gatorade bottles.

I have read up on games further and I think the only one that might do the job with this Move controller is The Fight... but it requires two Moves. I think I'll wait until I'm working the new job before I sink another fifty into a controller and $34 into the game. Sounds worth it for my purposes, but I'll just get Kung Fu Live for now.

Post by **3DO Experience** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:03 pm

Looking at the Wii games on my shelf there are Active Personal Trainer, Your Shape, and Just Dance. Just dance is more fun because you are actually playing a game but truth be told I hardly ever use any of them. Why? No motivation!

I need to improve my diet and feel better, if I feel better than I will work out because it make you feels good. We Americans have a terrible diet compared to two generations ago and I don't mean just junk food. Next time you are at the grocery store pick up a box of something, anything and look at what's in it. There is all this extra crap, lots of it you can't even pronounce. Just look at jam, there should only be fruit, sugar and pectin and maybe citric acid. Now look at what they have on the shelf, there are like 20 ingredients!!!! Even if you try to eat right you're still being sold garbage, I dare you to find meat that doesn't have MSG added.

Sorry I went off on a rant. It's hard enough for me to feel healthy with thyroid problems and then you get all this junk slipped into your food. But having too much fat can get in the way of exercise so you need to diet before you can exercise and not feel like you are dieing. And I don't mean a crash diet just eat decent meals, you can have steak and potatoes if you want but you need to banish that pizza (the bane of my existence).

Post by **3DOKid** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:02 am

The way we eat in this country is rubbish too.

I didn't go into any fast food restaurant (or indeed restaurant) until I was 18 years old. My dad used to grow our veg and potatoes. We would pork chops and gravy, bacon clanger (my brothers favourite) cottage pie peas, carrots, brussel sprouts, runner beans...

Laziness is 95% of the problem. I'm just bone idol. 5% of the problem is the supermarkets.

How we treat food is pretty shocking. The supermarket encourage waste, encourage you to buy food you don't need and encourage you throw to away food that is perfectly fine but it says it's out of date.

Post by **3DOKid** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:48 am

Vance wrote:I need to recant my statement that Sports Champions isn't good exercise. I put on a small but notable amount of muscle and I'm pretty sore in the lower arm region.

I don't know what the average runner thinks, but for cross country meets here's what went through my head: "Oh god they're going to push me into a tree RUUUUUUUUUUN". There was quite a lot of that going on in Tampa, and it was a fantastic motivator. That and snatching Gatorade bottles.

I have read up on games further and I think the only one that might do the job with this Move controller is The Fight... but it requires two Moves. I think I'll wait until I'm working the new job before I sink another fifty into a controller and $34 into the game. Sounds worth it for my purposes, but I'll just get Kung Fu Live for now.

Cross Country (running) was part of the physical education curriculum in the UK. I translated it as smoking and snogging a girl called Tara under the railway bridge. Which, apparently, is not what Cross Country running is all about. Madness. Again. If school was stupid enough to let me out of the gates not properly supervised, who is to blame when I go off of the rails and do as I pleased? Who? tch teachers...

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:56 am

It is a real man who grows and prepares his own food. I have wanted to give it a try. Now I will.

Post by **3DO Experience** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 4:40 am

let the derailing commence!
To me the word "snogging" doesn't sound good, "making out" is much more appealing. I think snogging just sounds too much like snoring.

Post by **3DOKid** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:18 am

Making out suggests something more than just kissing. It's a word from my youth.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:09 am

It kinda bugs me when people come asking me about diet supplements. First, 90% (or more) of the diet supplements on the market are garbage. The main ingredients usually are caffeine, gimmicky stuff like Acai, and sometimes (sadly) traces of prescription suff. Secondly, the few products that do work won't do jack if you aren't willing to do at least moderate exercise, lay off the salt & fast food, and drink a ton of water.

For gaming, I know someone who lost 80 lbs almost exclusively by doing Dance Dance Revolution. That is pretty impressive I think.

BryWI · Post by **BryWI** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:39 am

I break into quite a sweat playing some of the more difficult songs on Expert Pro Drums on Rock Band. I have a habit for playing the drums for 2 hours straight when I finally decide to give it a go. At which point a re-occuring injury in my left wrist decides to show its ugly face again and I have to stop playing. If I play like everyday for a week straight though, I can play for like 5 hours straight. At which point I get dizzy from watching the notes fly down the screen for so long. Dont they make pills for motion sickness?

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:52 am

3DO Experience wrote:I need to improve my diet and feel better, if I feel better than I will work out because it make you feels good. We Americans have a terrible diet compared to two generations ago and I don't mean just junk food. Next time you are at the grocery store pick up a box of something, anything and look at what's in it. There is all this extra crap, lots of it you can't even pronounce. Just look at jam, there should only be fruit, sugar and pectin and maybe citric acid. Now look at what they have on the shelf, there are like 20 ingredients!!!! Even if you try to eat right you're still being sold garbage, I dare you to find meat that doesn't have MSG added.

Sorry I went off on a rant. It's hard enough for me to feel healthy with thyroid problems and then you get all this junk slipped into your food. But having too much fat can get in the way of exercise so you need to diet before you can exercise and not feel like you are dieing. And I don't mean a crash diet just eat decent meals, you can have steak and potatoes if you want but you need to banish that pizza (the bane of my existence).

I'd argue that starting a regular workout immediately would actually make it easy to eat better for two major reasons. First, the contrast is amazing. Today I didn't really watch what I ate and trust me, it wasn't a steady diet of greens. My workout suffered. I felt pretty bad, and the real exhaustion point was accompanied by lightheadedness and mild disorientation.

Second, those endorphins really do help, and that sweat is carrying out toxins that you're putting into your system by eating that crap. Do you smoke? If so, pick up a book on the Linklater Technique, or take a class if you're lucky enough to find one. I've never seen ANYTHING so effective at causing smokers to give up the habit because by the time you've spent half an hour and can do it right, you're spitting up the tar that lines your lungs. We had a class where we stood in a circle and used this technique, and the smokers would occasionally step forward to the trash can in the middle and hawwwwwwwwk ptoo. Really... really black.

That's what happens with those damn chemicals in your food when you're working out. It does a large part in keeping the system clean.

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:05 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIi01rvhPA

This is the machine I was talking about... you always see people whaling on it despite the warning up front that the machine isn't built for full strength punching and only detects when the thing has been hit, not how hard. You can ever see that the middle-right paddle's light isn't working. Tards.