Monday, April 9, 2012

ExerGame Lab

Last week, my classmates and I were able to do a little experimenting in the ExerGame Lab. It was the first time I had ever been in the lab and it was a pretty cool experience. I will say that I have never been a big believer in video games for the use of exercise. I went through a phase when I was absolutely addicted to video games when I was younger. I loved playing sports, but I also loved playing video games as well. I finally snapped out of that phase and realized that playing hours upon hours of video games was hurting my mental and physical state. Sitting in front of a screen provided no health benefits.



I will say that being in the ExerGame did change my opinion somewhat on video games for health benefits.  We are now in the age of technology and it is widely used. A lot of children love video games and a lot of children are not thrilled about sports; they have been turned off by it for some reason. If we can incorporate fitness into their video games than we are achieving something. For example, in the pictures shown, you can see us playing a dancing game. An hour of that and you will definitely work up a sweat and get your heart rate going. Your body is moving and thats what we want.



On an even better note, I played a racing game on a spin bike and my speed was controlled by how fast I biked. It was probably the best idea Ive seen yet of incorporating fitness into video games. I did one session, on easy, with medium resistance, and by the end my heart rate was really going and sweat was forming on the top of my head. An hour of that and you'll feel like you've biked the Tour de France.

At the end of the day, I love the ideas that are stemming from the ExerGame lab. People love video game so if we can incorporate fitness into them I'm all for it. I would still recommend getting outdoors and biking rather than sit in front of a screen, but if thats the only way people will get exercise than play on.

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