Rachel St. John, 13, knows how to succeed with the video game Dance Dance Revolution. She plays at least twice a day - at home in front of the TV, as well as in the local teenage center YMCA.
At a slow speed, St. John keeps up with the dance moves on the monitor. But when teen center coordinator Damien Hunt kept pace, seventh grade from Fishers, Ind., Struggles to keep up. “It's impossible,” she squeals as the lights and arrows point her legs faster and faster. "No one can do this!"
This “Dance Dance Revolution” session - DDR for gamers and insiders - ends with a cascade of giggles. Only after that St. John understands that she has training. “It really gets my heart,” she says. "It makes me feel like I'm running."
St John and crowds of teenagers and teenagers connected to video games may not be aware of this, but they are the target audience for one of the hottest fitness trends right now: exergaming. Fueled by the popularity of home video games such as DDR and Nintendo Wii Sports, youth centers, schools and gyms are increasingly allocating space for extremities and video simulators as a way to engage children in exercises and at the same time, fight against the rise in obesity in childhood .
The games also have a crossover, they go to senior centers and nursing homes, where they are used for rest and physical therapy.
Exergames, also known as active games, combine video technology with motion sensors, so players can navigate and interact with the screen. Don a pair of XaviX boxing gloves and before a virtual boxing ring appears, complete with a threatening opponent. Hop on a GameBike, and you could sweat your way to the finish line in the motocross race.
“You get people wrapped up in virtual activities, and they don’t know they are training,” says John Porcari, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who analyzed the potential for calories to burn out for the American Council on an exercise that lists exergaming as one of the best fitness trends of 2009
Porcari's research shows that games like Wii Sports provide fitness benefits — increased heart rate, oxygen uptake and calorie burning — but only when players imitate actual movements in sports. Clicking in the wrist in a game in the Wii Tennis does not burn a lot of calories. Enthusiastically claim to return volleys for half an hour - about 159, about the same as a 10-minute bicycle ride at a speed of 15 miles per hour.
Health and fitness professionals agree that consuming less and exercising less is the key to changing the rise in childhood obesity. According to the National Health and Nutrition Survey, the prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years more than doubled between 6.5 and 17 percent between 1980 and 2006. For children from 12 to 19, the course has tripled - from 5% to 17.6%.
Statistics are equally disturbing for preschoolers: a study published in April in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that almost every fifth four-year-old child in America meets the definition of obesity in the CDC.
“This is one of the biggest health problems our young people face today,” says Dr. Sandip Gupta, who sees children as the director of the children's health education and research program, or the POWER Clinic at the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis .
Gupta says that he sees children with what is commonly seen as conditions for adults: type 2 diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver, sleep apnea, and joint problems. He encourages these patients to use extermia as a fitness tool: “It’s good if they can move and enjoy it at the same time.”
“He’s attacking one of the problems we face the most, is sedentary behavior,” said Dr. Robert Murray, director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "Anything that makes them more active is helpful."
Murray warns, however, that games should not crowd out other physical activity and that children should be encouraged to participate in various exercises. "Children should have time to get away from the screens," he adds, citing the campaign of the American Academy of Pediatrics to strengthen the external game.
Cedric Bryant, Principal Researcher, American Implementation Council, Agreement. “While in interactive games, traditional gamers have been removed from the couch, there is no substitute for real sports,” he says.
For some children, however, exergames may be the only physical activity they want to cope with, says Ernie Medina, a prevention specialist at the Beaver Medical Group in Redlands, California, and founder of the XRtainment Zone, 1400- at the fitness center and Loma center Linda
Not only for children
Have you ever been too old for a Wii? Accordingly, no. Exergames appear in senior centers and nursing homes as part of therapy and planned social events, such as the Wii Bowling League.
“Older people use it not only for social benefits, but also for physical and cognitive benefits,” says Ernie Medina in the California XR Entertainment Zone. For older people, Wii bowling, tennis and the like can be better than a real sport. Games help players improve their balance and coordination, but do not put so much strength on their joints.
“This is a very bad influence,” says Columbus, Ohio, a resident of Andrew Brangenberg, 65, who plays games at the Jilli Star Center, where he volunteers. “Boxing is a very good exercise — talk about cardio training.”
“In my work with overweight children, they tend to dislike physical activity, not only because they have to work harder because of their excess weight, but they are also chosen to play sports or teased,” says Medina. "But they love video games and are usually very good at them, which increases their self-esteem."
While fitness quirks come and go, exergaming demonstrates endurance and also finds support among the medical community. Last year, the insurer Humana announced a health games initiative that includes working with schools in Kentucky and Florida. Others, such as the Community Health Network, which work in several hospitals near Indianapolis, have helped pay for video arcades in the area.
"We see [electronic] Changes in healthy games are mainly about how families learn and participate in physical activity to improve their health, ”says Grant Harrison, vice president of corporate experience at Humana.
While the best places to search for extremes are youth centers and schools, they are also becoming increasingly popular in independent adult gyms, said industry representatives Mike Hansen from iTech Fitness in Colorado and Tommy Sailheimer from Exergame Fitness USA in Illinois produce companies and distribute commercial video simulators. Both say that it is only a matter of time before the network of fitness centers jump on the trend.
Already some adult gyms are mixed in high-tech extrebics. A new breed of stationary bikes has video monitors and Internet access, which allows users to compete with riders anywhere in the world.
Getting young people to break a sweat was one of the goals at the exclusive Briar Club in Houston, which added a country club fitness center in 1100 square feet in June. Director Rich Andrae, wellness and recreation, said the club aimed at 7-12 year olds when he bought the equipment, but also plans to introduce additional programming for adults and elderly people. In the first month, the number far exceeded the expected interest, attracting 800 visitors.
“We are worried about childhood obesity,” says Andra. "We wanted to attract young members of our club, and also try to involve parents and children in joint activities."
Extergeim was the one who made Erin Tierney and Rick Kohut join Circuit Wellness, a fitness center in Columbus, Ohio, where 40 percent of the 2,000-square-foot facilities are for active play. It is said that this concept is “well suited” for their family, especially the 8-year-old son of Toby, who is more settled than sister Caitlin, 5, described by her mother as a “small energy ball”.
While his parents are working, Toby pedals on the extrusion, enjoying the thrill of the motorcyclist, only through the video screen. "You get to the race, and there are all these jumps," says a third-class enthusiast.
Tierney hopes this will have a lasting effect. “You want to teach children that exercise makes them feel better,” Tirney says. “He learns that he has many positive effects on his life.
