The Exergaming Network (TEN) Experts wish you "healthy holidays" with Video Games

The Exergame Network (TEN) reveals five ways of getting fit with video games, perfect for school kids to silver gamers with fun as the focus. They state that exergaming succeeds because it makes exercise fun and involving and that choosing the right style of exergaming is vital in making it fun for you.
The Exergaming Network has put together the following CREWS list, which contains 'something for everyone' from five exergaming categories.

1. Camera Exergaming – Your whole body becomes the controller as your movements are motion captured into the game (Eyetoy:Kinetic/Groove/Antigrav, Your Shape, Project Natal & Trazer 2)

2. Rhythm Exergaming – Become the musician or dancer and be guided by the music while the exergame records your dance steps or your musical timing. (Rock Band, Guitar Hero, We Cheer, DDR & iDANCE)

3. Exergaming Machines – Using real fitness equipment, the fun of the games takes your mind of the exercise. (Gamercize, Gamebike, Fitclub, GameCycle, BrainBike & Expresso Bikes)

4. Workout Exergaming – Follow your virtual personal trainer as they guide you through your workout giving feedback on your form and storing your progress. (EA Sports Active, The Biggest Loser, Your Shape and Wii Fit Plus)

5. Sensory Exergaming – These commercial exergames get you jumping and running for your score. (Lightspace Play, Makoto, BodyPad: Tekken 5, SmartUs & TWall)

Warm up before playing Wii

The Nintendo console allows players to simulate a range of energetic sports in their own home, and health and fitness experts are warning those older parents playing Wii games with their children to stretch properly to avoid a pain filled festive period.

Parents who are not used to regular exercise could seriously hurt themselves if they do not warm up and cool down properly before playing. Playing the Wii is like any other exercise routine and you wouldn’t start a workout at a gym without warming up beforehand so it should be no different.

Five Active Games top Amazon's Best Selling List

As Nintendo's Wii continues to grow in popularity, so is the popularity of many active games made for the console. The article, Nintendo Wii Games – Which ones are the Best?, highlights 5 active games topping Amazon's best-selling list including Wii Sports Resort at No.2, Wii Play and Wii Fit Plus at No.5 and No.6, respectively, and The Biggest Loser at the No.10 slot.

Fitness Video Games Are Reshaping Medium

The article, Fitness Video Games Are Reshaping Medium, featured on abc.news.com highlights exergames now being offered in popular sporting goods stores and reshaping the traditional ideas of passive video games.

Childhood obesity can be associated with serious psychosocial issues

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends kids get at least 60 minutes each day of physical activity, yet most kids fall far short of this target. 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese. This is obviously of real importance from a public health standpoint, because one-third of our youth are at serious risk for numerous chronic diseases. Not only are they at risk for chronic health diseases, numerous studies have shown that overweight and obese kids are also at higher risk for psychological problems. In a study published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, titled, “Are overweight and obese adolescents different from their peers?” Dr. Helena Fonseca and colleagues aimed to identify psychosocial and lifestyle behaviors, which distinguish overweight and obese teens from there, lean peers. The study included 6131 students aged 11-16 who completed questionnaires on their body weight, body image, diet history, life satisfaction, health perception, peer group involvement, happiness, irritability and alcohol use. The results, which are not surprising, found that obese and overweight teens when compared with non-overweight teens, were more likely to report a negative attitude toward their appearance; to believe that others made negative comments about them; had a lower level of life satisfaction; had more difficulty in making new friends, and were more likely to describe themselves as unhappy. The results from this one study are obviously distressing and there are several other studies out there with similar results, so this is sending us the message that pediatric obesity is associated with serious psychosocial issues, which require appropriate intervention.
Bottom line. We need to get our kids moving. Increase physical activity to help reduce obesity rates. Exergames can help play a role in this. Exergames can help convert passive screen time to active screen time, however they should not be used as a substitute for other forms of physical activity. They can be great addition to current activities, can help your kids get their needed daily physical activity or provide another option when weather or other things make it difficult to be outside.

Exergames help make fitness fun

As more exergames continue to arrive on store shelves, more people are deciding to add them to their regular workout routine. The article, Video games like Wii Fit help make fitness fun, out of the Detroit Free Press, highlights the booming popularity and benefits of using exergames to achieve fitness goals and how such a routine has helped one local resident lose almost 100 pounds. The person profiled describes her struggle with being overweight and how she found workout DVDs to be repetitive. Gyms and fitness classes also didn't work for her. She enjoys the variety of exercise options with Wii Fit that allows her to "mix it up". She began working out 30 minutes a day using Wii Fit and gradually built up to 90 minutes.

FriiBoard

Stay-at-Home Mom, Gail Stewart and her inventor husband, Tom, wanted to create gaming accessory products that make the gaming experience more real and more fun for players of all ages, therefore they developed the FriiBoard to bring the realistic movement of your favorite sports indoors to your favorite Wii games. The FriiBoard attaches underneath the Wii Balance Board providing a curved contact with the floor. The FriiBoard claims that it makes old balance board games feel new again, makes them feel better and makes the gaming experience more real. This could be a great gift for the Wii lover; the company is expecting high sales for the holiday season and calling it the Wii accessory of 2009. Maybe we should all check it out.

The Biggest Loser Videogame Makes Guest Appearance in Hit NBC Show

The Biggest Loser videogame adds new at-home challenge for show's contestants and now the show’s millions of fans can see what exergaming and getting in shape in the comforts of one's own home is all about.
On the episode the aired on December 1, the hit NBC TV show, "The Biggest Loser," announced that contestants will incorporate The Biggest Loser interactive health and fitness video game into their daily routines as part of the last challenge, the "At Home Challenge," which is the final test to see if contestants can take what they learned at the ranch and apply it at home.

Nintendo Wii bringing generations together

For the past two months, 5th and 6th graders from Amesbury's After School Program in Boston have been spending each Tuesday afternoon with senior citizens at Amesbury’s Senior Center. What is responsible for bridging this generation gap? It is the Nintendo Wii. The two generations have been bowling on the Wii every Tuesday. The game gets everyone up and moving and also teaches the importance of respect and self-confidence.

Keeping Kids Active Now Pays off Later

In a study that has just been published in the British Medical Journal, the authors, who asked 7159 12-year-old children to wear accelerometers for a full week and then come back to the lab at age 14 and have their body fat mass directly measured using Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry, found that the more physically active the kids were at age 12, the lower their fat mass was at age 14. Surprisingly, these results were independent of the children’s fat mass at age 12. So, no matter how much fat a child had at age 12, if he or she was more active, the less fat mass he or she had at age 14. Author Chris Riddoch and colleagues also estimated that 12 year old children "who meet current health related recommendations of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day would be expected to have around 4.3 kg less fat mass at age 14 than children who do not meet those recommendations.

So why do I care to mention this study today on our exergames blog? In their results, the authors specifically mention that an increase of 15 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity at age 12 is associated with around 10% lower fat mass in girls and a 12% lower fat mass in boys at age 14. This percentage difference is equivalent to a reduced fat mass of about 1 kg. That is the equivalent of 2.2 pounds and I am sure it is the same at any age, not just 12 to 14. So we need to get our kids moving and up off the couch, replacing the passive video games with active games. Adding 15 minutes of activity everyday is easy and with exergames it can be fun.
The study is available free online on the BML website.

ACE says Exergaming among top fitness trends for 2010

The American Council on Exercise named exergaming and the use of exergaming equipment among the top trends for fitness and health maintenance for the upcoming year. The association cited budget conscious consumers as the reason for some changing health and fitness trends that included active gaming software and equipment. Also, the group suggests that exergames will take the next leap forward into health clubs and gyms.

Other fitness trends ACE predicts includes more collaboration among government and commercial agencies to help promote fitness and health awareness and more technology-infused fitness tools to help track progress.

dreamGEAR and 24 Hour Fitness Announce Gaming Accessories Partnership

According to this press release, dreamGEAR, a leading provider of high-quality and cutting-edge accessories for all video game platforms, has announced an exclusive partnership with 24 Hour Fitness, a national leader in the health and fitness industry, for fitness related video and computer game accessories. It seems national fitness and gaming accessory leaders are joining forces for the first time to close the gap between virtual and physical workout instruction.
Inspired by the wide variety of available Wii Fit games, dreamGEAR’s collection of accessories and Workout Kits will include rechargeable batteries, fitness mats, travel bags, textured socks, protective sleeves and much more. Workout Kits for Nintendo Wii Fit featuring a free 30-day 24 Hour Fitness membership and dreamGEAR accessories will be introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show January 7 – 10, 2010, and available at dreamGEAR.net, 24HourFitness.com and national retailers in the first quarter of next year.

Can the Wii add fun to injury rehabilitation?

Adding fun to injury rehabilitation? Yes Wii can

Many physical therapists are turning to the Nintendo Wii for rehabilitative purposes. Using the Wii can be fun ways to help victims of brain injury recover in a non-monotonous way. The Wii offers many benefits to rehabilitation; just using the joystick’s buttons assists with the recovery of a patient’s basic motor skills, and newer games like Wii Fit Plus, which use the balance board, add elements of balance, strength conditioning, stretching, aerobics, and yoga, which add basic workouts to a therapy program. Wii-hab, or Waggle Therapy as it is also known, continues to grow as a popular source for brain and spinal injury rehabilitation, and it is currently being utilized for its positive encouragement and therapeutic purposes in cases of stroke, motor vehicle accidents, combat wounds, and Parkinson’s disease.