Calorie count of Wii Sports verses Real Sports

The Cooper Institute Blog recently reported some figures on the calories burned for playing 30 minutes of Wii Sports games verses playing 30 minutes of the real thing. The figures were based on a study that was described in the 2008 July/August issue of ACE FitnessMatters, the magazine for members of the American Council on Exercise.                 

                                     Wii             Actual Sport

Golf                              93              117

Bowling                       117              216

Baseball                      135              219

Tennis                         159              243

Boxing                         216             306

So although you don’t burn as many calories playing the Wii sport as the real thing, it is better than just sitting around and doing nothing, and exergames DO provide some benefits. The key is though, that the game movement must be just like the real sport movement.