Exercise Games Catching On

Health Professionals, Video Game Makers Impressed With Popularity Of 'Wii Fit'

August 03, 2009|By Elizabeth Large | Elizabeth Large,elizabeth.large@baltsun.com


The "Wii Fit," a video game that acts as a virtual exercise coach, guides players through yoga moves, basic strength training and aerobics. Since it was released in the U.S. about a year ago, "Wii Fit" has sold more than 6 million copies.

Nintendo's success has attracted the attention of not only its competitors (a slew of next-generation fitness-themed games such as "EA Sports Active" are on store shelves or will be by Christmas), but also health professionals. Institutions like the University of Mississippi and Indiana University have started looking into whether interactive video games are viable tools to promote better health and combat obesity or just the latest fitness fad.

"Your body doesn't care if you're going out on the street riding a bicycle or pedaling in front of a 'Wii' screen," says Lew Lyon, vice president of MedStar Sports Health at Union Memorial Hospital and a sports psychologist. Less than 40 percent of Americans are getting enough exercise, he points out. "If we can get 10 percent more active [with video games], that's a good thing."

Fitness-themed games can be useful even if you're already an avid exerciser. They offer variety and the convenience of working out in your living room. If it weren't for her 'Wii,' Allyson Lestner, a 30-year-old who lives in Towson and ran a half-marathon in November, probably wouldn't be in as good shape as she is now.


When Lestner works out with the 'Wii Fit' online skating program, for instance, she's actually doing strength training.


The variety of minigames within the system helps keep Lestner and others interested. But because interactive fitness games are relatively new, research is scarce about their staying power. Once the novelty wears off, will the 'Wii Fit' balance board end up in the back of the closet?

Pilot studies suggest there are things that can be done to help people stick with the routines, such as using multiplayer games, says Elizabeth Lyons, a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lyons was one of the speakers at the fifth annual Games for Health conference, which took place in June in Boston. While the conference looked at the broader role of video games in health and health care, one of the five topics covered was exercise-themed games.

As for the criticism that interest could wane quickly, Lyons doesn't think fitness video games should be compared to other kinds of exercise when you're talking about staying power. She suggests looking at what keeps people playing games. Novelty is important. If that's true, it's good there are so many choices out there these days. When you get bored with "Wii Fit," you just switch to a new exercise game.

Lyons sees fitness games as a way to lure both kids and adults away from sitting in front of the TV and other couch potato behavior. People have plenty of excuses - she uses the more polite word, "barriers" - for not exercising: They don't have time. They have a poor body image and don't want to work out around other, fitter men and women at the gym. Or, most simply, they don't know how.

A fitness game could be the answer to all of those. And as more video game developers roll out exercise-themed games, customers will have a range of new options.

"Far more big players are jumping into the fray," says Adam Sessler, host of "X-Play," a cable TV show about video games. While some of the new fitness games are simply Nintendo knockoffs, others are raising to a new level aerobic conditioning, strength training and stretching regimens that are actually fun.




Not to be outdone, Nintendo announced plans at last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show for a sensor that would track a player's pulse, to be used with the more strenuous "Wii Fit" sequel, "Wii Fit Plus."

Some of the newest games in development are disguised as play, but designed to deliver real aerobic exercise. "Tony Hawk: Ride," for instance, uses a skateboard instead of a balance board. "[It's] a new point in the trend," Sessler says of "X-Play."

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