Wii not the way to lose weight
Step away from the pie
If you’re serious about getting fit then the Wii’s sports games will get you partly there, but they’re no substitute for traditional exercise, according to a group of Canadian students. Duh.
The 28-strong band of testers from Dalhousie University in the East Coast city of Halifax, Nova Scotia each played the console’s Wii Sports boxing game for 30 minutes. They also walked around a park and worked out to a boxing video for 30 minutes each, as a comparison exercise. Whoever said students were lazy..?
Each student’s heart rate was measured during the three activities and although the Wii game got players moving and off the couch, it failed to pass the mark as a cardiovascular exercise. Of all three tests, the students found that the boxing video was the best fat burner, followed by the Wii game. A walk in the park was the least energetic.
Perhaps a good session on the upcoming Wii Fit game, which has already sold 1m copies in Japan, will get your heart racing more though, because its central theme is exercise.
COMMENTS
Re:Andy
It doesn't give you hairy palms; I've done the study. And it was official because I had my lab coat on at the time.
With losing weight in general, it comes to your intensity while doing the activity. If you're playing the Wii and moving around and using your entire body, its more likely that you are getting slightly fit then someone who sits on the couch waving their arm around.
Note: I accept the captain obvious nominee in advance.
Further Research Required
"And masturbating five times a day won't cure cancer."
I think the results are inconclusive, and with the aid of a Government research grant I intend to prove you wrong.
Wii sports
The boxing title certainly *can* get your heart rate up into decent CV rates. Like any form of exercise, it's about the effort you put into it. You can use an ergometer for half an hour and not break a sweat, or you can push it and get some benefit.
Re:What the hell?
"Wii not the way to lose weight. No kidding. And masturbating five times a day won't cure cancer."
But it WILL give you hairy palms?
No, you're missing the point...
As a student project this comes under education expenses which means all the students in this study just got themselves a tax deductible Wii
