Monday, December 3, 2012

Are Wii Fit and Xbox Kinect effective forms of exercise?

By Russ Howe


We have all seen the ads, the toned girls working out at home in front of their Wii Fit, Xbox Kinect or Playstation Move consoles. But today we answer the question everybody wants to know...

How good are tools such as Wii Fit, Playstation Move and Xbox Kinect for weight loss and toning up when they are compared to going to the gym?

As a trainer it would be easy to dismiss this as the latest craze and advise people they'll never get the kind of workout they could in the real gym, right? So that's not what we're going to do here. Because the fact is, this is not a fad and it is here to stay. Every year the technology becomes more advanced. Here are the primary reasons why games console workouts are actually a GREAT thing for your fitness but also the fitness industry in general.

* If you lack the self confidence to join a public gym you can get good results at home with this.

* Owning an Xbox Kinect, Playstation Move or Wii Fit allows you to squeeze in a workout at just about any time

* Compared to a monthly gym membership or the mammoth cost of assembling a decent home gym, a Wii Fit is actually affordable.

* The technology we currently see is developing all the time.

While many insecure fitness instructors and personal trainers would scoff at the prospect of getting a good workout from a computer game, they often really simply fear it as a threat to their own profession. After all, who needs to go to the gym when you can do it at home, right? The truth is, as a trainer myself, you should be very optimistic about the development of this kind of keep fit software. It will only enhance gym,s helping countless potential members build up the confidence to finally take out that membership and push on to the next level of fitness.

If you are relatively new to exercise and lack the confidence to go to the gym, or simply find it hard allocating the necessary time to squeeze in a workout most days, then Wii Fit, Xbox Kinect and Playstation Move provide an absolutely brilliant way to take care of this dilemma and get you on the road to a leaner, better body. The fact that the technology is always moving forward, too, bodes well for the future.

But is it as effective as physically going to a gym? At the moment the technology is great (and always improving) at providing great body weight workouts, cardio sessions and stretching but is understandably somewhat lacking when it comes to resistance training. Steps have been taken already to move in this direction however (such as the inclusion of resistance bands with EA Sports Active 2, for example). As things stand right now, the gym wins hands down when it comes to weights.

When it comes to a heavy weights session, or any other form of resistance training, the software isn't in the same league as hitting a gym for real. However, given the constant progress made in the gaming world I wouldn't be surprised if one day you and I met via a Playstation for one of my workout routines instead of face to face.

If you are thinking about buying an Xbox Kinect, Playstation Move or Wii Fit for weight loss purposes then a as a Fitness Instructor I highly recommend that you do. Not only will you be able to achieve great results with what is already available right now, but it gets better all the time.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment