I had my first ever go at the Nintendo Wii console the other night. It was fun, I s’pose, although my suspicion that Wii isn’t the quick fix fitness regime it’s sometimes portrayed as was confirmed when my friend Ruth managed to score a number of strikes in ten-pin bowling without even leaving the sofa. It’s all in the wrist action, apparently.
I’m not the only one to be sceptical about the fitness payoffs of the Wii and other ‘exergames’. The American Council on Exercise got the University of Wisconsin La Crosse to take a closer look at the Wii Fit – recruiting 16 subjects to perform the six most aerobically challenging games available with it while they monitored their physiological responses and ‘rate of perceived exertion’ (self-rated effort level). The top heart rate achieved was just 60 per cent of maximum – equivalent to a slow-paced run and falling short of the government’s guidelines for recommended exercise intensity. The game ‘Free Step’ burned just 99 calories in half an hour – a third as much as an easy run and fewer, even, than a brisk walk. OK, so playing an active computer game is better than sitting still and doing nothing. But there are far, far greater rewards to be had by exercising in the real world…