#https://www.wsj.com/articles/nintendos-new-fitness-toy-burn-calories-while-battling-monsters-11572629332

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Exergaming, the Fitness Trend of 2020? - Annie Hines

Fitness Trends

While we would all love to love working out, it is hard sometimes. Our workouts become repetitive which leads us to feeling bored or no longer feeling challenged. Therefore, people are constantly looking for a new class or workout to try. Fitness trends cycle through every year, and as for 2019, treadmill classes, kickboxing classes, aerial fitness classes, at-home fitness apps and shorter workouts were some of the most popular trends. The fitness industry is looking to solve the issue of repetitiveness, lack of a challenge, and boredom with shorter workouts or more entertaining and varied workouts.

With people’s increasingly busy lives, it makes sense that people are looking for shorter workouts. If people could burn the same number of calories in a 30 or 45 min intense workout, than a slower-paced one hour class, why not save those extra 15 or 30 minutes? ClassPass found that there was a 33% increase in sign-ups for classes under 45 minutes in 2018 than in 2017. The at-home fitness apps also save time by eliminating the transportation and waiting times that come with attending a class at a studio.

On the other hand, the aerial fitness and kickboxing classes are trying to attract customers by providing a more entertaining method of working out.  While hanging upside down by my foot wrapped around a sheet sounds mildly terrifying to me, others have found it to be an exciting and fun challenge to take on. For those who may not be as outgoing but are still looking for an entertaining way to workout, Nintendo has released their newest exercise game. It involves fighting monsters by doing crunches, push-ups and other exercises.

“Exergaming” History

The combination of exercising and playing video games emerged from more active video games, such as Dance Dance Revolution. Dance Dance Revolution was not initially made to be a workout, but I know when I am jumping around on the board and giving it my all, it definitely feels like a workout. Dance Dance Revolution and similar games showed developers that games could be body controlled, and in 2008, the WII Fit was released by Nintendo. The WII Fit consists of a board with sensors that you can hook up to your Wii. There are a variety of exercises on the screen that you can follow along with, and they will instruct you on your form based on the feedback recorded from the sensors on the board. It was very successful, selling over 23 million boards. Microsoft followed with the release of the Kinect. It uses body and facial recognition to track the user’s movements, therefore no remote is needed. You can click and control the screen solely with moving your hand and body. Many Zumba, dance and other fitness Kinect games were sold.

Ring Fit Adventure

Nintendo’s new Ring Fit Adventure includes a flexible, plastic, black oval, resembling a Pilates ring. The ring is held in your hands, and a strap is attached to your left thigh to track leg movements. It reminds me of a larger Mario Kart Wii wheel, but it requires a lot more physical activity. Both controllers allow the game to track the full-body movements, such as squats or yoga poses. It is an entertaining video game, but also forces you to work out to complete the levels. By providing the goal of eliminating monsters, the game distracts people from their other end goal of completing a workout, which makes it more enjoyable for them. Customers run in place to move down the hallway, then perform a variety of exercises to open doors, treasure chests and to fight monsters. The concern of repetitiveness is not a threat as you continue to unlock new levels that come with new challenges and exercises. There is also the option to play mini games, for a shorter workout. The Ring Fit Adventure seems to combine the equipment of Pilates, a longer-lasting fitness trend with an entertaining, engaging and efficient workout, as it is done at home and you can control the length of time of which you play. The intensity varies per person, but one article said they normally workout 3-4 times a week and were sweating after 15 minutes of the game. It currently costs $80 on Amazon, which would be cheaper in the long run for people who attend classes at a studio a couple times a week.

With so many different fitness classes and at-home fitness apps, it will be interesting to see if “exergaming” picks up in popularity. While WII Fit and Kinect were popular, they did not significantly alter the fitness industry. On paper the Ring Fit Adventure seems as if it would be popular, as it solves the issues of boredom and time that many people face when working out. However, as it involves fighting monsters, it may only become popular to the niche group of video gamers who are looking to become more active.  Would you try out the Ring Fit Adventure for your next workout?