Tag Archives: fitness

World of Warcraft player burns calories while questing

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Buried deep within the comments on one of my recent articles over at WoW.com was an interesting little bit of information from a poster named Saitenyo. She talked about how she set up a platform near a recumbent bike in her home so that she could use her laptop to play World of Warcraft while exercising. I was curious to learn more about this, because while we’ve talked about getting in exercise while playing an MMORPG like WoW, in all my years of gaming I’ve never really known anyone that has put a serious effort into doing so.

A brief exchange of emails later, and I had the full story from the player behind the avatar, one Chelsea Brown. Ms. Brown is a recent BFA graduate from the Laguna College of Art and Design and a self-proclaimed fan of a long list of things that would make her a perfect candidate for attendance at Dragon*Con. She did such a great job of explaining her set up and the benefits that she got from it that I figured I’d go ahead and let her do so in her own words.

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Mixed messages

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The Bad idea was Rafe's. The bad photoshop job is mine.

Long time readers of the site have probably picked up on the fact that Rafe and I have, at times, some very different views on what the “best” way to exercise is. As a general rule, Rafe is a big proponent of short, intense workouts designed to get the maximum benefit in the least amount of time. I, on the other hand, generally prefer the “slow and steady wins the race” approach. Instead of focusing on constantly trying to push my boundaries I find it’s more important to consistently get activity in at a level that is comfortable for me. Rafe has frequently characterized these mixed messages as our “good cop/bad cop” dichotomy. Rafe is the “bad cop” who will push you to levels that make you want to puke, while I’m the “good cop” that encourages you to be gentle with yourself. Both of us are trying to get the same thing out of you, but we do it in two radically different ways.

So who is right?

Well it turns out…we both are.

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10 ways to challenge yourself for the New Year

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January 1st is, traditionally, a day that many people use as the motivation to make positive changes in their lives. From getting in shape to going to church more often and everything in between there are countless ways in which many people are vowing to improve themselves, starting today. If you’ve made a resolution to improve yourself but you’re not quite sure how to go about doing so, you may find value in taking on some kind of challenge to help you reach your goals. We’ve collected a list of 10 of our favorite ones for you to check out below the cut.

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Computer users more likely to be overweight

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Image courtesy of Manuel Cernuda

Image courtesy of Manuel Cernuda

I stumbled across an interesting article over at MSNBC.com this morning while I was doing my daily scan through the numerous feeds I follow. Apparently some scientists over in Australia did a bit of research and came to the startling conclusion that people who spent more than five hours a week using a computer were two and a half times more likely to be obese than people who did not use computers at all.

I understand that next they are going to try and sort out once and for all whether or not that water stuff is actually wet.

In all seriousness, though, this article is yet another piece of information we have confirming what is a rather unfortunate truth for those of us who spend most of our day working and playing in front of a glowing box. Namely, if you’re a heavy computer user you’re considerably more likely to be fat. (In all fairness the same pretty much holds true for any sedentary activity, but there aren’t a lot of people I know who get paid to watch television all day.) We could get into the whole chicken and egg argument about whether computer users are predisposed towards obesity, but the whys and wherefores really do not change the facts of the situation.

The question is – What do we do about it?

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User Queries : How many calories?

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Image courtesy of db*photography

Image courtesy of db*photography

I’d like to lose the 20lbs that stand between me and a size 12, or  even the 50lbs that stand between me and a size “Wow!”.  I know that to do so I need to make calories in less than calories out. But how many calories should I shoot for in general?

I’ve used a number of calculators, with so vastly different results.

Here’s two examples:

The American Cancer Society says I need 2318.

The Mayo Clinic says I need 1550.

What gives? Where can I get a reliable number?

Thanks,
Naomi

Ok.  Wow.  You guys have really decided to stop throwing softballs at us when it comes to these questions, haven’t you?  Next time why not ask us how to perform open heart surgery or something?  Sheesh.

Seriously, though – The reason this is a difficult question is because the first (and most honest) response is “it depends.”  It depends on a lot of things.  It depends on how old you are, how tall you are, how much you weigh currently, how active you are, what your sex is, and what type of calories you’re putting in to your body (a 1200 calorie a day diet consisting of nothing but Snickers bars isn’t very likely to warrant positive results).  With all of those factors in place it is no wonder that you’re having a hard time finding a solid answer to your question.

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Exercising with Aion

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Aion TreadmillA few years ago several World of Warcraft players with way too much time on their hands decided that it would be a good idea to rig their computers to a treadmill so they could virtually “run” across Azeroth.  Unfortunately the video and the page that originally linked to it have vanished into the virtual ether, but suffice it to say that the heroes of the story soon learned that they were not, in fact, nearly as fit as their digital selves.

It seems as though these days you can’t have a conversation about Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games without someone asking which one is going to be the World of Warcraft killer.  Personally?  I happen to agree with my buddy Kevin Stallard who boldly stated that there would never be a WoW killer.  Regardless of our opinion, though, people still speculate who is going to have the power to dethrone the 800 pound gorilla that Blizzard created, and many folks are wondering if the Asian inspired Aion from NCSoft has what it takes to become King of the Hill.

So what, you may be wondering, does dominance in the MMO industry have to do with a Health and Fitness blog?

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Trish Stratus gets in the fitness gaming ring

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Trish StratusYou know, it’s not very often that I get the opportunity to post a picture of a rather attractive and scantily clad woman here on ShrinkGeek and still have the right to claim that my doing so is in the realm of “legitimate” reporting.  Today just happens to be one of those days.

Fitness model and former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Trish Stratus announced on Thursday that she is partnering up with Frima Studios to produce Stratusphere, an exergame that will focus on using Yoga as a “real workout.”  The game will use the Wii Balance Board along with other peripherals and include video segments of Stratus encouraging the players on.

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Hands-free fitness gaming with Your Shape for the Wii

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Your ShapeThere was a lot of buzz on the floor of E3 this year after Microsoft unveiled Project Natal, and rightly so.  The potential to have a game system that can track your movements so precisely that it can actually recognize who you are when you walk into the room is pretty amazing (and, admittedly, pretty creepy at the same time).  While attaching a camera to a console to use in a video game is nothing new, the level of interactivity that Project Natal is promising is going to be a huge leap forward if it ever actually makes it out of development.  Needless to say, this kind of tool could totally revolutionize the fitness gaming industry.

Ubisoft, however, isn’t waiting around for Microsoft to finish development of Project Natal.  This Christmas they are bringing the hands-free fitness gaming concept to the Nintendo Wii.

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Official release date for EA SPORTS Active expansion announced

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EA Sports ActiveEA SPORTS announced today that the first expansion to their hit fitness game EA SPORTS Active will be released in North America on November 17th, 2007 (just in time for the holiday season).

As much as I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this particular little expansion I have to admit that the name leaves a lot to be desired.  When I first wrote about the “tropical” theme of the expansion I figured it would be something like EA SPORTS Active: Fitness In Paradise! or something along those lines.  Apparently my marketing mojo isn’t as good as I thought it was because the name for the latest addition to this franchise is a descriptive but less-than-imaginative EA SPORTS Active More Workouts.

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NewU Fitness First to be released in Europe

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newULogoOne of the games we heard about while poking around on the floor of E3 this year was NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer.  Touted as an “interactive training solution focused on well-being,” this new entry into the exergame field looked interesting but did not, at the time, have a release date or distributor.

Well it appears as though Ubisoft, distributors of lifestyle enhancing games like Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout and My Healthy Cooking Coach (not to mention somewhat more traditional games like Assassin’s Creed) has decided to add yet another fitness game to their arsenal.   It was announced on Tuesday that Ubisoft would be handling the distribution of NewU in all of the PAL countries except Italy, New Zealand, and Australia.

There has been no word yet as to whether or not Black Bean has found a distributor for NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer in the NTSC regions, but with the ever growing popularity of the fitness gaming market it’s only a matter of time if the game sells well in Europe.

Something interesting – According to the press release, NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer is only the first release in the “NewU Family of products.”   No other details were included, but it seems as though Black Bean is committed to releasing a whole series of lifestyle enhancing games under the NewU line.

Those of you who live in the PAL regions (essentially Western Europe) should see NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer for the Nintendo Wii in stores this September.