The Most Heart Healthy Wii Games
The research.
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is a 25-year-old nonprofit dedicated to promoting the benefits of physical activity and protecting consumers against unsafe and ineffective health and fitness products, programs and trends. They have done extensive research on exercise regiments from pilates to dumbbells. The latest on their research agenda? Exergames, including dance pads and the Wii Fit. Their research question: Does the Wii really help people get fit?
The study sample.
In 2008, the ACE teamed up with the University of Wisconsin to test the potential fitness benefits of Wii Sports. Here are the details of the study:
- Sample size: 8 men and 8 women, ages 20 to 29 years old
- Baseline: recorded through standardized exercise test with a treadmill, tracking heart rate and maximal oxygen uptake; all subjects were given time to practice with the Wii prior to the study
In 2009, the ACE and University of Wisconsin team reunited to test the potential fitness benefits of Wii Fit:
- Sample size: 8 men and 8 women, ages 20 to 24 years old
- Baseline: same as 2008 study
The measurements.
2008 Wii Sports:
- Subjects were told to mimic the onscreen action as closely as possible (ex: in Wii Tennis, subjects had to swing their arms to hit the virtual ball versus just flick the wrist).
- Each subject played a total of 5 games for 10 minutes each with 10 minutes of rest between each game.
- Researchers recorded heart rate, oxygen uptake, and perceived exertion. Calories burned were also calculated.
2009 Wii Fit:
- Subjects played 6 of the most aerobically challenging activities featured on the Wii Fit for 6 minutes each.
- Researchers recorded heart rate, oxygen uptake, and perceived exertion. Calories burned were also calculated.
The results.
All Wii Sports games resulted in calories burned, some more than others.
- Wii Sports Golf – 3.1 calories burned per minute
- Wii Sports Bowling – 3.9 calories burned per minute
- Wii Sports Baseball – 4.5 calories burned per minute
- Wii Sports Tennis – 5.3 calories burned per minute
- Wii Sports Boxing – 7.2 calories burned per minute
All Wii Fit games resulted in calories burned, however, NONE were sufficient enough to maintain or improve cardiorespiratory endurance as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine.
- Wii Fit Free Step – 3.3 calories burned per minute
- Wii Fit Advanced Step – 3.6 calories burned per minute
- Wii Fit Super Hula Hoop – 3.7 calories burned per minute
- Wii Fit Rhythm Boxing – 3.8 calories burned per minute
- Wii Fit Free Run – 5.5 calories burned per minute
- Wii Fit Island Run – 5.5 calories burned per minute
The conclusion.
The bottom line message here is that playing Wii Sports or Wii Fit is better than just sitting at home watching TV. If you want a workout, try Wii Boxing or Wii Tennis. Wii Fit produced underwhelming results and much less caloric burn. Why? Dr. John Porcari, lead scientist both studies feels that Wii Fit constrains players to the balance board. There is much less jumping around than with Wii Sports.
Getting the most out of your Wii.
According to Dr. Porcari, the key to a good workout with Wii Sports is mimicing the real movements as closely as possible. No wrist flicking allowed! Wii Fit is a great way to have some fun while burning calories as well as track your fitness progress such as BMI. However, if you want to actually stay fit, you need to pair it with something more traditional like a bike or treadmill workout.
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This study is interesting, I have seen it (or many very very similar) before.
There’s a great amount of effort spent in exergaming research, but all too often the research could start a little bit earlier, that would be in researching what exergames are out there. Only a handful of researchers investigate anything other than the subject of this particular study.
I would urge researchers to look at the http://exergaming.pbwiki.com wiki site and see the variety in exergames. It is not affiliated and anyone can join; even reference their own exergaming research.
There’s no doubt that a paper could prove exergaming energy expenditure is greater than the equivalent sport as an extreme, so long as the right equipment has been put under test.
@Richard Coshott – Thank you so much for providing this additional resource on exergaming. I think there are some great networking opportunities for people here as well.
We just bought a Wii for Christmas and the exercise benefits are exactly one of the reasons we did buy. Even my four year loves Wii sports.
I enjoy them all too, but I have to tell you by the time I’m done with boxing my heart rate and respiration are definately elevated!
Matt Dupree
Like any traditional sport, the myriad types of sports and how you play can make a difference in the kcal expenditure. Riding a bicycle can be a very low intensity activity or a very high one, depending on terrain and how you ride.
What tends to happen is when studies like this ACE study comes out, people tend to lump ALL exergaming into one boat…and we know from other studies, such as the work done by Dr. Bryan Haddock (out of Cal State San Bernardino), some of it at the XRtainment Zone, have shown that exergaming CAN reach the moderate level.
We’ll be presenting his work and others at a couple of Amer. College of Sports Medicine conferences in the next few months, and lastly, at the Games for Health conf. in May.
BTW, use of the motion plus on teh Wiimote makes it more difficult to play with just a flick of the wrist!