The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has put Wii Fit to the test to see if it can count as a genuine cardio workout. The guidelines set out jointly by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and American Heart Association (AHA) call for moderate to vigorous intensity.
The study has found Wii Fit falls short of the guidelines with results that are contrary to common belief about Nintendo’s best selling fitness game. The fitness trend for the Wii has been put on the bench by ACE who consider the results “underwhelming”.
Cedric Bryant, the chief science officer for ACE has not been a fan of video game exercise, reported in an article last year that “considering children's short attention spans, they may not find any of these expensive toys fun enough”. He recommended simple games like Duck Duck Goose and Capture the Flag. While Capture the Flag may be popular with young people, it is the best selling Halo 3 video game version that has the attention span for Generation Y.
Failure in the study was the only option as the ACE sponsored investigation was flawed from the start in asking the wrong research question. Looking at Wii Fit as an example of the new fitness trend of exergaming was a poor choice. Wii Fit creator Shigeru Miyamoto has been quoted as saying “I don’t think Wii Fit’s purpose is to make you fit”. The results for exergaming are a little unfair, considering the wide range of cardio focused exergames available.
The next step for exergaming supporters is to challenge the inappropriate use of what is an excellent balance and fitness awareness game, pointing ACE and other researchers to more cardio focused games. In the video below there are also EyeToy, DDR and Gamercize to consider, the latter having reached 650 calories an hour. A level at which even exergaming naysayers cannot deny fits in with ACSM and AHA guidelines.
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