Playing Active Video Games Similar To Moderate Exercise?

Some active video games, such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit, may equate to moderate exercise, according to latest research. One Japanese study showed that around one-third of the "virtual physical activities" evaluated require an energy expenditure of 3.0 METs or more, considered to be moderate-intensity exercise. METs, metabolic equivalent values, are a standard method of evaluating energy expenditure/cost of activities. The American Heart Association's exercise guidelines show moderate intensity is 3.0 to 6.0 METs. An adult walking at 5 km per hour on a level surface is expending about 3.3 METs.

Researchers found:
- Nine activities had less than 2 METs.
- Twenty-three activities had 2 - 3 METs.
- Nine activities had 3 - 4 METs.
- Five activities had more than 4 METs.

Wii Sports are a collection of five simple games based on boxing, golf, tennis, bowling and baseball. Boxing is the best activity to increase energy expenditure, around 4.5 METs, according to the study findings. Golf, bowling, tennis and baseball are 2.0, 2.6, 3.0, and 3.0 METs, respectively.
Wii Fit includes yoga, resistance/strength training, balance and aerobic exercises with more than 40 different activities, including push-ups, torso twists and single leg extensions. The 'single-arm stand' (Wii Fit), 5.6 METs, is regarded as a difficult resistance exercise and the highest energy cost. Intensities of yoga and balance exercises were much lower than those of the resistance and aerobic exercise, but are still effective in improving flexibility and in fall prevention.

Another research study also suggests that active video games present a good alternative to medium intensity exercise for children. When compared to watching television, calories used while walking will increase 2 to 3 times. Similar rates of energy expenditure, heart rate and perceived exertion were obtained from playing the games Wii Boxing, Dance Dance Revolution (Level 2) or walking at 3.5 mph (+-5km/h). Overall, the energy expenditure during active video game play was comparable to moderate-intensity walking.

Over 60 million sets of Wii sports and Wii fit have been sold worldwide.


The Gravity fitness centre at Le Parker Meridien hotel in New York on West 57th Street decided they would transform their old squash court into a Wii Fit and Wii Sport room so that New Yorkers with small apartments have a place where they can comfortably play on the Wii. Not only does this Wii installation have a nice digital projector, Wii Fit and Wii Sports, they even have a personal trainer. A Wii Sports session is pretty expensive, you pay $120 but you get personal one-on-one coaching from the human coach while you give the best of yourself in Wii Sports or Wii Fit. Some players claim that the personal trainer really motivates you to do the best you can. But there’s also a cheap $50 one hour session without the helpful personal trainer.

Altitude Training

Here’s an extract from the book "Physiology of Sport and Exercise" describing a climber’s experience during an expedition up Mount Everest. The climber did this climb without supplementary oxygen at 8 600m above altitude. “Our pace was wretched. My ambition was to do 20 consecutive paces uphill without a pause to rest and pant, elbow on bent knee, yet I never remember achieving it - 13 was nearer the mark.”

A person’s ability to consume maximal amounts of oxygen during exercise at altitude decreases as the altitude exceeds 1500m. For every thousand metres above 1500m the individual’s VO2 max will decrease by 11%. This means at extreme altitudes people barely have sufficient oxygen to function properly let alone thinking about moving.

Firstly we need to realize that there is a lower atmospheric pressure of gases and also a lower partial pressure of oxygen at higher altitudes. The partial pressure of oxygen at sea level is 104mmhg when compared with 46mmhg at 4,300m above altitude. So from this you can see how altitude drastically decreases the partial pressure of oxygen, which in turn will affect the pressure gradient that is required in order to move gases in and out. So at higher altitudes there is a smaller gradient between the arteries and working tissues resulting in less oxygen being diffused into the required areas. This is why when you exercise at altitude you immediately start to breathe at a greater rate to compensate for the lower pressure gradients and to deliver the adequate amount of oxygen into your system.

The body has its own system which evolves to overcome this lack of oxygen being diffused to the working tissues. In my previous article I talked about the hemoglobin saturation curve, now if you remember at lower partial pressure oxygen that is bound to hemoglobin is released. At altitude the partial pressure of oxygen is very low, meaning that oxygen is getting released from the hemoglobin protein very rapidly, so to counter this the blood pH increases resulting in a term known as respiratory alkalosis. If you think back to what changes the saturation curve, two things affect it, one being temperature and the other being blood ph level. Both of these factors result in the curve shifting to the right. In terms of respiratory alkalosis it’s the opposite, the curve shifts to the left resulting in more oxygen being bound to hemoglobin at lower partial pressure.

Changes that occur during training at altitude include a decrease in blood volume and an increase in cardiac output. A person’s blood volume decreases due to an increase in urine production, and also due to a loss of respiratory water. At higher altitudes there is less humidity present resulting in the body losing more water because the water that is lost during sweating gets evaporated straight away. This can be detrimental to training because it means athletes can dehydrate very rapidly. There is also a greater production of erythropoietin meaning more red blood cells and more hemoglobin gets produced. This is to ensure that there is more oxygen within the blood when it circulates around the body. Cardiac output is the volume of blood to be pumped by the ventricle per minute. It takes into account the blood volume and heart rate, which can be expressed as heart rate multiplied by stroke volume. During acute altitude exposure cardiac output increases due to an increase in heart rate so that greater amounts of blood can flow around the body to deposit oxygen to the needed areas. This is to compensate for the decrease in partial pressure of oxygen.

Trev

Sync or Swim

In response to our latest poll (Apr 2010), here's a sport and some info on it you may not have known. Synchronized swimming is an Olympics aquatic sport, combining elements of dance, gymnastics and swimming. Here's a link to an overview of the sport, including history, competitions, rules and regulations: http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Sp-Tw/Synchronized-Swimming.html

A link to a docu-video of "synchro" training : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGlyyPAnjAc

One of the most demanding sports, the athletes can train up to 10 hours/day, 6 days a week. This will include endurance, strength and power development, as well as extensive flexibility exercises. Various types of training are undertaken, including: gymnastics, cross-training, choreography (in and out of the water), core stability, trampolining and underwater work.

http://www.popsci.com/know-your-olympic-sport/article/2008-08/secrets-synchronized-swimming - An great article on the more "out there" concepts of synchronized swimming.