Working Out While Playing Video Games

 Video Games have been a part of my life since the late 80's playing Super Mario Brothers. Believe it or not, if I remember correctly, my mom actually got me into them because she wanted me to have something to enjoy while I developed my dexterity in my right hand. Although the controller mainly has you using the thumb (especially back in those days when 2-3 buttons were on the right hand side) I learned to use my thumb, pinky and trigger finger which in those early days were a huge thing for me because with most things, I would just try to grip. Still played outside and did many activities as a kid but it was fun playing Sonic, Super Mario Brothers, Quackshot, Star Wars and even Toe Jam & Earl at one point. 

Exercise and Video Games may not sound like they go hand and hand but if you had an imagination, you can create some cool workouts. This was long before Dance, Dance Revolution, the Wii and Kinetic. One of the early games that had you actually moving your body to the controls was that step pad you plugged into to play track and field games like the 100 meters and triple jump. You literally moved your feet like those football drills or sprinting in place in order for the game to work.

Although you have more options today using VR and other things, there's still a small percentage of people who actually exercise while playing Video Games. Every once in a while, I would play baseball or whatever game and at some point, push-ups and squats would be involved. Take for instance playing baseball (this is especially fun if you do 1 on 1 with another person), say you chose to do Push-ups for hitting and Squats for Strikeouts; if you're just playing by yourself you can do 5 push-ups for every hit you make and 10 Squats if you struck out or you strike the batter out. If you're playing with another person (online doesn't count since you can't see the other person) in 2 player mode, they would have to do 10 squats every time they struck out and you have to do 5 push-ups if they get a hit and vice versa. Playing alone, I would at times be getting in as many as 100-150 Squats and over 100 push-ups. It makes things interesting.

You can do this with any game and pick the exercises you want. There's no limit to what you can come up, just don't be throwing controllers or punching objects unless it's a heavy bag. There are a lot of people out there that believe Video Games cause violent tendencies and/or have kids be lazy which isn't always the case. Yes there have been times where a controller may get broken and you might be high on something but all in all, Video Games don't necessarily cause someone to go out on a killing spree or go knock out a hooker, hell you won't see many people try to jump off a building because it happens in a Video Game. We can make video games interesting and different. We can make them productive both mentally and physically. I do realize some people do nothing but play Video Games to the point where they become Vitamin D deficient and need real interaction and remember there is still humans out in the world. 

Video Games these days compared to the 80's and 90's might as well be two different planets since these days it's all about buying up stuff and overreacting to some 10 year old kicking your ass or a 400 lb guy with Cheeto dust on his lips acting like he can fight. Back in the day, you had kids who came in after tiring out playing street ball or doing stuff at the park and just chill out playing Mortal Kombat or Tony Hawk's Pro Skater seeing how many flips you can make more than the other kid. It was a completely different atmosphere and a very different aspect of interacting. I do miss those days where we would all play a game or two outside and come back in and try to one up each other playing baseball, racing games and playing Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk. We would even make little bets that were pretty innocent (nothing over the top disgusting) depending on what game we played. If we took that piece of innocence and molded it into something that can be used for exercise, there would be way fitter gamers. 

Make your playing time extra fun and enjoyable, challenge each other in a different way and compete with positive intentions. If you literally have to get into fist fights with someone playing with you over who can outrun the cops in Grand Theft Auto, you need some serious therapy. Be smart, be kind to one another and keep being amazingly awesome.