Video Game Workouts

Being stuck in the house because of Quarantine can be a real pain in the ass for most people. For gamers, it doesn't matter if you're big on the PS4, XBOX, Wii or (if you're a classic gamer) a Sega/Nintendo, it can get boring after a while. I've always enjoyed video games ever since as a kid in the 90's playing Mario, Sonic, Streets Of Rage, Ninja Turtles, NBA Games, Star Wars you name it.

For you young kids out there, before there was VR, Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Fit and all that, the only way you even felt remotely getting a workout playing video games was the running pad you had to hook up if you had a game that was based on Track And Field. For some, when you had this, in order to move the players or in-game athletes, you had to run in place as if you were sprinting, even the most serious gamers today wouldn't last 5 minutes with this thing.

Along with today's technology, if you're into fitness, you can get hooked up to various games on certain platforms that have you doing exercises aerobically or just swinging your arms to get some blood pumping. Even though it's much easier today to get some form of exercise while playing video games, many people still aren't motivated or have any clue as to what you can do without realizing you don't need to hook up a damn thing.

One of the things that kept me in shape while I played video games, was to come up with a little game myself to do exercises based on the game's plot or in the case of a Sport's game, the wins/losses or getting scored on and having to do an exercise when you are getting beat a little. One of my favorite games growing up in my teen years was the MLB The Show series and always enjoyed playing the legends they had. Still going strong with that series at a point in my late 20's every once in a while I would play a game and if I got struck out, I'd had to do 10 push-ups, if I was pitching and the batter got a base hit I'd have to do 10 Hindu Squats. If a batter got an extra base hit such Double, Triple or a Homerun, I would do 20-30-40 Hindu Squats. Now picture having to do that for a full game. That be a hell of a workout.

You can do this with just about any game, all you need is a little imagination and create exercises for certain scenarios or scenes in games. If you're into War Games like Halo or Call Of Duty, you can do exercises for every time a member of your unit is killed or every time you lose a life. If you lose a life, you have to do 5-10 Push-ups, a member of your squad is killed, you do 10-20 Squats. You can make it even harder by doing Burpees or a harder variation of a basic exercise. If you're doing a two player game or 3-4 player game, you can do some trash talking and taking things to another level.

You don't have to do Push-ups and Squats, you can do Sit-ups, Burpees, Punches and Kicks (keep the distance to a safe area of the room where you won't hit anything), Leg Raises, Jumping Jacks or Lunges, whatever suits you. There's no reason you can't be fit while having fun playing video games. Video Games make us use our brains to figure out things to get certain points, to use hand/eye coordination to fight, dodge and block opponents and have quick reflexes because the higher a level you go up, the harder it is.

Make the use of your Gaming a way to help you stay fit at home. Hell it doesn't even have to be a video game, it can be a board game or a game you play on your phone, don't just sit around twiddling your thumbs, get in shape and never look at gaming the same way again.

If you're looking for Classic Video Games or updating your collection with Next Gen Games, check out my friend Cory Arrison's Retro Attack Ebay Store. If you're in the Santa Cruz area, come check out Retro Attack Official Store in the Capitola Mall along with my other friend George Tegenkamp's Hadbro Toys. Buy, Sell, Trade and Find vintage and classic toys and games that will have you getting that nostalgia feeling and collect some of the most rare items around. They're awesome guys and will hook you up.