New Gamepad Designed To Build Muscles?

Robmonster writes "The BBC are reporting a story about a product designed to address both exercise and videogaming in one fell swoop. According to the piece: 'A new type of gamepad from a US fitness equipment company aims to turn the couch potato gamer stereotype on its head. The Kilowatt controller by Powergrid Fitness is designed to build up muscle while playing a PlayStation 2, Xbox or PC game." The article explains: "In a racing game like Gran Turismo, the harder you push on the joystick, the faster a car goes, while pulling back slows down the vehicle."

Comments

What the hell is this?

[AntiOrganic]

Do these people really think that this is going to have a substantial impact upon the overall fitness level of gamers everywhere? It's not. You want to lose some weight? You stop eating like a fatass and you go outside. We're not even talking Atkins diet here, just "stop eating when you're not hungry, not when you're full." This combined with half an hour of exercise a day is all you need. Mild muscular tension is not an appropriate method of weight loss.

Why all the gimmickry?

Re:What the hell is this?

[canajin56]

Yeah...not only is this bs made to make people feel better about not getting any exercise, it's probably BAD for you. I mean, playing video games can give you RSI and so on. Making the joysticks stiffer will just amplify it...instead of repeatedly pushing lightly, you are repeatedly pushing heavily. This will cause a LOT more wrist damage, I would expect.

Re:What the hell is this?

[kiwimate]

I agree. I can see this working your muscles somewhat, as you say, and possibly resulting in some minor weight loss. But (and I am speculating here, so correct me if I'm wrong) it seems to me it misses a fairly important component of general health, and that is cardiovascular fitness. I doubt it'd cause much of an elevation in heart rate or get you puffing.

Re:What the hell is this?

[haystor]

A very small minority of people that are obese actually have medical problems that caused them to gain weight. Some do have problems which make it very difficult to stay slim, but there are certain laws of the universe that govern the conservation of mass which imply that if they eat less, they weigh less.

Most people will just finish the portions they are served.

Stop being an apologist for all those poor fat people that have everything stacked against them. If they are 5'3" and 270lbs from eating at McDonald's every day, it's not the fault of McDonald's, it's the fault of the person that didn't figure it out when they were 200lbs, then 210, 230, 250, etc...

Hell, I'm overweight because I sit on my ass all day and eat too much. I finish all my fries even after I'm no longer hungry.

I read a study once that fat people don't remember what they've eaten as well as thin people.

Re:White House Approved Lifestyle

[Mr Guy]

Nice FUD. The argument is over whether it is possible to be healthy and still eat foods high in sugar or fat. The US position is that diet is dependent on lifestyle and thus occasional splurging is fine for a healthy person if they exercise to burn it off. This is perfectly rational.

The WHO basically ignored factoring in lifestyle, saying instead that certain diets were optimal for everyone. The WHO isn't wrong, they are just being overly stringent with their guidlines. The US prefers to emphasize that a healthy lifestyle can also be an enjoyable lifestyle.

I don't see anything wrong with that. Calories are Calories, the only difference is quantity.

Re:Nintendo had this in the 80's, it was a flop.

[ilsie]

RTFA. The article is about an isometric controller. The Powerpad just had a bunch of buttons. Dont get me wrong, I still think it will be a flop, especially at $700 a pop.

Not really

[tuxette]

While aerobic exercise is good for aiding in fat loss, muscle-building exercise is better in the long run, as muscle increases metabolism and fat burning, even when you're not exercising.

The traditional way of doing aerobics (low impact long duration) only burns fat for the duration of the session but it doesn't do anything for after you have exercised. It has been shown in lots of peer-reviewed studies that high-intensity interval training (mix of sprints and lower intensity running/cycling etc) is superior for fat burning because after a workout session, your body continues to burn fat, whereas you do not achieve this during a low impact low intensity workout.

One thing to think about - look at sprinters and look at marathon runners. Sprinters are lean and mean. They train for explosive power. Marathon runners on the other hand, while skinny, are rather flabby...

This is not a good idea

[brundlefly]

Practically speaking, repetitively working a muscle is NOT the same thing as exercise. Not only is this "exercise" anaerobic, but it also opens up a huge potential for injuries resulting from RSI. Imagine a mouse with a button which required a 1/2-pound of force to click instead of 1/20-ounce. Or a keyboard with such 1/2-pound buttons. We would all be crippled by now if we had been using these instead of our current devices.

Re:Please...

[*weasel]

You'd think gyms would pick up on this sort of thing. Network all those exercise bikes into something like a crazy taxi-styled competition.
Or stairclimbers into some sort of bizarre-o Mega-Man game.

I feel the patent office calling my name...
[j/k]

Re:We need a total body workout

[GTRacer]

It does not build any muscle.

Tell that to my legs...my calves and thighs are incredibly toned and solid after many moons of DDR and not much else exercise. I used to have the typical pasty flabby geek legs - now they're pasty beefcake geek legs!

GTRacer
- Also uses hand weights to balance out the toning