RedOctane Pushes DDR For Weight Loss Market

Thanks to EWorldWire for reprinting a RedOctane press release advocating rhythm-based game Dance Dance Revolution for extreme weight loss, and using the story of Tanya Jessen, "who lost 95 lbs. playing DDR." The piece also points out: "A person weighing 150 lbs burns an average of 16 calories per song playing the latest Dance Dance Revolution game. In just one hour of playing it's possible for a person to burn around 640 calories, compared to only burning 501 calories jogging." RedOctane also has an official GetUpMove site, complete with before and after pictures, noting that "...most Dance Dance Revolution games have a Workout Mode which tracks the number of calories you burn while dancing", though RedOctane's own motivation for this diet push is to sell you their high-end DDR pads.

Comments

Huh.

[KyolFrilander]

Funny, I started doing the same thing just recently after I found out how much it made my pasty overweight geek ass sweat while playing it at a friend's house. Too soon to tell if I'll lose any weight, but eh, it's fun, it's relatively easy, and it does get the heart rate up, if nothing else. If the $99 RedOctane DDR pads are too spendy for you, Buy N Shop or Level Six both sell knockoffs for half the price, and they're identical, from reviews.

More information at Stepmania - even more if they ever get their board back from ddrmaniax.

Re:Huh.

[Cuthalion]

My advice is: Get a cheapo pad. Play some. Decide if it's something you're going to keep playing for a long time. If it is, it's well worth the money to buy a metal pad. Both Red Octane's and Cobalt Flux's are excellent, if expensive.

The soft pads will break after heavy use. They also are less accurate and will piss you off when you start to get good, which you will do if you keep at it.

I wasted a lot of time and money on soft and semi-soft pads. Now I have some Cobalt Fluxes (the red octane metal pads weren't available when I bought mine) and they are consistently a delight to play on, after 6 months of heavy use by a 100 kilo guy.

My girlfriend is doing it CAUSE she saw it on MTV

[falcon5768]

in there top 20 games of all time deal, they talked about the weightloss benifits of doing DDR... well my girlfriend, game freak she is, but not really into jogging and stuff, saw that.. she went out bought 2 pads AND the game to play at home. I will put a website up in a few months to tell yolu guys if she lost any weight or not.

More about MTV and Team Seattle

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want a more balanced view, there's an interesting bit where she asks her Team Seattle about the MTV show and asks them how much weight they've lost.

I've been trying this kind of.

[Cuthalion]

I have been playing DDR for an hour or an hour and a half each day. Partially for exercise but mostly because it's fun. My weight hasn't diminished by much I believe (I weigh about 220 pounds. at 6'2" I am not concerned about this to own a scale.)

However, I have noticed that I feel significantly better and have way more energy. I am a pretty active guy (snowboarding, hiking, etc), but I've never got exercise with this kind of regularity before (even when I was fencing competitively in high school, I only trained three times a week). When I do it makes a huge difference.

Ignition Pad availabilty and a Grain of Salt

[robbway]

I play DDR. I lost 60 lbs over 7 months. I stopped playing DDR, I gained 30 over 6 months. You definitely have to align your activity level, and it's a myth that you gain faster than you lose. You can lose weight more quickly and at a heatly rate. Anyway, I'm highly qualified to comment on this topic.

Here's my grain of salt: you play 3 songs in 6 minutes because of the selection process, load times, etc. That's actually 30 songs and roughly equates to 30*16= 480 calories. You actually lose more if you're a beginner, because you make missteps. And, if you're using diet mode, don't use official steps, as it only counts correct arrows pressed. Use the default, all steps mode. If your leg moves, count it!

I'd also say that a typical cookie box has more than 500 calories. Much more. Much, much more.

Now, I have no experience with the latest Ignition pads. I do know they're available at EB and Gamestop. I know they're considered the best of the soft pads. But be warned! Every soft pad has a limited lifespan. When one arrow stops working, the rest of the pad is useless.

Three things to counter this: Use stocking feet, place the pad on top of something immobile and soft, and never ever fold it once unfolded. Keep it under the bed or behind the sofa. You will also have a much easier time if you immobilize the pad with velcro (the hooks side) on carpet or taped down by corners.

Ignition pads are the same size as arcade platform, while the bundle pack by Konami's pad is actually thinner. You can apply your home skills at the arcade, though you may be surprised at the faster response time and meaner judging of PERFECT, GREAT, GOOD, etc. at the arcade.

Oh yeah, if you play for an hour, have a towel handy and a lot of water.

calorie count?

[c_jonescc]

"In just one hour of playing it's possible for a person to burn around 640 calories, compared to only burning 501 calories jogging."

Uh, in my workouts I usually burn 900 to 1000 calories an hour, be it jogging or cycling.

It's simply a function of intensity, so where does the number "501 calories for an hour of jogging" come in? I can see that someone a bit out of shape can only output so much energy, but to be specific to 500 and ONE calories?

I lost weight/inches with DDR

[Jim Hall]

Why? I live in Minnesota, so for half the year it's kind of hard to go outside for some kind of exercise. So I needed something that I could do indoors, as well. I have a PS2, so a friend recommended Dance Dance Revolution. I've been doing DDR for a little over a year (starting with DDR:Konamix), and of course now I'm doing DDR:Max2. I've been pretty good about getting 4-5 days a week of ~40min doing DDR. I do 1-2 "green" songs (easy), 1-2 "blue" songs (moderate), then the rest of the time I'm doing "yellow" (very difficult).

Actually, I just bought one of RedOctane's high-end Dance pads (the metal one), but not because of this article. All that jumping around takes a good toll on my Dance pads. An off-the-shelf pad usually lasts me a few months. My current Dance pad is starting to get a little flaky. That's why I started looking around for a better pad, and found the RedOctane pads were highly recommended on several forums. Lots of people have had good reports about this pad. It's very sturdy, and should last a few *years*.

Also, I've lost quite a bit of weight over the last year - I'm down to 224, and I've lost ~4 inches. Some of that is diet (I don't eat as much red meat, I eat oatmeal for breakfast, and I've cut out almost all of my snacks) but most of it is due to getting more exercise with DDR. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe, but I don't really mind. :-)

Want better before pictures?

[saenodahotmail.com]

Hey everyone, I'm the girl that lost all the weight through playing DDR. I understand that the before pics SUCK, but that was just because my scanner wasn't working. I have a few pics that more adequately show the before, but it will be a day or so until they get put up on the site. Until then, feel free to ask any questions you wish.