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

If it works, do it...

[Godeke]

So what if it is less than selfless? With the American (and apparently from more recent data Europe is starting this tend) weights going out of control, anything that helps someone get started on weight loss is a good thing. The trick to weight loss is finding things you can live with: starving yourself only causes short term gains with long term rebounds that push you into even heavier territory. I personally dropped 25 pounds and went from a 28 to 23% bodyfat by:

#1 Finding exercise I would do. In my case, an indoor rockclimbing gym provides my workout, and a good puzzle for the mind as well. BTW, exercise itself doesn't cause weight loss, but will help you keep weight off and muscle helps you burn more calories even when at rest.

#2 Finding replacement foods. This means examining everything you eat. Replace the fast food hamburger with a 6" sub to start. Find a place with a salad bar. Get a "light" cooking book. Some of the stuff is horrible, but you will find a dish here, a dish there, that works.

#3 Change your routines. If you have a habit of snacking to give yourself a break, find something else to do during breaktime. I personally have a gameboy with puzzle games on it that can be played in 5-10 minutes. Makes for a great break without attacking the snack machine.

I applaud anyone who can figure a way to make a profit while bringing waistlines back under control. Weight induced illness is more likely than cancer to strike you if you get heavy, and can cause diabetic conditions, heart conditions and generally won't get you the girl/guy of your dreams. If playing DDR can get you healthy, high end DDR pads are cheaper than bypass surgery...

Re:If it works, do it...

[Stubtify]

The advice is to work out before you are too large to fit on a bike, but it works just as well for even larger people. Consult a doctor, but even 400 pound people can do water aerobics, which is zero impact. Don't come up with a cop out like "I'm too big to work out"

Re:If it works, do it...

[RubiX^3]

Yeah, but you don't wake up one morning after a visit from the fat fairy, 250 pounds overweight. if you get to that size, it IS your fault. you can say "oh my metabolism, my glands, my genes." my ass, shut up. if you are 400 pounds you just didn't care to do anything about it while you were at 250, 300, 350 pounds.

Solution: start walking UNTIL you can walk for more than 5 minutes, then work up to 6 minutes. eventually you'll work up your way up to 10 minutes. hooray. and so on.

funny thing about exercise, the more you need it the harder it is to do it. but movement is exercise, keep moving and you'll eventually stop being fat. get the fuck off your chair, go outside and walk around on the grass, skip the after dinner twinkie, park a few spaces farther than you need to, don't take the elevator for less than 2 floors, go to your local fitness palce and aqua-size! AQUASIZE MOTHERFUCKER AQUASIZE!!

get creative.

exercising is not easy or fun, but you can trick yourself into thinking so.

i was overweight at one point, not 400 pounds or anything cuz.. goddamn 400 pounds and holding or rising is just apathy-- but yeah i was like 200 some odd pounds when i was in middle school and that's not socially fun. i was fat and tired. but i kept moving, swimming, running, whatever. i wish i had ddr and pump it up back then to get me in the shape i am now.

Re:If it works, do it...

[Anonymous Coward]

I am intrigued by this "fat fairy"'s ideas and wish to subscribe to her newsletter.

Re:If it works, do it...

[Loualbano2]

As far as replacement food goes, I have one thing to add to your post.

All of us geeks like caffeine to get motivated in the morning, during work, etc. A lot of guys I know get this through Mountain Dew or Jolt or coffee.

My suggestion is switching to unsweetened iced tea, or black coffee. Soda and non black coffee obvoiusly have lots of sugar in them, and as far as trying to stay thin goes, processed sugar is the worst food you can eat. Also, unsweetened iced tea has no calories and black coffee has very few.

Let's say a typical can of soda has 150 calories. Let's say you cut three cans out of your day and replace it with something with no calories. That's 450 calories that you lost right away. To lose one pound, they say you have to either cut out or burn 3600 calories. So in under 10 days you will have lost a pound, just from not drinking 3 sodas.

Also, sugar creates an insulin rush, that when you come down from makes your metabolism take a crap, which is probably right around the same time the caffiene wears off. This is not good for trying stay thin.

-ft

Thanks, but...

[TheSHAD0W]

...I lost my coordination about a hundred pounds ago.

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.

Re:Huh.

[Flunitrazepam]

Just remember man, physical health has to be approach with a one-two method... you can do all the excersize in the world but if you don't consider your intake you aren't going to get far.

Re:Huh.

[oskillator]

The knockoffs are not quite identical: the foam padding is of much lower quality.

But in any case, the RedOctane Ignition and clones are only good for about 200 hours of serious use before they break down. Unless you're strapped for cash or are going to be moving around a lot, I recommend going straight from the cheap pads to the $200 RedOctane Metal, which lasts essentially forever.

Oh, and regarding Level Six, they took my money in October for a ~$75 order and never sent me a goddamn thing, including a reply to any of my email after November. Real professional, those guys.

Re:Huh.

[KyolFrilander]

I'm under the impression from the various 3rd party reviews I've seen that the only knockoffs that have the cheaper foam are the ebay 2-for-$35 semisofts and the cheaper levelsix models, but the L6 3.1 and the BNS DX-Ultra are both the relative equal of the RO.

And doesn't the RO hardpad still need ter's MMB fixes to keep it from croaking eventually?

Re:Huh.

[mESSDan]

The soft pads will break after heavy use.

Isn't that the whole point of the article? *grin*

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.

cost / benefit ratio

[theMerovingian]

Those high end pads are only a couple hundred bucks - much cheaper than home fitness equipment. If you think this is fun, and have the discipline, go for it.

I prefer to spend $30/month on a gym membership. You get numerous cardio machines, free weights, weight lifting machines, and often aerobics/yoga/kickboxing thrown into the mix.

Ultimately, it's about having discipline and consistency. No matter how much money you spend or don't spend.

To quote Arnold:
I've never paid for a push-up or a sit-up in my life.

Re:cost / benefit ratio

[YomikoReadman]

RedOctane has a metal pad they just started selling @ $200 bucks. They will even bundle in a copy of DDRMax2 for 20 bucks or so, IIRC.

To top it off, it comes with a conversion box, so if a buddy feels like getting a real good work hauling his XBox over, you can plug that into the same pad for some DDR UltraMix action.

I can see how...

[mewyn]

One of my ex-girlfriends once dragged me on DDR. Oh how I sucked at it, but it did give me one heck of a workout. I strangely had fun playing it, but boy was I embarrased at my lack of rythim. And, the next day I was quite sore :)

Mewyn Dy'ner

You can dance under Linux, too

[Pegasus]

See PyDDR. Prebuilt for most of the popular distributions, requires some work to get it working from scratch. Hook your pad (or two) to your PC with the help of a $15 adapter and you're ready to go. Song collections can be found all over the net.

Another two cents

[Elwood P Dowd]

A friend of mine used to go jogging every day. He eventually screwed up his knee (shocker). He might be able to get his knee fixed, but he can't afford proper medical care. In the mean time, his knee isn't effected by DDR playing.

He goes crazy without excercise, and now he gets his sanity from DDR. Every day. For a few hours. He loves that shit. It's particularly funny to me 'n' the rest of his friends just because he's the opposite of a video game type person, and he used to continually mock the asia-phile mallrats that typically play the game.

Double Data Rate?

[scumdamn]

I was wondering how sending data on both the rising and falling edges of a clock cycle would help me lose weight. I figured RDRAM would make me fat, but I couldn't see Double Data Rate actually helping me shed the pounds.

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.

Re:Ignition Pad availabilty and a Grain of Salt

[c_jonescc]

Point of argument:

Working out in stocking feet may increase the lifetime of the pad, but it's hell on your body.

All impact activity should be done with proper arch support. It is pretty easy to destroy your arches, and develop long-term lower leg pains from improper footwear.

Anytime you're jumping up and down, or running, for long periods you need to be wearing good shoes for the activity - this goes doubly if you're overweight!

Yes, it does work

[MonMotha]

To all those skeptical about this, they are being serious. I personally lost weight (though I'm starting to gain it back...in muscle in my legs...) doing DDR. Also, I'm much more engergetic since starting to play DDR about a year ago.

Yes, RedOctane does sell some expensive gear, but if you really like playing DDR it's well worth it if you want to play at home. Some people have indicated that the Ignition pads (their top of the line soft pad) doesn't last very long. I can't confirm how long they last, but a local club has 8 of them. 6 of them still work a year after they were purchased (with numerous people jumping on them like crazy every wednesday except during the summer) and the 2 that don't work seem to have a problem with controller somewhere (the sensors still work!).

Regarding the weight loss, it is not immediately evident! Expect to actually gain a little weight first for those of you who are scale crazy (you know, it's those muscle things). You have to gain some muscle to actually move around before you can start burning up excess fat.

Also, just like any other workout, don't forget to warm up!! Stretch before you begin. Start off with easier songs. Etc. I swear I almost gave myself a heart attack last night because I just stepped right on to the pad and attempted Maxx Unlimited (for those who are curious, I made it to the freeze, though I have passed before...yes, on Maniac difficulty).

Also, don't get discouraged if you can't do it! Some people I know who are actually quite good now couldn't even pass "one footers" (the easiest under the difficulty ranking system) when they started. Practice, and you *will* get better (nobody just steps onto a DDR machine and starts playing on Maniac).

Also remember that you can check it out before committing to anything in the way of home gaming. Many arcades now have DDR machines in them. Usually you can get three songs (if you don't fail) for $0.75-$1.00 just to try out. Many arcades now won't even fail you on your first song if you're playing on basic difficulty (called light on newer arcades).

Anyway, give it a try if you're interested. There's certainly nothing to lose, other than weight!

--MonMotha

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?

Re:calorie count?

[stoolpigeon]

You can't really do 'intense' jogging by definition. I guess you could ramp it up a bit with hand weights or something - but technically jogging is that kind of shuffling/not walking/not running thing that involves not getting the knees up much. If you want to see it in practice catch me at night jogging in my neighborhood. Once I'm in good enough shape to run I'll be less ashamed.

Running at 5 mph, weighing 150 lbs. gets you closer, and running at a good solid pace puts you well over 640.

I think they compare to jogging intentionally as many people are not aware of the difference between jogging and running.

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. :-)

Re:I lost weight/inches with DDR

[AnotherFreakboy]

But all those emails promise me more inches, why would I ever want less?

Good for the entire family

[FRandallFarmer]

Don't underestimate the social motivations surrounding DDR.

I'm a 43 year old lifetime (sedentary) computer geek with the body to prove it. I founded several start-ups and let them devour my 'free' time and that included any exercise time. My family (wife and two teens) followed my bad example.

Until 4 months ago, when I bought DDR/Konamix for PS1 and a cheap plastic pad. My daughter had played before and showed me how not to return my foot to center. That was all I needed. Within a month, I had a metal pad (as the soft pad would slide under my ample frame) and was dancing an hour every night. Soon my wife (who has never danced) was along side me learning how to dance. She'll be up to the three-footers in game-mode any time now.

In the last two weeks, friends of the kids have come over three times to play on our (now all metal) DDR pads w/front-projected screen. I even dance along. [I think they get a kick that an 'old guy' can out dance them! I know I do.] They've even brought over a PS2 and the latest versions.

My son, who doesn't do anything athletic, is even playing some with his friends, even though he has the least skill at this point.

My weight loss results haven't been as pronounced as anyone here, but I'm amazed how DDR has turned an entire family of internet-addicts into people actually getting a healthy dose of exercise.

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.