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The DDR Workout - It's Official

Posted by timothy on from the up-up-down-down-a-a-b-a dept.

webster1 writes with a followup to a recent Ask Slashdot question. "An AP news story just released says that Dance Dance Revolution is becoming the weight-loss routine of choice for many young gamers. One quote says '"At first I was playing it for fun, but when you see results you're like, Yeah!" said Matt Keene, a 19-year-old from Charleston, South Carolina, who used to weigh more than 350 pounds and wear pants with a 48-inch waist.' It's for grown-ups too. Even Jason Enos, product manager at Konami Digital Entertainment-America, which distributes the game in the U.S., has lost 30 pounds playing the game. There's even a site for DDR wieght loss fans: www.getupmove.com - My wife and I have been playing for months now with this goal in mind, though we aren't yet seeing these results." (A post from a few months ago talks about getupmove and gives some calorie-burn specifics.)

31 of 473 comments (clear)

  1. StepMania by Thatmushroom · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is the perfect time to plug StepMania, an open source version you can get here. I'm not a developer, just someone that enjoys short techno songs and a frantic workout.

    --
    You zap the moderators with a wand of humor! The moderators resist!
    1. Re:StepMania by RipCurl808 · · Score: 2, Informative

      As much as its a nice emulator, I believe its wrong to push this program because it ADVOCATES The use of copyrighted material (and if you have the DDR soundtracks, you just rip the music from them and never have to pay for another DDR Game ever again), which is unfair if people who do enjoy the game would like to see more released.

  2. Editors showing their lack of knowledge? by -kertrats- · · Score: 3, Informative

    "up-up-down-down-a-a-b-a"

    This konami code reference from the 'department' bar is horribly wrong. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start is the correct code.

    --
    The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
  3. Site is run by RedOctane by Trillian_1138 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm not saying DDR can't work for weight loss, or that getupmove.com or the AP story aren't valid. However, the site is run by RedOctance, a DDR pad supplier. Check out the contact information for getupmove.com or the suggested pads under 'Get Started.'

    Again, I'm not denying the posibilities of using DDR for weight loss. After the Ask Slashdot thread I downloaded StepMania and am seriously considering buying a pad and USB adapter becasue it does look like tons of fun. I just think it's important to be concious of where you're getting your information...

    -Trillian

    1. Re:Site is run by RedOctane by haroldK · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just don't buy from RedOctane. They're pretty pricey compared to other places. BNS is a lot cheaper for comparable equipment.

      Or you can buy a DDR machine from Channel Beat. My friend (who's working on Techno Motion support for Step Mania) got a Techno Motion machine through Channel Beat and we stuck a StepMania box in there. It's a hell of a lot nicer than using a cheap pad. A tad more pricey, though.

    2. Re:Site is run by RedOctane by Xaroth · · Score: 2, Informative

      Speaking as the friend mentioned in the parent, I can elucidate a bit on the process of getting one of these.

      First of all, the prices listed on Channelbeat include shipping. This is a huge plus, because shipping constitutes a huge portion of the costs, and it's good that they have it fixed and up front to begin with.

      Secondly, the machine will take months to get there. Ocean freight is slooooow. What's more, if you don't live on a seaport, you'll have to wait for the truck to get it to your house. Which brings us to the third point:

      Make sure you have some way to get a 1200+ lb box from 4' in the air to the ground. This was, perhaps, the hardest part of it. Luckily, we had some scrap wood that made semi-decent ramps, but even with tearing it apart on the truck we'd borrowed (we had to get a forklift to take it from the shipping company onto the truck) it was a PITA. Luckily, nothing was dropped or broken.

      The payment process was interesting, too. I had to transfer money to a savings account of some guy in Chicago, who forwarded the money to Hong Kong, who then forwarded a portion of that to South Korea. It seemed dicey, so I did it via my credit card (since it'd have some level of fraud protection), but it all went smoothly and without difficulty.

      Once the machine was in CA, I had to (very quickly, I might add), locate a forwarder who would handle the customs inspection and move the box over to the trucking company. This turned out to be an extra $200, but hey - what's another $200 when you're already talking about $3600?

      So, after all this jazz, you'll have your shiny, new machine. Well, not exactly either of these, since the *new* machines are rare and expensive. (Right now, Euromix 2 is the only new DDR machine being produced in the world) Most likely it will be worse for the ocean trip, too, so you'll need to do a LOT of cleaning up-front.

      Then, comes the bit on where to put it. HaroldK and I converted my garage to a semi-finished sort of room, complete with a 2" wood floor, heaters, network, etc. to put the monstrosity in. Any future residence will require a solid foundation beneath the machine and a high ceiling in order to accomodate it.

      I recommend converting it to a SM box, which will require a soldering iron, several old PS controllers, a voltmeter, and a lot of patience. However, the end result is *so* worth it. There really is nothing quite like an arcade machine with over 4,000 songs on it. :D

      --
      That green slime had it coming.
  4. PyDance by steveha · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is a free software version of DDR, written in Python. It used to be called PyDDR but now it's called PyDance.

    You can play it with a real dance pad, or just play it with your keyboard. I suspect you will not lose much weight if you play it with your keyboard, however.

    http://icculus.org/pyddr/

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
  5. And it is relatively cheap... by SnakeJG · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most slashdot readers probably already have atleast an original Playstation (and if not, used ones can be had for around $20 to $30 or the computer version of DDR can be used). Throw in the cost of a good dance pad (~$50) and the game (another $20 to $30), and your workout system only costs you ~$100, including the cost for a Playstation.

    I suggest a dance pad like the one above, because the form insert really helps cut down on the strain on your joints (a must if you are going to be DDRing often as a workout)

  6. Re:Damn by orthogonal · · Score: 3, Informative

    Man, since this is Slashdot wouldn't you expect the article be about computer memory when you see 'DDR'...

    Not at my age: to me, "DDR" will always be the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, that is, the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, Prussian disdain and Hitler's Berlin "transformed" by the New Socialist Man and drab gray concrete apartments named after "Heroes of the Proletariat".

    Here's the music, a old-fashioned socialist worker's hymm Nationalhymne der DDR / Anthem of GDR ("Auferstanden aus Ruinen" / "Resurrected from ruins") (get more of your "Socialism before it hit the dustbin of history" groove on here; in all honesty if you can ignore the frozen political prisoners of the ,a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag'>Gulag Archipelago, the music itself is pretty stirring).

    And here's the workout, starting with the youth cadre, The Young Pioneers of the Five-Year Balance Beam Plan (learn more about "mass gymnastics under communism", and remember to scroll right-- the pages are literally about 800 X 4000).

    --
    Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
  7. Re:Again? by jpmkm · · Score: 5, Informative

    Read the first goddamn line of the writeup. Specifically the part where it says that it is a followup to the story you linked to. Yes, slashdot is sponsored by a fucking game. You figured it out.

  8. Stop drinking sugar! by dybdahl · · Score: 5, Informative

    The biggest problem for most computer gamers I know, is that they drink cola with sugar and eat candy bars. Their biggest arguments for not drinking diet coke are: doesn't taste well, aspartam is dangerous for your health.

    They simply don't get the priorities right - being overweight is much more dangerous than drinking diet coke! The only way to lose weight is to consume less kilojoule (4,18 Joule = 1 Calories for those Americans who don't understand the metric system) than you spend on living. If you want to continue drinking sugar-cola and eat candie bars, you really have to do a lot of exercise!!! - more than most people with that kind of weight problems can or will do.

    Personally I lost 15kg in 5 months without doing any exercise, without any special plan for what I eat, just by replacing coke with diet coke and removing all fat and sugar from my meals, replacing food with low-energy and diet products. At Christmas 2004 I expect to have lost 30kg, and spring 2005 I expect to have lost 35kg, and then I have reached my ideal bodyweight and will have to do something to keep my weight up :-)

  9. Re:Repetitive Stress? by c0dedude · · Score: 2, Informative

    The really good players make it look like dance and not like slamming. It's really troubling.

    --
    Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
  10. If you have the h/w and s/w by vchoy · · Score: 2, Informative

    You can go to ddrfreak and go check out some stuff there.
    There's song lists, codes, step charts and chat forums to meet up with out ddr fans out there.

    Good luck, and have fun.

  11. Re:Work smarter, not harder. by MonMotha · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, but there are hidden codes, at least on older mixes.

    On 3rd mix, to play Maniac difficulty (called SSR for Step Step Revolution), you had to do "left left left right right right left right" on the select arrows before beginning the game. Then you probably wanted it on vivid (rather than the default of flat) which was "left right left left right right left right" on the actual pad.

    There's a whole bunch of other hidden options too (hidden, sudden, stealth, turn, etc). The codes are readily available, but can be hard to remember, especially if you normally play newer mixes (DDRMAX and newer have an options screen) that don't need them.

  12. Stop poisoning your body by mabu · · Score: 4, Informative

    I agree with you but why stop there?

    I recently decided to stop drinking soft drinks and go for water (Mountain Valley Spring Water), and I also noticed that I had much more concentration, my sleep schedule became more normalized and my attitude was generally more positive.

    It's not just sugar. It's the myriad of chemicals that we put in our bodies in massive quantities that screw up our body chemistry. Dropping sugar may help with caloric intake, but it doesn't address the more serious problem that we're constantly poisoning our bodies with chemicals.

    You don't have to be a vegan, but you can choose to shop where they sell meat and produce that isn't bathed in pesticides, antibiotics and other things.

  13. Feet of Fury by frohike · · Score: 2, Informative

    I also found that the "DDR workout" was really good for helping with my asthma-like symptoms. Much better exercise for the lungs than just sitting around all day in front of a PC...

    I of course have to take this opportunity to plug our homebrew music beat game for the Dreamcast, Feet of Fury. Like DDR, but with player vs player modes, the ability to create user Swap CDs of your own music, and of course a Typing of Fury mode!

    It's not free software, but I maintain the toolkit used to develop it (KOS) under a BSD license, and this toolkit is used by pretty much all DC homebrewers now (with the notable exceptions of DSNES and SCUMMVM). Two new homebrew games just came out actually... check 'em out here if you have a DC and want some more games: Games Of All Types. Yes, I know what you're thinking.. but that's a safe link ;)

    --
    Cryptic Allusion - New Mac and Dreamcast Games!
  14. Re:Combination games! by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, there's also a machine called Dance Sensation 3DDX that has 4 corners + cardinal directions. The corners are the foot pads, the + are the arm motions. or head. or leg, or whatever.

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  15. The Truth by RoderickMcDougall · · Score: 3, Informative

    Anybody who thinks they will immediately lose weight playing this game is kidding themselves. This game at best provides a moderate intensity workout with the added twist of being challenging and perhaps addictive.

    One thing I have always observed with "I Lost Weight!" articles is they almost always pass over the DIET - that is generally the diet gets an obligatory one line comment (if that) somewhere after most of the information of the article has been devulged.

    Anyone who really knows what they are talking about in terms of weight management will tell you that the most important thing in losing/gaining/maintaining weight is your DIET. Your exercise is merely there to burn excess calories you consume over your maintenance calorie level - and of course to promote cardiovascular health and whatnot. (that is, the number of calories required to maintain your current body mass). Easy to understand how you got fat in the first place when you consider what happens when you excess calories are not burnt off

  16. Re:Damn by Galvatron · · Score: 2, Informative

    Your link was still broken. Did you mean this?
    http://www.sovmusic.ru/mp3/ddrhymn.mp3

    --
    "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
  17. In a word... by Second_Derivative · · Score: 3, Informative

    No.

    The actual gameplay concept DDR is basically a cross between playing the drums with your feet and jumping like a jackrabbit on amphetamines. The only thing the game grades you on is how close to the beat you are (the highest step grade is within about 30 milliseconds).

    I'm a hardcore DDR player... I can pass just about all the songs on the game and with a good grade, but my dancing sucked awful before I started and it hasn't got any better (trust me. There's bad dancers and there's people the bad dancers point and laugh at).

    DDR's really good fun and all but I strongly recommend you don't try and bust out Max 300 on an actual dance floor. Although, to quote a guy on a DDR messageboard: "You wouldn't DDR step in a club, but then you wouldn't mosh in a ballroom either". Dancing has a fairly broad definition... but even so it does tend to involve some upper body movement. A lot of expert players just clamp their upper body to the support bar behind the dance stage so that they can hit 10 steps per second and still stay upright, although I personally find this to be bad form.

  18. Videos of the best players in the world. by Redeamon · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://ddr.bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20legend%20of%20maxx.mpg
    http://ddr.bandw idthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20daikenkai.mpg
    http://ddr.bandwidthmonke y.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20the%20least%20100sec.mpg
    http://ddr.ban dwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20trip%20machine%20climax.mpg
    http://ddr. bandwidthmonkey.net/csa2/jsb%20vs%20ref lex%20-%20xenon.mpg

    http://aaroninjapan.com/ddrvideos.html

    I doubt these sites will last long from the slashdot. In anycase hopefully someone will mirror these.

    Fixed.

  19. Re:Excercise != Weight Loss by Kupek · · Score: 3, Informative

    But regardless of if you loose weight or not, any activity causing your pulse to rise will make you more fit. Which is a good thing.

    False. Taking certain drugs can get your heart racing, but they don't do anything for the rest of your cardiovascular system.

    If you want to be healty (not just lose weight), exercise is key. And exercise is tied to weight loss because when you don't exercise, your metabolism goes down; your body requires less calories, which means you're going to retain more. You also lose muscle tone and cardiovascular endurance. Also, added muscle increases your metabolism.

    If you want to lose weight and actually be fit for the rest of your life, you need to exercise. There's no way around it.

  20. DDR Workout by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I have been playing DDR now for about 5-6 years(since the 3rd mix machine came out), and have also been running track for a similar amount of time. Pertaining to fitness, here is what I have learned about DDR:

    1) It is a great excersize and keeps you in great shape if you play it regularly.
    2) If you start out with no skill, and completely out of shape, Great! Because of the way the game works, you start out slowly and as you build up your skill, you get to harder and harder songs. This accomidates your fitness level to the songs you play.
    3) Cardiovascularly, I find playing DDR at the higher skill levels to be better than running, not to mention being much easier on the joints.

    And for those who play DDR, but feel they need an additional challenge try playing Pump it Up. In my opinion, it is a much harder version of DDR. It has arrows everywhere DDR doesn't.(Corners and middle) This makes it a much more physically challenging game IMO.

  21. The so-called fat burn zone is overrated by Rydain · · Score: 2, Informative

    You might use more fat as a substrate during low-intensity exercise, but that doesn't mean you'll lose more bodyfat overall. The 1994 Tremblay study demonstrated that high-intensity interval training, which burns mainly glycogen during the workout, induces bodyfat loss much more efficiently than endurance cardio even though fewer calories are burned overall. This article provides an overview of the study and its results.

  22. Confirmed, is true. by oujirou · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have known about DDR and other dancing games for quite a time, but it wasn't until half a year ago when I started actually playing the game, and let me tell you, it's a bliss. Not only you do excercise and listen to pretty enjoyable music at the same time, it also improves social skills if done at the arcade and properly. People gather around watching you dance, and it always feels good to hear some complete strangers say nice things to you, doesn't it?

    Myself? I have lost about 10 kilograms, and I can surely lose more. A friend of mine made a hard dance pad out of plywood and had a article written about him in the nationwide GameLand magazine. Now we are in for organizing a tournament. :)

    BTW, after getting hooked up to DDR and being long-time Eurobeat fans, we went further to discover other BEMANI games like ParaParaParadise where you dance using your hands to cross infrared motion sensors imitating the para-para dancing style popular in Japan, and many others like DanceManiaX. Go and see for yourself, it's fun!

    --

    ___
    On Slashdot, Russians comment on YOU!
  23. Re:Wow by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 2, Informative

    Konami does sell a PC version of DDR, you can even download a free trial version.

    --
    MORTAR COMBAT!
  24. Hacker's Diet by just+fiddling+around · · Score: 2, Informative
    DDR has been a godsend for me. Addictive as hell, and I don't have to leave my living room when it's raining or snowing outside.

    I use it as the exercise part of The Hackers' diet and voilà! instant weight control. I lost 10 of the 20 pounds extra I had.

    --
    You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
  25. Re:NEWS FLASH!! by S.O.B. · · Score: 2, Informative

    And that workout won't cost you a dime. Here are the complete rules in case anyone wants to start a new chapter:

    The first rule of Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club.
    The second rule of Fight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Fight Club.
    Third rule of Fight Club, someone yells "Stop!", goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.
    Fourth rule, only two guys to a fight.
    Fifth rule, one fight at a time, fellas.
    Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes.
    Seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to.
    And the eighth and final rule, if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.

    --
    Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
  26. Sad - site is really just an ad for redoctane by JHawk24821 · · Score: 2, Informative

    www.getupmove.com

    Registrant:
    Redoctane
    955 Benecia Ave
    Sunnyvale, California 94085
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com
    Domain Name: GETUPMOVE.COM
    Created on: 30-Dec-03
    Expires on: 30-Dec-05
    Last Updated on: 30-Dec-03

    Administrative Contact:
    Huang, Kai akim@redoctane.com
    Redoctane
    955 Benecia Ave
    Sunnyvale, California 94085
    United States
    4084819121 Fax -- 4084819123
    Technical Contact:
    Huang, Kai akim@redoctane.com
    Redoctane
    955 Benecia Ave
    Sunnyvale, California 94085
    United States
    4084819121 Fax -- 4084819123

    Domain servers in listed order:
    NS1.MAXIMUMASP.COM
    NS2.MAXIMUMASP.COM

    end whois

    Don't get me wrong, I love DDR. I have 3 copies on the PlayStation (1 and 2) as well as just about every song out there on the PC.

    For those of you that like DDR, or maybe just like the idea of a new way to loose weight/get in shape, check out the sites below, they are not simple product advertisments. Tsk tsk redoctane.

    www.ddrfreak.com

    "DDR Freak was started on March 12, 2000 for the benefit of Northern California DDRers to get together and promote DDR around the SF Bay Area. It began when a small group of DDRers gathered at Milpitas Golfland every friday night to play DDR. As the group became larger, we decided that a website was a good idea, and it was first hosted on a UC Berkeley instructional server. Weeks passed, and DDR Freak started to get more than a few hundred hits a week, then a few thousand... Eventually, ddrfreak.n3.net became ddrfreak.com, and it continued to grow.

    DDR Freak has since expanded its reach to DDRers nationwide and continues to serve as a community for DDRers."

    www.ddrgame.com

    "Welcome to ddrgame.com. We are the leading sellers in dance dance revolution games such as DDR Konamix, DDRmax, DDRmax 2, and the new Xbox DDR Ultramix.We are also the leading experts on dance dance revolution pads such as regular pads, non-slip pad, ignition pad, metal pad, and arcade super metal pad. At our website, you can find great selection and high-quality products, and also the best shopping experience. DDRgame.com is pleased to have you as our customer. We hope you will enjoy the shopping experience here. If you have any questions about our products, please feel free to contact us at the following information. We do welcome school purchase orders."

    p090.ezboard.com/bddrjamzglobalbbs

    "A heavily trafficked ddr message board with area specific forums and lots of cool goings on."

    www.akddr.com

    "One the the biggest DDR site in way up North! They have a DDR for PC Game to download as well as many ddr pad reviews."

  27. This had been my intent, but... by flibbidyfloo · · Score: 2, Informative

    After playing DDR at a friend's, I thought what a great workout it was, so I got it myself along with a nice thick pad.

    The problem? It's pretty high impact when you really get going, even on a 2" thick soft Red Octane, and that's bad for people who aren't used to exercise. Or if you have weak ankles like I appear to. I can't DDR more than once or twice a week if I want to avoid ankle and knee pain.

    But it's great for someone who's already in better shape and wants a high-impact aerobic workout. More fun than doing another workout tape, because you can make your own moves.

  28. Re:Yes...it does work by joycircuit · · Score: 2, Informative

    Heh. Im eating my words...no pun intended!!! I still contest that from what i've seen of people playing this game, that its not all that continuous of an exercise. Starting and stopping every minute or two from what I recall. Though this may be a factor of the coin-op arcade version and not the home version. But you're right....i misread your original post.