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The DDR Workout - It's Official
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.)
I'm not sure how it could NOT work.
If you do DDR for 45 minutes, 4-5 days a week, you'll be losing about 2 pounds every 3 weeks.
Worked for me, and my daughter.
You should be getting up to about 180BPM near the end of your workout- not sticking to some 130BPM songs.
For me, having the Xbox version, and downloading new songs was a lifesaver- otherwise I would be completely bored of the songs.
And finally- you won't lose anything if you are using the controller! Get a good dance pad!
No reason to lie.
this isnt that surprising really, video games are a lot more interesting to some kids than sport. Its great to see some measurable positive results from gaming. Next we could have super fast text scrolling across our screens to 'train' us in speed reading.
Do you need a website upgrade?
It's true! I used to laugh, say I would never play this game. And now, 2 months of DDR have me not only looking better, but feeling better as well. I am active in general - Football and Wrestling - But DDR has something neither of those have. The biggest problem with exersize is it's repetitived nature. But when you can practice a form (specific Dance) and recieve real time data based on your accuracy, it encourages it to repeat. So far, my only health conern has been the sheer addictiveness - I landed wrong on an ankle after a 4 hour marathon session, and was out for a week. But in general, the experience has been nothing but positive. Hope the next one is online - how about a /. competitive league?
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
Yeah DDR is/was fun for me.
I still enjoy playing it occasionally, but about 6 months ago I hit a brick wall where I stopped getting any better.
I played for about a year, and there's only a few songs on Extreme (arcade version) I can't pass (most of the 10-footers except for Sakura, Bag and Paranoia Survivor which are quite achievable with practice).
The problem is that it's really expensive if you want to get good. I've pumped at least AU$300-400 into DDR both at lock-ins (ie. 6 hours of unlimited play for AU$13 etc.) and just normally (AU$2 for 4 songs).
No doubt about it being a good workout. After playing for 6 months I went down from about 85kg to 74kg.
I stopped playing and started eating pizza again and I've put so much weight back on (ie. almost 20kg).
It kinda got boring for me as I found a new game (Beatmania IIDX).
By all means, don't just pass DDR off as lame like many of my "friends". God knows the number of payouts and sexual preference innuendo I've received from them for playing it ("not that there's anything wrong with that!").
It is fun in moderation, and if you're determined to get into it (and you have a lot of kesh), it WILL keep you fit.
Good endurance songs (not necessarily difficult):
So Deep (Heavy)
Can't Stop Fallin' In Love/Speed Mix (Heavy)
Rhythm and Police (Heavy)
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
I've been doing martial arts for years and still find these games a challenge and I sure work up a sweat.
A challenge is right! Not too long ago a friend and I fed the boxing arcade machines way too many quarters because we just couldn't get past the first two guys. Most people would give up if a game was too hard for them that early in, but I go to the boxing gym 4 times a week and am involved in the amateur circuit, and my friend was a Los Angeles County champion in Karate (and is currently serving in Iraq as an Army Ranger), so we were completely embarrased by 10 year old kids kicking ass in the game while we were struggling.
At one point it finally dawned on us that fighting like fighters was our problem - whereas in a real fight to avoid getting punched in the face you might duck your head and raise your fists, for the boxing arcade you move your fists away from the screen, to either side or below. In the real world, that's the equivilant of moving your hands as far away from blocking position as you can get them. So the game was reading our real world fighting technique as just standing in front of the punches.
I won't deny that they're a good time, but if you kick ass in the video game don't expect to be able to kick ass in an actual fight... kind of like how a good DDR player shouldn't expect to steal the floor at prom, I suppose.
If you get nervous, just remember that there are a few billion other people who don't really give a damn.
I've been playing various versions of DDR (as well as Stepmania) for about two years. I couldn't even jog a mile, heck I couldn't walk it without cramping up, but since then I've been able to pass pretty much every song (sans Paranoia Survivor Max Oni), and through this, I can now run a mile in less than seven minutes. I wasn't ever fat to begin with so unfortunately I don't have any I lost 100 lbs story, but wow, having not done any other physical activity besides type on a computer for close to 6 years (when I quit soccer due to lack of being in shape), I can run a freakin 6:40 mile. Hail DDR in all its nerd-refining glory!
When I started dieting, I also got a copy of DDR for my playstation. The game actually has a "workout mode" that keeps count of calories burned. I would play it everyday, for about 30 minutes to an hour. I noticed improvement after the first week: when I first started, I couldn't play for more than 5 or 10 minutes without getting winded. After a week, I was able to play for 20-30 minutes. I stopped playing it a few months ago. In the end, I dropped around 85 lbs. I feel much better doing it this way (a traditional program of diet and exercise) than going on, what is IMO, a "fad" diet, like Atkins.