If you still think that modern Canadian gamers still conform to the old stereotypes of laziness and obesity, think again. While this may have been a case when video games were the domain of pre-adolescent boys, gaming today is more mainstream, drawing millions of casual gamers who didn’t play conventional games before.
Guest author Michelle Thomas takes a look at how fitness and gaming influence each other. To find out more about Michelle Thomas, please click here.
The surge of mainstream gaming has coincided with the rise in awareness of the importance of personal fitness. Scientific and medical research has collected reams of evidence on the benefits of keeping ourselves physically fit, such as increased productivity, improved moods, stress relief, and sharper focus.
These benefits are in addition to all the advantages of physical exercise we already know, such as improved health outcomes and a stronger physique.
The rise of both gaming and fitness into the mainstream has led to companies using gaming technologies and concepts to help make physical fitness easier to achieve.
In this article, we will take a look at the three most promising ways that gaming can help improve physical fitness.
While exercising can be fun for a lot of people, there are significant chunks of the population that dislike it strongly.
For instance, some people in Canada find group classes enervating, while others find it mentally draining. Other Canadian people have fun trying to lift the most amount of weight in a gym, while others shy away due to self-consciousness.
A long-time view in the fitness industry is that there is no perfect way to be fit. It’s all up to you to find physical activities that fit your habits and preferences.
Canadian players enjoy both gaming and fitness. After an intense workout, a lot of Canadian players like to play at an instant withdrawal casino. If you enjoy being outside, for example, you can take morning bike rides in the park. You can buy a stationary bike if you prefer to watch TV while exercising.
With games, this problem essentially disappears, because nearly just about everyone loves games in some form or the other. Even people who strongly dislike exercise can make surprising gains when their programs are cloaked within video game goals.
A great example of this is Pokémon Go, where the goal is to “find” Pokémon located in random areas within an area. To “find” these Pokémon, you will have to walk to that location. A 30-day study on the habits of Pokémon Go Canadian players found that they added almost 1,500 extra steps a day just because of the game.
In previous decades, vigorous physical exercise routines were often left to professional athletes or enthusiastic amateurs. Much of our conventional wisdom during this time held that moderate exercise – such as long walks or short jogs around the park – would be enough to maintain physical fitness.
Recent fitness trends have moved away from this. Instead of low-intensity walks, many fitness centers advocate for high-intensity workouts. This development works especially for busy employees who want heavy workouts but lack time for long sessions.
Games have made such intense workouts even more convenient. Instead of going to a gym, you can just head home and exercise using a game console that supports motion controls.
This is a clear bonus for introverts or those who prefer exercising individually. The benefits of play mentioned before helps make exercising more accessible to gym-averse individuals, neutralizing one major barrier to physical fitness.
As any long-time gym-goer knows, the strongest motivation for any physical journey is your results.
You may just go to the gym once or twice a week at first, but once you see your muscles developing and fat burning away, it won’t be surprising to see you up your visits more and more until it becomes second nature to you.
On the flipside, the lack of immediate results can often be a major road-block for those just starting out. Lifetime gym memberships prey on this trend, knowing that most purchasers won’t ever get full value.
The gamification of fitness helps stem the flow of this trend by allowing users to access daily feedback. While you may not notice major changes in your physique after a week of regular exercise, you can feel motivated by knowing how many extra steps you made, how many calories you burned, and so on.
Over time, you will gain a better sense of your physical needs, and what you must do to meet those. Once you see the results, you’ll find that motivation will no longer be your problem.
Find ways to merge your passion for gaming into your exercise route and you will find that it becomes a lot easier for you to work out and stay motivated consistently.
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