Update: 237.8 lbs, 20.4 lbs so far, 17.6 left to reach goal.The kids got Dance Dance Revolution Universe for the Xbox 360 last night, which was just released for that platform. After playing for a while, one of them said 'Hey Dad, they have a workout mode here, you should use this!" Low and behold, it does have a workout mode, which actually allows you to input your vitals, and then starts tracking your calories burned every time you get on the mat and start dancing your heart out.
Well, with 6 people in the house, there is not a great time for a big ol' brown guy to have some privacy to bust-a-move and burn some calories, so I waited till this morning after weigh in to give it a shot. Normally, I prefer my exercise time after dinner, but for the sake of comparison I spent a short time on the DDR Workout Plan. And I have two things to report back. Those of you who know me personally may want to turn away now before you get an image burned in your head that you don't want there.....
1) I don't know who they think is going to actually be able to do some of these dance moves, because I started worrying that the 'BOO' graphic was going to be permanently burned into my flat panel screen like an old Windows screen saver. Holy moly, I did the basic mode last night and impressed the socks off my kids, but put it on Quest, to 'dance around the world' and jump in at Sacramento Back Up Dancer auditions, and forget it...I looked like Elaine in the classic Seinfeld dance episode. But I was feeling my heart starting to race so that must be a good sign.
2) However, when I checked in after 10 minutes time (granted, only probably about 5 minutes "dancing" total) - my report had logged only 20 calories burned. What?! I thought for sure I'd have burned 200 calories in that 5 minutes the way my heart was racing. For 10 minutes of walking on my manual, slightly inclined old-school wooden Nordic Track treadmill I burn 100 calories, which is about 5 times more efficient than DDR calorie burning. I'd have to play DDR for about an hour for it to log as many calories as 20 minutes of walking on my treadmill...and just like counting calories, I'm not sure that's worth the tradeoff to make it an exercise replacement.
Now, for simple fun with the kids, that gains some extra burnt calories, DDR is a great addition to the game collection. Will it become my go-to workout regime...yeah, probably not so much. But when I need to get jiggy wit it, I'll know I'm at least burnin' a few.
Hasta Luego
So far this year I've ridden:
960 miles.
2 comments:
The image in forever burned into my memory, never to be gone, ever.
You can't really expect to lose a lot of calories being a first timer on DDR. Once you hit standard level however, you'll be able to burn around 400-600 calories in an hour.
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