On-Screen Fitness

With winter just around the corner, video games—hardly just for kids these days—can help mix up a boring indoor workout routine.

Angie Dehart, health and fitness coordinator at the North St. Paul Community Center’s XRKade, an arcade with active and interactive video games that allow people to get a workout while playing. The XRKade initially reached out to kids, but now that there’s retention among the younger users, the focus is to get adults and seniors to use the facility. “A lot of adults see working out as not fun,” Dehart says. “If you can get people comfortable in a setting that’s traditionally just for kids, that’s the main issue.”

The Wii Fit, released this past summer, helped popularize mixing fitness with video games. Kristen Schaub, a Virginia-based copywriter for consumer electronic sales company Crutchfield, blogs about video games and considers gaming a hobby. She tried the Wii Fit, which uses a balance board for game play and tracking weight and BMI, and used it regularly for about two months. “I loved being introduced to yoga and balance games,” she says. “It made me think about my body and movement in a way I haven’t before.”

But working out with controller in hand has a history beyond the Wii Fit. And there are more games than you’d ever think possible. Here’s a taste of what’s out there.