Research Finds That Wii Boxing Is Comparable To The Real Thing

by Keane Ng on August 13, 2008 at 10:59 am

Plenty of studies have shown that playing Wii Sports or Wii Fit is good for you, to varying degrees. Some people don’t believe it, some people are willing to pay money to have someone teach them how to do it. What makes this study more authoritative? Well look, they used crazy breathing masks and machinery! That must make this one more scientific than the rest.

In any case, the results of a study conducted by a collection of Cleveland State University student researchers concluded that, on average, most people only burn 28 fewer calories playing Wii Boxing than they would hitting a real punching bag. 28 calories isn’t much. In fact, it’s completely negligible, and considering people tend to have more fun playing Wii Boxing than when they slam their fists into a rock-solid bag, well, Wii Boxing might actually be better than the real thing.

One problem, though: participants averaged a higher heart rate on the punch bag than the Wii. So if you want to get a comparable work out you “really have to get into it”, according to CSU Associate Professor Ken Sparks. That’s a real dealbreaker for me - I know plenty of people who break a serious sweat playing this game, but I don’t. Why? Because I play videogames and I know that I only need to jiggle the Wiimote a little to get my Mii to score a K.O.

Once again, my gamer conditioning gets in the way of my path to physical fitness. When someone invents a way to burn calories by inputting Street Fighter commands on an arcade stick, let me know.

Source: Cleveland.com Health News

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