Video games pump up the body as well as the mind

Well, maybe if it was 10 years ago, but not today. Video-game manufacturers now make an array of games designed to increase players' fitness. I have used two of these video games: Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Fit.

When we got Dance Dance Revolution for our Wii last summer, I was so excited. I had played the game at parties and thought it was really fun. I'm not too interested in video games, but DDR is different; it's great exercise and I am pretty much obsessed with it.

If you have no idea what DDR is, here's a short explanation. To play, there's a mat that goes on the floor with arrows at the front, back and sides. As a song plays, arrows on the TV screen move from the bottom to the top of the screen to the rhythm of the song. When these moving arrows pass over some stationary arrows at the top of the screen, you step on that arrow on the mat with your foot.

Each time you step on an arrow, you're rated on how good your timing is. At the end of the song, you find out how well you did. It sounds kind of complicated, but it's really not once you try it.

My version of Dance Dance Revolution has almost 50 songs to choose from and each song has four different difficulty levels, from beginner to expert. The beginner level is so easy that I skipped it and started with basic; now, I can do difficult and even some expert songs (although some expert numbers are so hard and fast it almost seems I need four legs to do them!).

My favorite songs include "Karma Chameleon," "Hold Tight" and "Clocks." Dancing to the songs on the difficult and expert levels gives me a great workout and I absolutely love it! DDR is another exercise option, and I enjoy it a lot more than running on the treadmill. It's a challenge every time because I try to beat my previous record.

Playing DDR on the difficult level is about the equivalent of jogging at 5 miles per hour. On average, for a 150-pound person, each activity burns about 500 calories an hour. The workout mode says you burn a lot more calories than this, but many say the numbers the game gives you are somewhat exaggerated.

Now on to Wii Fit, which has four different categories of exercises: yoga, balance, strength training and aerobics. The game tracks your progress through a personalized "Mii," or electronic person, that you create.

I like how the balance exercises are games, so I can improve my balance while trying to beat my previous score. One thing I really like is the virtual trainer who shows exactly how to do each exercise, thus reducing the chance of injury from doing something wrong.

On the balance and yoga exercises, you stand on the Wii balance board and the game tells you how good your balance is by showing you your weight distribution on each foot. Obviously, you want it to be 50-50, but I have yet to achieve that

I don't really like most of the aerobics exercises because they aren't as hard as I would like. Most simply consist of stepping on and off the balance board in different directions. These exercises don't even make me start breathing hard. However, there is a 30-minute run that allows you to watch regular TV while you're running. But it is kind of annoying to run in place and hold the Wii remote the whole time.

The strength-training exercises are nice because they show ways to increase your strength using your own body instead of having to use lots of fancy, expensive equipment. Some of my favorites are leg lunges, jackknives (ab exercises) and planks (arm-strengthening exercises).

Overall, Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Fit can be very helpful tools to get fit. They make fitness and working out fun and have allowed me to have more variety in my workouts.

The only drawback is that I will be sad at not having them to use when I go to college in the fall.

By Michelle Pfost