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GameBike and GamePads in Physical Education Classes?
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Forget About the Exercise, Enjoy the FUN | Send Feedback
What's the biggest problem with exercise? Some would say it is boring. Others might add that it's exhausting. What would happen if the person exercising "forgot" about the fatigue and wasn't bored?
Research conducted at the University of British Columbia suggests that this happens when a person uses an exercise bike that plugs into a computer gaming console and begins playing a video game by pedaling and steering. The stationary bike is called the GameBike it is a part of an innovation in exercise called "active gaming."
Interactive vs. Traditional Exercise Bikes
In 2009, Dr. Darren Warburten and his team of researchers conducted a test among 7 males and 7 females of college age to determine what happens when they become immersed in the process and basically forget that they are working out. He compared traditional exercise bikes with Gamebikes which plug into a video game console.
The purpose of the research was to determine whether there are differences in the metabolic requirements and ratings of perceived exertion on interactive video game and traditional exercise bikes at identically matched workloads. Participants performed three incremental stages of constant workload cycling at 25 percent, 50 percent and 75 percent of peak power output. Each stage was 5 minutes long and was separated by a 5-minute rest period. The relative workloads were determined for each individual.
While using the GameBike to play the video game, the participants received visual and auditory feedback including music and mechanical sounds simulating the racing vehicles. It was theorized that the auditory and visual stimulus was an important part of the participants becoming immersed in the activity and thereby forgetting about the rigors of the exercise
The Results Suggest a New Weapon in the Fight Against Obesity
These Canadian researchers found that the average pedaling frequency was 9 percent higher during the interactive video game exercise in comparison to the traditional cycling. This suggests that the participants who used the GameBike were increasing their pedaling rate in order to keep up with the animated characters with whom they were competing in the video game. This strongly suggests that with the excitement of this virtual chase, powered by the participant actually expending energy by pedaling faster, the GameBike participant was getting a more vigorous workout that those on the traditional stationary cycle.
There were no significant gender based differences in the ratings of perceived exertion to either exercise condition. Both males and females responded in a similar fashion to the two exercise conditions. Some researchers who have worked in the active gaming area, have held that males are more likely to be interested in "chase" games (and videogames in general) than females. In this study, this difference did not appear.
Oxygen consumption was significantly higher during the interactive video game exercises in comparison with the traditional cycle at workloads of 25 percent and 50 percent. At 75 percent of workload, oxygen consumption was higher, but not significantly higher among the video game cycles. From an exercise perspective, this is a very important result because any activity that increases oxygen consumption is significant for fitness activities.
There were significant increases in heart rate between the interactive cycles and the traditional cycle at the workloads of 25 percent and 50 percent peak power output. At 75 percent of workload, the heart rate changes were not significant between traditional cycle and interactive cycle.
One of the most important results had to do with perceived exertion rating. In spite of the fact that participants on the GameBike had higher pedaling frequency, more oxygen consumption and higher heart rates than those on traditional cycles, no significant differences were found for the rating of perceived exertion between the traditional cycle and the interactive cycle.
As Dr. Warburten had theorized before the study, the energy expenditure of participants was significantly higher during the interactive video game condition during workloads of 25 and 50 percent. Thus, over a 30-minute exercise session, participants, exercising at a moderate intensity could expect to expend approximately 25 to 60 percent more kilocalories than those of a traditional cycling exercise.
If Exercise is Fun...Will We Exercise More?
Warburten's study was published in Medical & Science in Sports and Exercise by the American College of Sports Medicine. In the "discussion" area of this article he noted," We revealed that at matched low to moderate intensity submaximal workloads, participants performing interactive video game exercise have significantly higher heart rates, energy expenditures and oxygen consumption without significant increases in perceived exertion in comparison to traditional stationary cycling."
The report concludes that playing interactive video games while exercising serves as a "distracter" for the participants, allowing them to exercise at higher intensities with lower perceptions of exertion. "Thus, the participants appear to be able to exercise at higher metabolic levels than traditional cycling without perceiving the difference."
This study is one of many that show the power of active gaming equipment to help stem the tide of childhood and adult obesity. Because this bike that plugs into a video game console is visually and sonically entertaining, it encourages the rider to forget about the expenditure of energy that occurs when exercising. Interactive video cycling creates an immersive experience that distracts the participant from fatigue and boredom. In the process it can be an important tool in health and fitness.
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