Health Meter: Survival of the Fittest: Why You Can't Afford Not to Be a Gamer

2/23/2009 6:25 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 3

Since I'm a personal trainer and fitness writer, people are always surprised and horrified that I'm also so deeply a part of the videogame world. (Actually, a lot about me surprises and horrifies people, but we'll just stick with the videogame thing for now.) Sure, there's plenty about videogames that should be of concern to someone in the fitness industry -- the 11-hour jags of Fallout 3 spent in a hunched-over, lousy-postured position; the mandatory diet of pizza, Mountain Dew and Pixie Stix; the reams of irrefutable evidence that prove that even casual exposure to games involving weapons will turn the most mild-mannered gamer into a detached and bloodthirsty sociopath. So, while there are a few reasons that I may theoretically have for not digging videogames as a member of the fitness industry, there are a few reasons that I have for digging them because I'm a member of the fitness industry.

If you're the type of person that goes to a gym, the next time you go to work out, check out all of the stuff that's designed to quicken your reaction time or improve your balance. It won't take you long to list it all, because there's not a heck of a lot of it. But it's the same reaction time that you need to avoid a spectacular high-speed crash in Burnout or Midnight Club, and the same reaction time that you need to avoid getting splattered in any number of online fragfests that'll keep you healthy and happy in real life. The same can be said of the balance you need to post impressive scores in Wii Fit or in Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip.

Why are these things so important? Because the sad fact of the matter is this: The world doesn't care about you. Tree branches fall. Patches of ice can appear invisible. People drive around without paying as much attention to things as they should. I don't care how much you can bench press or how long you can run on the treadmill; if you don't have the ability to safely hop out of the way of a speeding car, it's "Game Over."

To further boost your reaction time and balance, here are a few simple exercises that I do with clients at my Boston-area Black Belt Fitness Personal Training Studio. These will help speed up the process by which your body takes in and responds to external information and help you better determine and understand your center of gravity and how it relates to your environment. You'll not only be better able to deal with whatever the world decides to throw at you, you'll also be sharpening the skills you'll need the next time you get behind the virtual wheel of a 500-horsepower racing machine or throw down against a buddy in Wii Fit Yoga.

Even better is that you don't need a lot of equipment to experience these benefits. If you can come up with a golf ball, a tennis ball, a plastic spoon and a drinking glass, you're good to go. (In breaking with gaming tradition, I told you all of your quest items in advance. Had this been an actual game, I would have told you to get a golf ball, waited for you to return, and then sent you back to the ball store for a tennis ball.)