Fitness gaming. Not many years ago, the concepts of fitness and gaming were seemingly too disparate to be thought of in the same sentence. Exercise often meant mind numbing hours of thought wandering and struggle while toiling endlessly on home fitness equipment. Gaming meant a connotation of couch potato, cheesy snacks and really strong thumbs (the only part of the body being exercised). Exercise required disciplined, hard work while gaming was fun entertainment. My, how the times have changed. Today, fitness and gaming aren’t merely two separate words; they are linked in a growing trend.
Fitness gaming or ‘exergaming’ is more than a buzzword. It’s an evolutionary shift in technology combining the excitement of gaming with the sensible need to exercise in order to maintain and improve health. However, the designers of fitness equipment had bigger things in mind than having users’ robotically jumping around on mats and pedaling virtual bicycles with no end in sight. It was a realization that to truly engage gamers and fitness enthusiasts, both would need measurable goals, obstacles, and challenges to reach and overcome. However, as the technology in fitness gaming evolved, so too did the desire for choice and control. Fitness games were no longer produced a one-size fits all paradigm. Exercise and video games became tailored to the users needs, giving them options to choose paths that fit them while still making the process easy to use.
At Nexersys, our labor of love has been a study in the power of fitness gaming. Exercise should be fun, challenging, get you off the couch and be effective too. From the early days of the 1980’s “Power Pad”, the challenge of Mixed Martial Arts training and the wondrous technology innovations of brining a personal trainer into your home, our hard work in creating Nexersys have truly come of age. Fitness and gaming are now inexorably linked in our language of exercise and enjoyment. And we think it couldn’t have come at a better time!
