The challenge of being a fit gamer

This article is meant to motivate you a little bit.  Here are some work-out ideas for gamers who may not know where/how to get started for healthier living while still playing their favorite titles.

The source of this information I'm using for this entry I'm mainly pulling off of this Marine Corps Times article but also from my experience from various PE classes, nutritionalists, and guys who know a lot more about fitness than I do.  Definitely give the article a read through.



Short Version:
- maintain 65% of your heart rate for at least 45 minutes
- break up the meals you eat into 4 or 5 per day instead of 3
- there's enough down time in any game you play to use it being active

Long Version:
I understand that it can be a challenge to log in as many hours as you'd like into your Nightelf Necromancer AND trade in the keg for a six-pack.  One of the biggest changes you can make is your sleeping habits. Gaming can be an addiction if you're not careful just like anything else.  Every once in awhile it's ok to play for 6 hours straight, like going out with the guys or girls for a night of probably-unwise alcohol consumption.  You don't binge drink every night though, your body would quickly fail you... epically.  Same goes for long gaming sessions especially if they run into the late night/early morning hours when you should be asleep.  You'll screw up your circadian rhythm, metabolism, get cranky all the time, and you'll probably begin losing your twitch response and incredible ability to micro.  Work for that 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night and that will be a tremendous leap in the right direction.

I'm not going to sound like the instruction manual and tell you that you need to take a 15 minute break every hour, for a hardcore gamer I know that's nigh impossible (besides you'd never get anywhere in FF:XIII 45 minutes at a time).  There are a couple of things you can do though while playing for any length of time.  A fantastic way to lose weight is extended periods of low heart rate exercise. 

Keeping your heart rate at around 65% of its maximum for 45 minutes to an hour will trick your body into burning fat instead of muscle.  Quick, intense, workouts burn carbs and muscle since those are easier for your body to break down.  If your body realizes that you'll be working out for awhile and at a lower intensity it will draw off fat reserves since that burns slow and you don't need to expend energy quickly.  If you want to get real scientific, here's the formula for maximum fat burn:

==> [220 - (your age)] x .65 = the heart rate you should be at for 45 minutes at least

For example, a great way to play games for a couple of hours and a low intensity work out is step-ups.  While you're playing, get a small box (Wii balance board will do... you can dust that off now) and just step up and down for the length of time that you play.  You're mind will be occupied and you won't even realize your helping your body burn the love handles.  I've successfully completed a story arc in Way of the Samurai 3 this way, and that game requires a bit of coordination... if I can do it, so can you.

If you're a PC guy/gal this is obviously not going to be possible, but you can still do something while waiting for loading screens or for the next Call of Duty deathmatch to start.  An easy way to burn extra calories is to bounce your legs like a nervous wreck.  You wouldn't think that it does much but it's working your muscles nonetheless and you can do this for hours.  Want to get a little more motivated?  Instead of applying your newly earned title in COD in-between matches, use that extra 30-45 seconds to do some push-ups and crunches.  If you're not at a point where you can do that yet, simply lay down on the ground and get back up until the next match starts.  You do it every morning getting out of bed, you wouldn't believe how rigourous it can be just to lay down and get up for 30 seconds.

A big investment that you could make would be in a stationary bike (or a real bike for that matter, but its harder to play games on that).  Just grab your controller, PSP, or DS and pedal slowly.  You don't need to break a sweat (unless your hands are cramping from playing Peace Walker then by all means feel free) you just need to keep moving.

Last but not least, food consumption.  Red bulls, Mountain Dew, and Cheetos isn't going to cut it, obviously, but you know that already.  An excellent way to increase your metabolism is to eat the same amount of food you already are, but break it up into four or five meals a day instead of three.  This trains your body to gear up more often to process the nutrients in food and when your body does that you burn more calories throughout the day.  If your metabolizing nutrients all day... you are essentially burning off excess fat for free.

I hope this helps at least someone out there.  I'm sure there are thousands more ideas and routines out there, all this means is that you don't have excuses any more.  Good luck!