Exergames, as the name suggests, promote exercise through games. Youth fitness centers such as the YMCA, schools, youth camps, and other communities that offer “youth fitness programs near me” are adopting the exergaming technique to promote fitness among youth. Even many sports facilities that train athletes and other serious sports are incorporating exergaming activities for making intense workout regimens engaging.
How are exergaming equipment used to promote youth fitness?
Many exergaming equipments is gamifying regular workout equipment such as the treadmills, rowing machines, cross trainers, and treadmills by adding LCD screens, virtual reality goggles, and projectors to create an interactive workout area. With the exergame equipment, youth exercise is made interesting for the youngsters. In a controlled environment where they are monitored and guided, youngsters are encouraged to play in group games or be physically engaged instead of sitting stationary on a couch. Exergames include simulated scenarios to make exercising interesting, interactive, and positively engage children.
Exergaming benefits for youth exercise
Exergaming helps build strength and work out different parts of the body. Exergaming includes different types of exercises –
- Aerobic workouts – it covers cardio workouts such as running, jumping, walking, and other brisk movements. With exergame equipment such as the interactive treadmill, rowing machine, elliptical machine, and stationary bikes, aerobic workouts can be done, for complete aerobic exercises. VR glasses are connected to create simulated experiences such as cycling uphill or around the Grand Canyon, swimming across the English Channel, and running past the New York Times Square crowd. Two or more machines can be hooked to a single projector and all the athletes can compete with one another in an intense game that will require them to move physically to score points virtually.
- Muscle-strengthening exercises – “youth fitness programs near me” offered by community centers, YMCA, schools, and sports training academies add exergaming equipment such as the virtual playground, interactive climbing walls, neuromuscular training equipment such as resistance bands, exercise walls, pillars, and boards for individual and group training. It gives the youngsters a break from the monotony of their workouts and challenges them with activities with different difficulty levels. Most of these workouts are focused on engaging the core muscle groups and helping them gradually build their strength and endurance.
- Bone-strengthening exercises – for building strong bones, it is important to include endurance training along with aerobic workouts. This is achieved with exergames that include actions like climbing and using one’s body weight to accomplish tasks and stretching. Interactive floor exercises with dance mats and gaming mats, interactive wall exercises, and interactive obstacle courses contribute greatly to this end. They compel the athlete to engage different parts of their body, bend their joints and stretch their arms and legs to complete the tasks.
- Activities that promote social engagements – the exergames are designed for working out in groups and by oneself. So, some exergame equipment such as weights, resistance bands, and cardio machines may be used in the privacy of one’s home to work out by oneself. However, other equipment uses projectors and large screens so that two or more athletes can play together or compete against one another and thus be exposed to a healthy competition and communicate about mutual interests.
Why are “youth fitness programs near me” using exergame equipment?
Mostly, “youth fitness programs near me” are using exergame equipment as a means of staying with the times. In a world that has been compelled into a lockdown like a scenario for the past two years, forcing everyone to workout singularly at home or become physically inactive by spending hours in front of laptops, TVs, and smartphones, exergaming equipment motivates everyone to move while they watch their favorite TV series or play their favorite videogame rather than sit idly and stare at a screen. While some equipment is designed in such a way that all age groups can play together, others can be played by athletes of the same ages group or similar abilities. It gives students preparing for tournaments a perfectly simulated environment to exercise and visualize various moves and how to respond.
Youth fitness is prioritized behind the design of the exergame equipment and hence, they are perfectly built to entertain and hold the attention of children. Workouts on these machines can be interspersed between serious exercises and practice sessions to give them a break.
