The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

Today I woke up early and in attempt to try and kick-start my body clock, I went for a workout in the hotel gym. Of course I couldn’t resist the opportunity to check out the competition (i.e. what ExerGaming is up against). Having had a go it virtual reality yesterday, it was time for some actually reality today with a twist…

“Aktuelle” is the german word for news or current affairs and there is a TV news program of the same title. So the challenge I set my self was to workout whilst watching the news on a large screen TV (it was that or the weather channel!).

I set the exercise back at level 14/25 and held a steady 92 rpm for 10 minutes which resulted in a heart rate of around 148 bpm. In all honesty I have to say it was one of the longest 10 minutes of exercise of my life. Whether it was the dulcet tones of the presenters or the down beat stories they were reporting I will never know, but it was not a pleasant experience. Not much competition there then, give me an ExerGame any day.

I don’t have any plans to conduct a larger study, but I the title of the paper would be something like “Watching TV News whilst Exercising Impacts Negatively on Ratings of Perceived Exertion.” No chance of a Noble prize, but more than likely a mention in the Annals of Improbable Research.