Programmed Health
Virtual gym gets people moving to interactive
sights, sounds
By Lynda Guydon Taylor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sunday, September 17, 2006 - Tanner Shepherd jumped
gleefully up and down on a rubber mat, following the
lead of the on-screen robot in front of him. As he jumped,
balls bobbing above the robot's head popped like balloons.
Each jump was aimed at hitting a ball before it fell
to the floor on the video. Never knowing where or when
the next ball might drop, Tanner, 4, was all over the
mat, trying to keep balls in the air and working up
a sweat. New to the Mon Valley YMCA's virtual reality
gym, Tanner did not want to leave the room and was eager
to try each of the six pieces of interactive equipment.
And that's the point: Keeping children engaged in exercise.
The virtual gym weds interactive equipment with video
games and is intended to keep children married to exercise
for life. Mon Valley in Carroll is the first Y in Western
Pennsylvania to offer a virtual reality gym, or vgym
for short, although the concept is not new to the exercise
world, according to Bill Holzapfel, the Y's wellness
director.
"We all agreed that this would attract more kids,
particularly the market we're looking for, the ones
that don't exercise," Mr. Holzapfel said.
The Y's target couch potato market is middle-school
children. A grand opening of the v-gym is planned Oct.
14, and U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, is
expected to attend. He helped secure the $50,000 Department
of Health and Human Services grant to buy equipment
and get the program up and running.
It's no secret the numbers of overweight and obese
Americans are reaching epidemic proportions, with poor
diet and lack of exercise tipping the scales. According
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15.3
percent of children age 6 to 11 were overweight in 1999
and 2000, the latest years for which figures were available.
From 1963 to 1970, the rate was 4.2 percent.
More than one-third of young people in ninth through
12th grades do not regularly participate in vigorous
physical activity. Furthermore, 43 percent of students
in those grades are parked in front of a television
more than two hours daily.
Mr. Holzapel cited statistics, gathered from multiple
resources, indicating obesity and diabetes top the list
of the five fastest growing health concerns in the United
States.
To eat away at the grim statistics, Mon Valley received
the federal grant to start the Improve My Picture program
to address childhood obesity. The program, which includes
the virtual reality equipment, will involve
nutritional counseling, behavior modification, and take
into consideration baseline measurements of fitness
and body composition.
"The beauty of this is that it's a lot of fun.
You're not just on a treadmill running on a straight
line," Mr. Holzapfel said.
Clearly, there's nothing humdrum about the equipment.
The Y's fitness armory includes the Trazer, manufactured
by Cybex; the Kilowatt, made by Powergrid Fitness; Sportwall,
made by Sportwall Interactive Fitness and Athletic Equipment;
the Gamebike, by Cateye; and Dance Dance Revolution,
by DDRGame. The Mon Valley Y renovated the virtual reality
room over the summer.
One wall is splashed with bright red, blue and yellow
as if someone had flicked a paintbrush across the surface.
Demonstrating Kilowatt, Mr. Holzapfel stood with his
back resting against a short post and his hands gripped
around a giant joy stick positioned about waist level.
By moving the joy stick, the user controls the video
game and develops overall body strength, especially
the upper body. It is similar to an isometric exercise.
The game Mr. Holzapfel played involved navigating a
speedboat through a waterway. The harder he worked,
the better he did in the game.
A workout of another sort is gained using the Gamebike.
In this case, a stationary bike is linked to a race
car-themed game. The harder one works the faster the
car goes around the track. On the other hand, Dance
Dance Revolution keeps a player in constant motion by
stepping on lighted arrows on a floor pad. The interactive
equipment measures resting heart rate, exercised heart
rate, quickness and agility. It's also geared to a generation
raised on video games.
Although Mr. Holzapfel knows of no other Y in the region
or state offering the interactive equipment, there are
other YMCAs getting into this new concept. Take, for
instance, YMCA South Hampton Roads with 14 branches
stretching from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to North
Carolina. They installed equipment in January. South
Hampton Roads upgrades its equipment every three years
and puts on a sort of trade show allowing members to
test it, said Jenna Meyers, communications coordinator.
The interactive equipment made members' wish list.
While the Y has no hard evidence about its popularity,
Ms. Meyers said, some branches have had to increase
their hours or add more machines. The Y also promotes
use by families, which gets young
people and parents competing.
Children have one up on the adults because they already
are familiar with the games, she said. Although the
video technology is intended for young people, it's
also attractive to adults, Mr. Holzapfel said.
Whatever the age, once a player gets the gist of it
and gets into the game, he or she has a great time and
a great workout, he said. Another slightly less high-tech
game is the Sportwall, which is designed to stimulate
the body and brain. A wall panel is punctuated by circles
of light. Players throw grapefruit-sized bean bags at
the lights. When a bag hits, sound goes off and the
light goes out and another light goes on. A player also
can use a styrofoam rod or "noodle" to strike
the lights at arm's length. The exercise involves a
cardiovascular workout and develops hand, feet, ear
and eye coordination. The sportwall can be played in
teams or individually. A sign over the doorway to the
v-gym reads "With Sportwall, fitness is child's
play."
Touche.
"There's so much you can do with it. Just use
your imagination," Mr. Holzapfel said.
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