June 26: Make It Fun

I'd guess that I'm like most people when I say that I rate most of my exercise options on a scale ranging from "completely unbearable" to "a necessary chore." It's pretty rare that I actually enjoy getting sweaty and uncomfortable. That makes it something of a challenge to commit to significant workout time each day.

I don't recall what made me think of it, but about a week ago I got the urge to play Dance Dance Revolution. I played it a lot in college, and even owned and wore out a pair of control pads. At some point over the last half dozen years or so, though, I had tossed the worn out pads. My PS3 isn't backwards compatible, so I would've had to hook up an old system and find obsolete equipment to play the game.

Anyway, a quick search about a week ago revealed that Amazon has a bundle including the PS3 version of the game and a control pad for $27.99. At that price it was more than worth a shot.

The game arrived yesterday and I gave it a shot for the first time this afternoon. It's not exactly how I remember it, but I was able to download some of the songs I remember from previous editions and get a pretty good workout out of it. I'm still relatively good at the game, even if I have probably put on about 30 pounds since the last time I played it.

I have a few complaints about the game that I'm still trying to find ways to work around:

•  Previous editions of the game featured a lot of upbeat Japanese-sounding pop and techno. This, for example, is one of my favorite songs from a previous version. So was this. Regardless of whether this is or isn't your style of music, it at least had a solid beat and a fast rhythm. Those are DDR songs. Lady Antebellum, Jason Mraz and Train are not what I had in mind, but they're what's on the new game. Thankfully I was able to download some stuff that was more my speed.
• One of the primary modes of the game is "Club Mode," where you start with the easiest songs and build your way up while being constantly evaluated to decide if you're ready to advance. The game is really slow letting you advance, though, so at this point for me it's just a mishmash of slow songs on easy levels with no exercise value.

With that said, I had missed DDR a lot and I've quickly remembered how much fun I used to have playing it. If you call sometime in the next few days and I don't answer, it's probably because I'm in my living room stepping away.

Did I exercise today? Yes, I spent about an hour playing DDR, then took a short break before going for a 1.2 mile run.