Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I didn’t take XaviX seriously when I heard of them over a year ago. I just nodded to myself and thought, “Bowling… um, I don’t think that’s very high intensity.” I noticed that Jackie Chan was sponsoring something for them and I worried about Jackie’s career. While I was ignoring them, they have been working up a sweat.

XaviX works similar to PlayStation or Xbox. You buy the console and then you have to buy the games to work with the console. The disadvantage of that is there is another console to hook up to your television. This machine will have to compete for jack space with your VCR, DVD player, and any other game console you have. It might have been better for the consumer if they had created games for the existing consoles.

The cool thing about XaviX, though, is that it’s small. It doesn’t need a lot of space next to your television. It’s about the footprint of a Nintendo Gamecube, but as thin as a notebook computer. Another great thing about it is the price. The console is $79.99, which is substantially less expensive than the other gaming consoles around. It can be purchased at the XaviX Webstore.

Of course, after looking at Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 trailers all day, the graphics on the XaviX look very primitive. If I was into ultra-realism, however, I wouldn’t play Powerboxing. I’d probably sign up for real boxing. XaviX isn’t about realism. It’s about moving your body and having some fun while you do it.

The games available for Xavix are provided by XaviX only and are limited in number. They are working on new games for the console all the time, but right now, it is very limited. The games that they DO have, however, are very unique. This is not a typical gaming environment. All the games are very active. Not all of them would be considered cardio-vascular, but every single one of them will have you using your body. These games cannot be found anywhere else.

Disadvantages:

• Separate console
• Must compete with jack space
• Only limited number of games available
• Primitive graphics

Advantages:

• Small unit
• Inexpensive price
• Unique games that work your body

I really enjoyed playing with the XaviX games and I have reviews of them coming tomorrow.

• XaviX Website

I am attending CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I will be reporting on the health and fitness gadgets I come across during the show.

I’ve talked about GameRunner before on Starling Fitness:

• Starling Fitness » Exercise Gaming

Back then, the picture looked like a drawing and I couldn’t find any information that it actually existed. My evaluation of it back then was that it looked like a cheap treadmill hooked up to a controller. It gave me fantasies of hacking a thrift store reject and a Xbox controller.

My evaluation of the strength of the treadmill is about the same as it was before, but more importantly, this controller didn’t seem like it would get my heart rate up unless I played a racing game. They were demonstrating it with a first person shooter game. They only needed to walk on the treadmill when the character needed to walk. First person shooter games consist of a lot of hiding and shooting. I watched the employees of GameRunner play for quite a while and not once did they even break into a run. This might be better than sitting on the couch and playing, but just barely.

GameRunner gets my positive approval, though. It’s over a year since my Exercise Gaming entry and so many of the companies are out of business. GameRunner is still around and they had a strong showing at this show. I hope they are successful and are able to create a product with a treadmill that looks a little more sturdy.

My biggest concern with this product is that it’s for PC only. I do all my gaming on console games, so I have no use for this product. It would be nice if there was an adapter that would let it work on Xbox and PlayStation. That might be their next iteration of this product, which might make this controller useful. Can you imagine playing Project Gotham 3 with that thing?

Click Here for the GameRunner Website:

• GameRunner Website

I am attending CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I will be reporting on the health and fitness gadgets I come across during the show.

ArcadeMX wins my award for favorite product that I can’t buy yet.

The product is called BodyForce and it is another controller for game consoles. They are planning on releasing units that work with PlayStation 2, Xbox and the PC (using USB). This controller made me want to bribe the guy at the booth to sell me one.

The controller is a five-piece set: the game pad, two hand controls and two feet controls. They were very easy to put on my wrists and ankles with the velcro attachments.

I have never liked fighting games, but playing with this controller suddenly turned me into a kickboxing fool. The table holding the Xbox and PlayStation 2 was so close that I almost kicked it. I accidentally kicked the game box off the top of the table, sending it flying, much to my embarrassment. Fortunately, no gaming consoles were harmed in the testing of this controller.

While I was kicking and punching, I suddenly realized that there are probably about twenty games that I could purchase that would work with this controller. We were playing Tekken, but there is Street Fighter, DOA and those Namco collections. I imagined all the different games I could play with this controller and even tried to visualize how I could play Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire with this thing.

When I was playing, I had to throw the punches really hard to make them register. The same was true with the kicks. I was so excited that I forgot to check my heart rate monitor while I was playing, but I didn’t really play long enough to see if it would give me a good workout. Considering how hard I had to kick, though, I’m sure it would have gotten me up in the high intensity range very quickly.

ArcadeMX had a small booth in the International section of CES. The presenter was adorable. He was trying to explain the exercise benefits of this controller,

“It’s for health.”

Yeah, he’s right. This game controller could easily be a great workout. The only problem is that it’s not available yet. They had several boxes of the product at the booth, but he was unwilling to sell me one. I asked if they were available online and he said that they do have a website, but it’s not available yet. He wasn’t even able to give me a date when it would be available. I gave him my business card and told him I was VERY interested as soon as they were available for purchase.

Click Here for the ArcadeMX Website:

• Welcome to ArcadeMX

I am attending CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I will be reporting on the health and fitness gadgets I come across during the show.

I talked about Kilowatt almost a year ago when I covered the Exergaming Phenomenon:

• Starling Fitness » Exercise Gaming

Back then, I wasn’t interested in the huge machine because I imagined it to be colossal. I wasn’t wrong. In my 900 square-foot house, this controller would take up some valuable square footage. The footprint of the machine is at least 4′ X 3′ (or 12 square feet). It’s not like a DDR pad that can be quickly tucked under the couch when the neighbors ring the doorbell. It’s a big thing that would need to be moved out of the way if we wanted to watch a movie on the Xbox. Mike and I enjoyed it, but at that size and cost (prices range from $799 to $1599), it is out of our range.

This controller, however, is much more friendly for the home environment. It is called the Exer-Station and it works with Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It is a controller that you sit on. It is shown here resting on a stool. You could just as easily sit on the couch or the floor. Just like the KiloWatt, it has a variable isometric resistance that works your upper body. They had these controllers connected to Xbox and PlayStation consoles, showing a wide variety of games that you could play with the Exer-Station.

Here is a picture of me playing with it.

I actually worked up a sweat playing with this controller. It wasn’t as intense as the KiloWatt, but it did get me sweating in the chilly show hall. I was playing a racing game and it was difficult to keep the car moving. I kept trying to turn the unit to get it to go left and right, but you have to push on it sideways to get it to work. It wasn’t a cardio-vascular workout. I checked my heart rate monitor while I was playing and it was still in the “light” exercise range. It didn’t even get up to the “moderate” range like I usually do when I’m doing weight training. It DID get me sweating, though.

Here is a closeup of the actual controller.

Because it works with so many different console systems, I found the controls hard to understand when I was sitting in front of people playing. Now that I can look at the picture, however, it’s almost exactly like an Xbox controller. The buttons are labeled for both PlayStation 2 and Xbox controls. The buttons on the top, control the resistance. If it’s too hard, you can lower the resistance. When you get stronger, you can make the workout harder. Maybe if the resistance had been set higher, I might have gotten my heart rate into the moderate range like a normal weight training workout.

At only $199, the price for the Exer-Station seems much more reasonable. This is the first product from PowerGrid Fitness that I would be willing to shell out the bucks for. Their website says that Exer-Station will be shipping in February 2006 and can be purchased at Best Buy.

Click Here to see the PowerGrid Fitness Website:

• POWERGRID FITNESS

I am attending CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I will be reporting on the health and fitness gadgets I come across during the show.

Konami’s booth at CES was so NOT what I was expecting. I expected a big booth with multiple machines playing the large range of Konami’s DDR games on Xboxes, PlayStations and the PC. I expected a lot of noise and people playing. Instead, it was a small booth with two employees of Konami playing. They were doing a spectacular job of it, though.

I have heard lots of people say things like, “I’m too heavy to play that game,” or “I’d be too embarrassed to play that game.” After watching these two guys play DDR on Heavy and both of them get great grades, you have to admit that all of those excuses just evaporate. Of course, the idea that playing DDR alone will get you thin also evaporates. Weight loss requires rigorous exercise (like DDR) AND a healthy eating regime. Unless you have both pieces of the puzzle, you won’t lose weight. You can do this, you just have to give it a two-fisted punch.

They were demonstrating DDR Extreme 2 for the Sony PlayStation 2. After playing with DDR UltraMix 3 for the Xbox, Extreme 2 seemed really simplistic. The graphic interface is so much cleaner with DDR-UM3. They let me play and the pads and game reacted exactly the same as they would on my Xbox. Play was the same, it was only the graphics that were different. They gave music CDs of the songs on DDR-X2 to the passerbys and tried to urge the middle-aged men to play along, but I was the only one I saw playing. That was kind of disappointing because I expected a loud and exciting crowd.

Of course, after I played my song, I turned around and saw a crowd of people gathered to watch. It seems that all of these executive types secretly wish to jump in and play, but are only willing to enjoy it vicariously. If you find you are doing that with anything, please, let yourself jump in and play. Don’t worry about embarrassing yourself. Just jump in and do it, whether it’s playing DDR, learning to ski, or trying anything else that your heart is calling to you. Don’t be one of those people on the sidelines saying, “I wish I could do that.” Just jump in and try it!

Click Here for Konami’s DDR Website:

• Music In Every Direction :: Konami

I hear people say it at Weight Watchers, “This dieting is just too expensive.” There is an attitude in the world that eating healthy food is more expensive than eating whatever is handy. I’m not buying it.

The truth of the matter is, we SAVED money when I started eating healthy. Fresh veggies are a little more expensive in the winter, but not nearly as expensive as the frozen dinners that I was buying. You don’t need to shell out the bucks for Lean Cuisine in order to eat less calories, you just need to be willing to plan ahead.

Pre-packaged fresh vegetables (like the kind you find in a vegetable tray) are more expensive than the uncut variety. If you’re willing to wash and prepare your own food, you can save a lot of money. The prices for fruit and vegetables are highly dependent on the season. If you buy what is in season, you can usually save money and still enjoy fresh produce. Sure, you might be a little sick of clementines this time of year, but they disappear after January, so enjoy them now.

Rice is CHEAP if you buy it in bulk. It keeps for a long time and it is a healthy carbohydrate to supplement your diet. Brown rice and wild rice varieties tend to have more fiber, so watch for sales on them and stock up when they their price falls down to the white rice prices.

The most inexpensive meat I have found is the frozen chicken breasts that you can buy in a huge bag. One of those bags will feed us for a month. That’s ten bucks of meat for an entire month for two people. Dried beans are another source of protein that are very inexpensive and will store for a long time if you buy them in bulk.

It seems to me that you can feed a family on very little money and keep it healthy as long as you’re willing to put in the work of planning and preparing everything. Sure, ramen noodles are cheaper than Lean Cuisine, but fresh veggies with rice and beans beats them both.

This is a story from a man who is riding across the United States on a bicycle.

• Happy News – AP takes a backroads U.S. bicycle journey – by Calvin Woodward

He is so right about people opening up to him about their dreams:

“When you bicycle across the country, people tell you their dreams, because they see you are living yours.”

I’ve experienced the same thing. When I tell people that I quit my job to write full-time, I always hear about their dreams. Even strangers will tell me what they want to do someday. It’s like the act of living my dreams has opened all the people up around me like flowers. They want to live their dreams, too. Don’t we all?

I have wanted to ride my bike across the United States for a long time. I think I first heard about it in Runner’s World magazine. I showed the picture of the woman who had done it to Mike. “Wouldn’t that be great?! To just ride your bike across America?” He didn’t think it would be so great.

After reading this story, I am inspired. It took him three months to cross the continent. Where will I be three months from now? How many imaginary miles will I have ridden on my bike on my trainer in the house? Enough to take me across the U.S.? Probably not, but doesn’t it sound like such an adventure?

If you are interested in riding across the U.S. on your bicycle, here is a website from a guy who actually did it. You can read his journals, see his equipment list and look at the photos he took along the way.

• David Moretz – Bike Across the U.S.

Here is a map of the Transamerica Trail, which is a quiet, off-road trail, safe for bikes to cross the United States. It’s not detailed enough to follow with your bike, but it gives you an idea of where you can ride.

• Transamerica Trail

Take a virtual ride across America

For the less adventurous, you can print up that map and mark your progress at home along the trail. If you go on a twenty-mile bike ride on the stationary bike at the gym, you can mark the progress on your map.

There are times when I feel really left out because I have an Xbox and not a PlayStation. This is one of those times. Glen Raphael, the writer for Videogame Workout, bought Eyetoy Kinetic about a month ago and has been writing updates on what it is like to workout using this video game.

• Videogame Workout: Eyetoy Kinetic

• Videogame Workout: Kinetic week three

Here is a quick list of the positives:

• The trainers have strong personalities and you can choose between different ones.

• No distracting movements behind the trainer. All of the programming power has been used to make the trainers look as good as possible.

• The post workout stretching is fantastic.

• Can compare the video of your workout compared to the trainer to see your form errors.

• Each workout has a score, so you can see how well you’re progressing.

Here is a list of the negatives he has noticed:

• No ability to change the scheduling of workouts.

• The Eyetoy controller interface can be difficult to use and needs to be readjusted for floor exercises.

• If you pause the game during the workout and then continue, it skips the segment instead of continuing where you left off. You miss out on some of your workout if you pause.

• Repeated dialog snippets get old after multiple workouts. It has “Exercise Video Syndrome.”

This sounds like a good workout once you have the interface worked out with the Eyetoy. It’s not quite ready for prime time, but I’m still wishing I had a PlayStation 2 right now.

This article from USA Today really surprised me. It’s a year in review-type article that looks at the diet trends over 2005.

• USATODAY.com – Chewing over the past year

I almost skipped this article, but I’m glad I noticed the final paragraph.

“Obesity researchers who have long sounded warnings about excess weight were alarmed when a government study suggested that weighing too much may not cost as many lives as previously believed and may actually provide some health advantages.”

The jury is still out on the health benefits or disadvantages of being overweight. For a news outlet that has been touting the evils of being overweight all year, it’s nice to see at least one acknowledgement of the possibility that being fat isn’t nearly as bad as the health insurance companies are trying to convince people it is.

This article about flaxseed oil is pretty interesting. There is no proof yet about all those supposed benefits of flaxseed oil, but it DOES give some good information about how to eat it.

• Yahoo! Health Expert Blogs Eat Right, Stay Fit – Facts About Flax

I wrote earlier about taking flaxseed oil on this entry:

• Starling Fitness » Following the Rules

Back then, my evaluation of the benefits of adding oil to my diet were as follows:

The truth of the matter is, I haven’t noticed a big difference by adding healthy oil into my diet. My nails are growing well. My hair is a little less dry. Other than that, I haven’t noticed anything. I started adding it to my diet because Weight Watchers told me to. I’m just following the rules. I like the Flaxseed oil. It tastes nutty. In all sincerity, though, I’d rather use those two points I allot every day to something else.

After almost a year of following the rules, my evaluation is basically the same. I don’t notice a huge benefit from my two teaspoons in my All Bran every morning. There is a minor benefit that I didn’t mention before and that’s…

Man, I don’t know how to say it politely, so I’ll just say it impolitely. The only other benefit that I’ve noticed from regularly adding flaxseed oil to my diet is looser bowels. Going to the bathroom is much easier for me and I tend to have a regular “movement” every morning as long as I have a cup of All Bran and two teaspoons of healthy oil every day for breakfast.

It’s uncomfortable to talk about, but it’s a REALLY important thing for me. Severe stomach pain is the reason I started eating healthy. Being able to stop taking Metamucil every day feels like an accomplishment. It’s worth the repetitive breakfast every morning to be able to live without the pain.