By: Mary Queisser <[email protected]>

Brightly colored animations played across the screen of sophomore Landon Yan’s TV, as columns of arrows scrolled to the top. Yan stomped on the dance pad laying on the floor, keeping up with the beat of the music and coordinating his steps to the arrows’ fast-paced procession. Although the song clip only lasted about two minutes, Yan was out of breath.

While some students head to a gym, Yan goes to his basement to play Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). “It’s a really good workout,” Yan said.

“As you can see, I’m panting.”

Getting a good workout is no longer confined to just lifting weights or running on a treadmill.

RightHealth.com defines physical activity as anything that causes the body to work harder than usual, which can encompass activities such as rock climbing, yoga or DDR.

Kim TenBrink, physical education department chair, defines exercise as “doing an activity with the intention of working out to become more fit.” And describes activity as “anything that gets you moving,” which can include things like walking to class, or even washing dishes.

She said that DDR possesses these characteristics when done with the objective to raise cardio, along with activities such as, swimming, biking and skating to name a few.
Currently, she is trying to get a grant approved so that she is able to work DDR into the physical education curriculum.

“It’s an interactive way to get students moving in a fun manner,” TenBrink said.

“And not only does it raise cardio, but also coordination.”
A major contributing factor to the popularity of these “unconventional” exercises is the level of enjoyment that participants can find in them.
Yan said that he likes DDR because it’s more of a game than a workout routine, and he can turn it into a social event by having DDR parties.
“DDR is more effective than running on a treadmill or lifting dumbbells, because you can have more fun with it,” Yan said.

MedlinePlus.gov, in fact, said that the trick to finding the right exercise routine is finding something enjoyable in order to maintain motivation.
“The key is to number one: find something fun to do. Then number two: work it into your schedule,” TenBrink said.

She said people don’t exercise as much as they used to, maybe due to the lack of this motivation. “Children today don’t go out to play after school like their parents used to. They tend to go home and play on the computer, watch TV, talk on the phone or play video games,” TenBrink said.

“And in PE we’ve noticed a decrease in performance,” she said.
The ending screen pops up, revealing that Yan received a “C” on the song.
“Normally, I do better, but I haven’t played in a while,” Yan said, still out of breath. “Do you want to play versus?”