The world of stationary bikes and exercise equipment in general is on the verge of major revolution. This may be due in part to the overwhelming success of such interactive video games as Dance Dance Revolution. An orthopedic surgeon from Denver, Ted Parks, devised Gamebike to use with the Sony Playstation console. The players actually pedal to play the games in the same way that Dance Dance Revolution players must dance on a dance pad to interactively play those games. XMAT produces a recumbent bike that can be used with many different home video game consoles. It is not interactive but instead provides the power for the gaming. It requires the gamer to exercise in order to play those hours of video games. While price point is a bit high at nearly $350 the average exercise equipment will set you back plenty too and wont provide built in incentive. There are more elaborate versions of the same concept. Stationary bikes that have lengthy scenerios which have corresponding changes in pedaling tension for various landscape changes are new to the market. The price point on these more involved stationary bikes can be as steep as the hills they simulate at a whopping $5000 plus. But whichever system appeals to you after a careful stationary bike review, the marriage of exercise equipment and video game enthusiasm is one that is here to stay. The obvious problem of stationary bike boredom is the target of all this. But there are always the the old standbys of watching Television or reading while on the bike. There does seem to be some advantages to the new use of video gaming in the realm of exercise bikes. That is that the activity which is already omnipresent with so many can be extended to improve health when combined with traditional stationary bikes. |
