Our Top Video Games For Fitness Goals

With the start of any new year, we've naturally been seeing a lot of people talk about their fitness goals and resolutions on social media. We've tried setting up fitness goals in the past but to be completely honest, we've definitely struggled with it ourselves and have had a love/hate relationship with working out.

When we both had our traditional 8-5 jobs, and long before we lived together, there was actually a good period of our lives where we made it a point to go workout at the gym about 5 days a week. After work, Nush would drive over to Doza's house and then we would hit the nearby gym to workout, followed by a healthy dinner we cooked and ate together. After that, we would go our separate ways and later jump online on Discord to play World of Warcraft together until we fell asleep. It was a routine we knew all too well that worked for us. But as most things do, things eventually changed.

After we both resigned from our traditional employment to pursue our passions and our full time freelancing careers, it got surprisingly trickier to work out. Any time we weren't working or creating was time we weren't getting paid. And since there wasn't a paycheck guarantee anymore, it was very difficult in the beginning. We were starting a new venture with 0 clients and instead of a gym membership, we purchased a much more expensive Adobe Creative Cloud subscription to help our professional goals and keep up with the latest tools in the creative industry. In the process though, we lost sight of our fitness goals.

However, now that we have more of a groove with our professional career again after 2 years of consistency, we've decided to set more attainable fitness goals this year and decade since we're not getting any younger. Plus, being active and feeling confident in our bodies is important!

We still aren't super fond of going to a traditional gym but as a gamer couple, we do enjoy video games that help get us up and moving like the following:

• Just Dance

  Just Dance is our favorite video game to be active! If you love dancing, or even if you just love today's hit music then chances are you will probably like this game. The workout you get from this game is solely dependent on what you put into it.

  We've had Just Dance parties with friends where the goal is to get the best score so sometimes the hand movements are more important than the legs. Or sometimes even just the hand movement of the hand the joy con is in. However that won't give you a good workout. Instead, if you don't focus too much on your score and put your body, mind, and soul into the dance you are following then you can really get your sweat on!

  We actually haven't bought Just Dance 2020 just yet, but we do have 2017, 2018 and 2019 which are all just as good. Some of the games even have sweat playlists that include dances that really get your heart racing. You can even make your own playlists or just hit shuffle and go.

• DDR

  One of our goals one day is to have a DDR machine in our future home once we decide to settle down but that doesn't stop us from playing DDR together any time we come across one at an arcade. Sadly there aren't too many left in our area but it's always a nice treat when we see one at a gaming convention that we can play together. In fact, the last time we got a chance to play was when we were out of town visiting Doza's cousin at one of those huge mall arcades. Not only did they have a few DDR machines, but they also had DDR's sibling game; Pump It Up. (Secretly, we found the diagonal arrow pads more intuitive than the classic up/down/left/right set up)

  Although DDR isn't really dancing in a traditional sense, the impact it can have and the fun that can be had is undeniable. This is easily one of our favorite ways to be active. Too bad it's basically super rare…

• Ring Fit

  Jokes aside about the cringey initial presentation and trailer for this game, we actually have had really good workouts with Ring Fit. The way the game works is you have a tension 'Ring' you hold in your hands that you can put in a Nintendo Switch Joycon into as a way to control the game while also strapping another Joycon to your leg. The combination of these placements track your movements pretty much on point and you can even check your heart rate as you progress!

  So far we have been making our way through story mode and while it can get a little weird at times, there's nothing weird about how it makes our bodies feel. Although Ring Fit is a single player game, we actually bought a pilates ring from Amazon that is very similar to the ring fit so we can work out together while taking turns switching out who gets to actually control the game.

  The best part about the game in our opinion is that it actually does give you a great workout and it won't let you continue if you don't do it properly since it can tell if you're not doing a complete squat or stretch. If you enjoy RPGs and also want to work on your fitness goals this may be a good game for you. You can even have timers set on your Switch to remind you to do it every day for consistency.

• Pokemon Go

  We were super into Pokemon Go when it came out in 2016 but we took a long hiatus up until last year partly because we had old phones that didn't run the game well and drained out our aging batteries like crazy. However, if you have a newer smart phone and love Pokemon like us then this game is great way to get up and moving.

  It won't necessarily give you a full workout, but it will get you walking around and even exploring places around you. It's a lot of fun when you travel but you can even make a routine out of walking around particular Pokemon Go routes in your local neighborhood or park. Or, get a group of friends or a buddy to go along with you to take over gyms or do raids.

  The dream of becoming a 'Pokemon Master' in the 'real world' is finally attainable and could possibly get you to hit the average 10,000 steps experts say you should have in a day. Don't quote us on that though. Even if you aren't actively playing Pokemon Go, you can keep the phone in your pocket while you are doing anything else (even the other games listed in this blog post) and it will help you hatch eggs, gain XP and more!

Now if any of these games aren't doing it for you, the last thing we have done to be active and plan to continue to do is constantly move while doing other things we love that will allow it. For instance, if we're going to listen to our favorite podcasts, watch YouTube videos, or anything else passive in nature, then we're going to do it while on a treadmill, elliptical or some other appropriately safe gym equipment.

The current apartment where we live isn't that great and neither is their gym. But, one of our goals for 2020 is to move into a place better suited for our work-from-home lifestyle with more amenities like an actually competent gym for starters. (We're actually getting pretty close to this moving goal so more on that soon!)

All of this being said, do you have any fitness goals this year? Do any of them involve video games? Let us know in the comments below!