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Will a video game promote your good health? You bet it can, if its a Nintendo Wii fitness game! We all know the bad reputation video games have gotten in the past. It was believed video games led to a sedentary lifestyle. Parents have complained for years that their couch potato tykes do nothing but sit around day and night playing video games as their health deteriorates. And, of course, we all know the horror stories of how sofa tater children grow up to be sofa spud adolescents who can’t cut it in the adult world.

Some may disagree with these fears, but now, things have changed! Nintendo Wii video games makes these fears a thing of the past. A Wii fitness game mixes all the skill and fun of a average video game with exercise you would get, if you were actually playing it. Doctors and parents have all started to support the Wii. You may not burn as many calories as playing the actual sport, but, you will burn a significant amount and that’s a heck of a lot better…and more fun, than sitting there.

Just envision yourself on a tennis court, ready to serve the ball to your opposition. You enhale, throw the ball up and swing with all you’ve got. Now envision doing this in the comfort of your own home, wearing whatever you find comfortable. If you are not able to find an opponent to play against, no problem, you can just play against the computer. If, on the other hand, you have a friend (or three), you can all get into the fun. Volley the ball to and fro, matching your skill against your nemesis. You start to get into the game and begin to forget it’s just a Wii fitness game, and best of all, you even forget you are receiving an aerobic workout!

The Wii game console has made it a possibility. The action can be so close to reality, and the bodily benefits so terrific that some physical therapy specialists have in reality tied wii fitness games into their patient’s workout procedures, helping them to regain lost or impaired joint and muscle flexibility.

Senior citizens are even getting in on the action. It is no longer accurate to depict the elderly sitting around living a dormant life. Wii fitness games have been turning up in more and more elderly living centers. What was once seen to be a lethargic universe has again acquired fresh life, as the elderly are able to easily learn the necessary skills to enter into all the fun the Wii gaming console has to offer. There have even been Wii bowling clubs starting up in the centers, providing hours of amusement and most importantly bodily movement and exercise.

So, if you’ve been considering getting into better shape, or getting your family active together, then toss out your antiquated ideas and turn to video games. Provided you’re talking of the Nintendo Wii gaming console, you can’t lose anything but some extra pounds.

Following are the Components of Physical fitness :

1. Speed: Speed is the ability of a person to execute motor movements with high speed in the shortest period of time. It is equal to the distance covered per unit of time. the element of speed is involved in most of the athletic skills such as in sprint running, some skills of soccer, basketball, etc.

2.Strength: Strength is the ability of a muscle to expert or release force by contraction enabling a person to overcome resistance or to act against resistance.

3. Power: Power is the ability of muscle to release maximum force in the shortest period of time. It is equal to force multiplied by speed. It is the combination of strength and speed. Speed and force must be combined for effective performance in activities like baseball throw, jumps for height, football kick, boxing punch,etc.

4. Endurance :Endurance is the ability of the person to perform movement of moderate (Sub-maximum) contractions over prolonged period of time under conditions of fatigue or tiredness. It is the product of all psychic and physical energy of human body.

5. Flexibility : Flexibility is the ability of a muscle to perform movements with large range of motion.

6. Agility : Agility is the ability of a person to change positions in space or to change directions quickly and effectively e.g. football player quickly changes direction or giving dodge to opponent, hurdle crossing over the barrier or hurdles, zig-zag running, etc.

7. Balance : Balance is the ability of a person to control human body or to maintain equilibrium under static and dynamic conditions e.g. hand stand, skating, skiing, catching a fly in baseball, etc.

- By Body Health Blog .

I recently received a call from a client in Dallas who noticed that one of the local stores is installing the Retul 3D Motion Capture System and wondered if it was better than the fitting she received from KGS Bikes. The explanation is a little more involved than a Q&A question so I decided to bump my scheduled ezine article for this one.

The KGS Fitting System, those by Serotta, WobbleNaught, Carmichael, Specialized, Cyfac, Body Scan, Fit Kit and others, use a procedural system that gets a specific outcome and these may or may not even use the data generated by a motion capture system.

Retul has become the gold standard in fitting tools in the past 18 months. The reason I say it is a fitting tool is that Retul can be used with any fitting system. It is 3D Motion Capture System that can accurately measure sensor points which are attached to rider or are indexed to a bicycle.

Retul has a competitor in Dartfish, which is a 2D motion capture system that I own. I am planning on purchasing Retul to augment my fitting services so here is an explanation of how I deal with fitting systems and motion capture systems. The crosshair laser that I use to measure bicycles is another reference tool that is independent of the fitting system. It helps to separate the two as there is overlap and thus room for confusion.

Fitting Systems – KGS vs others. Many of the fitting systems on the market today feature equations or benchmarks that a rider should use to calculate the best way to fit a bicycle. Fit Kit is one of the earlier systems that use a plumb line to determine Knee Over Pedal Spindle, WobbleNaught uses 33 different measurement points of the rider and the bike to get a computer generated setup for that individual rider and that individual bike. Carmichael uses angles and geometry to assure that an individual is set up within an acceptable range of angles on the bike. Serotta and others use a combination of measurements and riding on either the owner’s bike or a setup bike.

What separates the KGS Fitting System from the others are two specific processes:

1) I have developed a system of finding the best, most efficient and balanced position for an individual using my custom setup bike, through scientific analysis using a step by step approach to find that perfect setup whether the rider is young or old, fit or unfit.

2) The use of a setup bike with a power meter, that is 100% infinitely adjustable and capable of producing the workload that you as the rider really produce on the road, is critical. My system determines a proper bike setup, rather than a setup based on the limitations of a specific bike.

Fitting Tools – Setup bike. The setup bike was just described and is the core of my fitting system. It has road, mountain and time trial handlebars, different saddles, adjustable cranks from 150-230 mm and almost all modern pedal systems. Since the bottom bracket is the datum point, every other conceivable position is determined by the location of the saddle and handlebars. Since all riders interface with the bike in exactly the same place, (pedals, handlebars and saddle), if the setup bike is able to be positioned to find the rider’s best position it can be found, documented and repeated.

The setup bike is not the system any more than one’s bike on a trainer would be. In fact, my system is good enough to find the perfect setup even if it would be difficult to build a real bicycle with those specifications. This is because I don’t assume that the bicycle industry has created a stock frame for you, I assume nothing. When we get through the fitting process we know exactly how to build a frame that is perfect for you, or to specify a stock frame that works with your body.

Cross hair laser – This fitting tool is what I use to accurately measure the handlebars and saddle relative to the bottom bracket. These lasers do nothing but project two lines into space, but the accuracy attainable from this device is fantastic.

Dartfish Advanced Video Analysis – I bought the Dartfish software and used it with my fittings for a few years but found that the only thing that really worked well was the ability to show ankle placement and the time it took to show the client problems was better spent in showing a solution rather than highlighting the problem. Dartfish is a great tool and some clients can benefit from it but most are better off letting me show them how to get better form rather than see how bad their form is in the first place.

Retul – The Retul system is a 3D motion capture system. The reason I am getting one is the ability to capture the fitting session and not only save that data but analyze it with other setup data. I have the ability now to get people setup properly on the bike. That is not the point. Having a system that gives me better resolution of all the aspects of a rider’s position and being able to save it is important. Another part of the Retul system is a sensor that can be triggered when it touches parts of the bike so the critical dimensions of the setup bike can be captured more quickly and with the same accuracy that I use now. I can save a few minutes doing documentation which usually means I get more time to spend helping the client with specific problems.

In summary, a bad fitter will not do a significantly better job with Retul. All the fitting procedures and knowledge that the fitter used prior to the acquisition of Retul are used after the device is purchased so many bike shops are still stuck with the age old discovery: Bike fitting is not easy.

It has taken me years of study to get really good at bike fitting and I still learn things every day. I feel lucky to have a studio that I can use to really do a client some good. I can’t speak for other shops and studios, but I work not only hard but as smartly as I can to put the client first and get an awesome outcome. I can’t wait to get my own Retul system but the fact that I just have my knowledge, skills and setup bike means that current fit clients will get what they want and need, which is a custom setup that works for them.

At the end of the day, I still find a lot of stock bikes don’t fit grownups well. It is irritating as I have a lot of educating to do when people find out that it is not they that are abnormal, but the bike they want to buy that may not be the one for them.