Fitness gamification is the latest health craze, and I predict it’s here to stay!  It refers to applying elements of game playing to fitness activities. This makes them more enjoyable to encourage people to participate and complete activities.

Fitness Gamification Benefits

  • Encourage daily physical activity
  • Motivate people to compete at their highest fitness level
  • Inspire fun workouts
  • Make fitness rewarding
  • Motivate fitness buffs to workout with/against others

Other examples of gamification areas include progress bars for completion on LinkedIn, badges for completing education courses, and medallions or ribbons for finishing a running race.  Recently, gamification has become popular in the fitness world.  Fitbit was one of the first step counters. Athletes can compete against their friends for the most steps.  With the Apple Watch people challenge themselves and others to complete three rings daily (stand, move and exercise).  At Fit N Fun Games, we think we have brought fitness gamification to a new level with our Bootcamp Edition!  Even our name demonstrates Fitness Gamification — Fit N Fun Games!

Science Behind Fitness Gamification

Fitness Gamification is also referred to as “exergaming” and brings an element of fun through competition that inspires people to workout at their highest level to beat the competition or to earn points, badges or other awards for completing a task or level.  Gamification simply makes exercise fun, and motivates us to work out.  Studies have been done showing the effectiveness of gaming/gamification to encourage daily physical activity and motivate people to workout at their highest fitness level. A JMIR study found that gamifying workouts improves participant’s motivation and engagement over time.  While a study done by the Association for Computing Machinery found that competition, social influences and challenges are key components of exercise gamification.

Fit N Fun Games Bootcamp Edition 

Our latest Bootcamp Edition of Fit N Fun Board Games is a prime example of how fitness gamification motivates people to workout regularly and challenges them to compete at their highest fitness level.  Players roll the dice, complete the exercise they land on, and continue on racing to be the first to the finish line. Our challenge cards inspire people to achieve their maximum fitness levels to beat their opponents (or their previous record when playing solo).  Our breaktime cards direct players to stretch, drink water or give another player exercises to complete.  The two tracks allow participants to choose the Fitness Track or Fit Extreme Track.  The Fitness Track has more exercise squares with less repetitions.  The Fit Extreme Track has fewer squares, more repetitions and more challenging exercises (like Clap Push-ups).

Whether you decide to workout by yourself or challenge others, you will love the game play along with your workout!  You can look forward to more fun gamification workouts from the Fit N Fun Team soon — both board game and app versions.

 

Hugs & Health – Michelle

 

**Disclaimer:  Please always consult your physician before beginning this or any exercise program.