One of the stigmas associated with video games is that of being lazy. Sure you may not be physically moving around but depending on the game you can certainly get a healthy mental exercise. For Christmas one of the presents I got my wife was
EA Sports Active 2. I know what you're thinking, "What guy gets an exercise program for his wife?" "What does he think of his wife if he gets her exercise games?" Stop right there with those thoughts. Secretly I got EA Sports Active 2 because I was tired of fitting into that stigma of being a lazy gamer. I'd get home from work (and if there wasn't Cub Scouts activities to work on or drive my kids to soccer or dance) and I'd want to veg out in front of my PS3. I could feel myself becoming an atrophied sack of meat and bones.
Now I've never been one to be completely gung-ho about exercise, but I do enjoy taking my mountain bike out and hitting the trails. In high school and college I used to go to the gym regularly. But now that I've got a job that keeps me a "slave to the man" and need to take care of three children, a wife and a house, regular exercise is not my top priority. At a doctor visit last year (or maybe even two years ago now) I was encouraged to get some exercise in the morning to help boost my energy for the day. Because my wife is fairly fanatical about exercise, we have an elliptical machine, a stationary bike, and a slew of exercise DVDs. I tried the elliptical for a while and even one or two of the exercise DVDs, but some how the elliptical has become "sabotaged" by one of the kids (none of them will admit to it) and I can't seem to get the damn thing to stop being a relatively painfully jarring experience.
