I Can't Live Without My DDR Dance Pad

I'll admit it I used to be kind of out of shape. No no, I wasn't rolling over in a stiff breeze or using sailing-grade rope as a belt, but a decent flight of stairs got me pretty winded. The culprit, besides my affinity for Cheetos? Video games. I love video games but unless your ideal physique is "round", most video games won't help you very much in the fitness department.

Most. There are a few exceptions, but the one that stands out is good ol' Dance Dance Revolution.

Most of you are probably familiar with this game; if you've been anywhere near it it is rather hard to miss. The concept is simple, arrows on the screen corresponding to arrows on a pad on the ground move up the game screen and the more the player is able to hit arrows along with the on-screen pattern and to the beat, the higher they score. Since the game is played by using one's feet on a dance pad instead of mere thumb-twiddling, Dance Dance Revolution is a real workout, especially on higher levels. If you've ever wanted to have calves thicker than your neck, this is your activity. Play this game long enough to get good at the "nine foot" maximum difficulty levels and you'll definitely be a few pounds lighter, as well.

When I'm in the mood to show off, I love going to the arcade, but face it, as far as getting in shape goes, hauling oneself to the local arcade to wait turns to play for a buck a pop isn't the most appealing option. Even without the workout routine, it takes some practice to get to where you can show off your moves at the local arcade and wow the zit set. What's an aspiring AAA floormat Japanese techno-infused button-presser to do?

The answer is, apparently, quite a bit. I started DDR back in the dark ages when it was hideously expensive to import a flimsy pad from Japan to play with, and don't get me started on the contraptions I cooked up to keep the thing from becoming an indistinguishable ball of plastic mat by the time I was done with "Paranoia 180" (most of them didn't work too well). Nowadays if you just want a cheap pad like that to play Butterfly on occasionally, at least you won't bust your wallet, but if you're serious about DDR there are much nicer pads available.

Lots of nice Metal Dance Pads are there for the choosing