We had tickets to see John Heffron at the Improv Saturday night, and Mark suggested we go early and play some games at Dave & Busters first. Sounded fun. I figured we’d play a few games of air hockey, shoot a few hoops… I wasn’t expecting to shoot skeleton aliens or knock out a couple of cartoon boxers or rack up 200+ tickets just because I knew Colin Mochrie was on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” before anyone else at the table. (All that time spent playing trivia at the bar after work with my coworkers back in the ‘90s really paid off…lol!)
My upper body had gotten a little jiggly over the winter, so I’ve been working my shoulders, arms and back pretty hard the last three weeks in preparation for tank top season. I’d not yet put my arms to the test in terms of strength until Mark led me to the boxing game, grinned, and said, “Put on the gloves.”
“Me? Box?” I said. “You’re joking right?
“No! he laughed. "Put on the gloves!”
I looked around. ‘Well…OK,’ I thought. The place was dark and chaotic, kids were running around everywhere. I figured there was no safer place to look like a fool.
I set my drink on the table, put on the gloves, and took my stance over the foot imprints on the floor pad. Mark swiped his card to buy a game, and next thing I knew, there was a big angry man wearing a mouth guard staring at me from the screen.
Now I’m not a violent person, but moving my feet and ducking my head to “avoid” getting hit, and the power I felt in my arms with every punch was intoxicating. A few times I must have done something right because I TKO’d the guy twice. One, two, three…punch, punch, punch…twenty eight, twenty nine (“Go, Lynn!” Mark yelled), thirty! I put my arms down, blinked a few times, and felt a trickle of sweat go down my back. Did I really work that hard in just five minutes? Apparently so. What a rush!
I took off the gloves and went to pick up my drink, only someone had drank what was left of my wine. Good thing I didn’t see them do it in the moment I was knocking out that angry cartoon man. My endorphins might have knocked him out, too!
My friends and kids are always telling me how much they love video gaming systems for exercise. Virtual tennis, skiing, baseball, boxing, etc. But like Fergie sang, I’m so 2000 and late. I exercise old school – machines, weights, outdoor activities. If I’d known inside exercise could be this fun, though, I’d have gotten on the Wii bandwagon a long time ago. Now I’ll be asking the family for a system for my birthday *grin*.
Do any of you engage in virtual exercise? Do you feel challenged, like you’ve gotten a good workout? What are your favorites?
