Just Dance 4: A Fun Way To Work Out

I recently downloaded Just Dance 4 on the Nintendo Wii U about a week ago thinking it might be a fun way to help shed some of those extra pounds I gained over the holiday break. I was a little unsure if I would like the game mechanics itself, the music found in it, or if it would help me out at all. Luckily all three fears were rectified, as not only has it been greatly helping me, but I’ve been enjoying the experience as well.

After doing three to four songs back to back, I started to notice I was already sweating. All the songs, especially the more fast pace ones, really keep you on your toes and moving around a bit. Not only are these songs great to dance to in order to shed some calories, they are also fun as well. This really makes it addictive to keep playing the game, even if you are already tired from doing a whole lot of them back to back.

Since this is a pretty great way to work out, the game also has a work out section called “Just Sweat Mode.” While inside this section, you can choose a personalized workout session to. This ranges from a workout in space/80’s music theme called “Aerobics in Space” to others like “Electro Body Combat” which features a Cardio Fighting Exercise and Electro Music. Personally I enjoy the “Electro Body Combat” workout sessions the most, as it has a fun beat to its workout. As you can see, each workout has its own type of workout as well as the type of music that will appear. When working out, you can choose from three different work out times such as 10 minutes, 25 minutes or 45 minutes. Each personalized workout follows the same routine scheme starting with a simple warm up, then a dance song, then back to a workout session that lasts about 2 minutes, then a dance song again, and finally a cool down session after your time is up. All in all, this is really helpful to working out and keeping in shape for me.

The only thing I found that didn’t help at all, is the number of calories burned it displays. The issue at heart here, is that the game only barely knows your age and does not know your height or weight. So the game basically gives you a very low estimate on how many calories you may have burned. I recommend using a smartphone app like My Fitness Pal to keep track of how many calories I may have burned. I noticed on average I was burning around 150 calories during a 20 minute workout.

If anyone is looking for a new way to work out, and a fun one at that, I recommend purchasing Just Dance 4. I have not had this much fun while actually working out in a very long while. If you have a Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 Kinect or a Playstation 3 with Move controller, I recommend this game for those that want to work out to some fun music. I’ll have a full review later on this week for Just Dance 4.