Sunday, October 20, 2013

What is DDR?

I've made several mentions to playing Dance Dance Revolution, or DDR. I'm sure many people know what it is, but I'm still going to explain and share with you the video that inspired me to look at DDR as more than just a fun video game, but a great way to get some cardio in your life!

I would see the Dance Dance Revolution arcade games at various arcades and malls, but I never played it. I guessed that it was some kind of dancing game by watching others, and it always looked fun, but not something I would be interested in trying. It wasn't something that I thought about often or even at all even though we're a big video game family. (My brother loves them and I like them too.) During the MySpace craze, however, a friend of mind did one of those "Get To Know Me" surveys, and she said her favorite video game was DDR. So, I decided to look more into it. I ended up buying my first ever DDR game, DDR Extreme for Playstation 2 at GameStop, and then I sought out online to find a DDR pad. I asked for one for Christmas, but no one in my family knew was DDR was, so I didn't get one. That's okay, I didn't mind at all. I started looking online at different videos on YouTube, and on Amazon for the best pad to buy, and I bought my first ever pad from Amazon. It had a foam insert which was Heaven on my feet. I tried playing the first night and I really enjoyed playing! It's a video game, but you have to play with your feet, so you're not just sitting and wasting all kinds of energy!

I'm not sure how I came across this video, whether I was searching for DDR pads, or for DDR and weight loss, or DDR in general, but I somehow came across this video by YouTube user sumfight (Cody Rapol). I remember thinking how I ended up finding a video about losing weight when I was searching about DDR! After watching the video, I was immediately inspired. If you don't want to watch, (why not? It's very cool! You should watch!) here's the story: this guy lost around 100 pounds by playing DDR and making small changes to his diet by switching from regular soda to diet soda and eating a filling food or breakfast. He mentions eating a lot of oats in his video.



This is the video though! This is what inspired me to take DDR to a new level - a fitness level. I found his video somewhere between very late 2006 and early 2007, and here we were, around seven years later, and I still go back to the original video. He's updated at least once, the video was uploaded about two years ago, and there are other DDR related videos that I haven't seen yet. But the particular video I have here is the video that I found so inspiring. I didn't start right then. I have yo-yo dieted and exercised since seeing this video, but for the last fourteen months, there hasn't been a yo-do, except if it's on a permanent down! :) No going up for this girl!

The video above isn't the only video regarding weight loss and DDR. I'll end this post with a link to another YouTube video dedicated to DDR and weight loss. Feel free to watch. Did you know that DDR is an official sporting event in Norway?

This link is to a YouTube video where a Jeopardy contestant speaks with Alex Trebek. She lost fifty pounds playing DDR!


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