I’ll admit, I’m not one for running around town like a mad man attempting to lose weight. I don’t have time with my work schedule. Nor do I like going to the gym, it just sucks. The machine you want is usually tied up with some steroid junkie attempting to impress some hottie across the room. And at four in the morning I’m not about to roll around on the ground to do push-ups and sit-ups, I’ll just roll over and go back to sleep. So that left me wondering how the hell am I gonna get motivated into getting back into shape, one other than round.
Then I found it. An actual app for geeky gamers like me, Zombies, Run!. It combines my love of Live Action Role Play (LARPing), video games and exercise. I was skeptical at first because of the price, ($7.99 for the full epic adventure), but they now have a beginners version at $3.99. Sold!. And I’ll say worth every penny thus far.
You start out slow, and it doesn’t matter if you start walking or running. Don’t worry eventually you will get to the point of running because you won’t even be thinking about you’re doing, you’ll be too busy trying to escape hordes of zombies. Again, I’m not a runner, so I started off walking the first few minutes, but got caught up in the story that when the “Zoms” came I was sprinting as fast as I could to get away. So no matter what your fitness level this game will get you started in a gradual way.
The game starts out with the first mission, you get dropped into a hot spot and have to find your way to the refuge/base camp. Along the way the game provides instructions as to what to do via a radio operator from the base camp. You also pick up necessary items such as food, clothing, medicine and intel as you go along. The operator also keeps track of you as you go and warns you when the hordes are swarming and when to haul ass. What’s also neat is in between transmissions the game uses music from your device to keep you go on.
Overall, for those that are having a hard time getting motivated to go out and run, this is a good way to take your mind off the dirty task. I actually have done this for a few days now and feel myself getting better, faster and going longer already. Once I complete the beginners pack I will definitely be getting the full on epic version. Another great thing is that the app is no longer just for the iPhone. It is also available for Android phones, iPods, and Windows Phones. Now there is no excuse for you to not keep that New Years Resolution of getting into shape.
