The arcade video game Dance Dance Revolution has been mentioned all over the web lately for it's benefits as exercise and a workout. To break up the boredom of walking on the treadmill, I decided to try out a PS2 version of Dance Dance Revolution, called DDR Max.

Unlike most video games, Dance Dance Revolution is much more involved, mainly due to the requirement of using a dance pad as a controller. There are countless types of DDR dance pads: soft, hard, metal, and so on. These pads can get quite elaborate and expensive. We purchased an Ignition 2.0 Soft Pad.

Although I'm not a big fan of dancing or dance music, I can see how addictive Dance Dance Revolution can be. And it's immediately clear when you first start playing the game that it can give you quite a workout. Most recent video game console editions of DDR even include a workout mode to monitor your exercise and progress. A major stumbling block for the game is the extremely steep learning curve -- I won't be serving up any moves like the arcade players in these DDR videos anytime soon.