Is Nintendo Switch Sports Good Exercise?

How can you make exercise fun? Nintendo has always been trying to figure it out dating all the way back to the track and field mat for the NES. The latest entry in the Wii Sports series has arrived and its time to figure out if Nintendo Switch Sports is good exercise?

First, it’s very important to note we are not trained health professionals and recommended talking to your doctor before any type of exercise program.

Before trying to figure out the answer, it’s important to get a baseline for testing. Our resting heart rate throughout the day averaged around 78 BPM. When playing Nintendo Switch Sports for an hour, our average BPM was around 88, which isn’t anything extraordinary but every little bit helps and doing something is better than doing nothing. This increased activity burned 37 percent additional calories or about 100 calories for 60 minutes of gaming, which over the course of playing a few times a week consistently could add up.

Currently, there are six sports in Nintendo Switch Sports. For one hour of exercise, we played each sport for ten minutes. This is a simple and fun workout that anyone can do because it never feels like you are doing the same thing for too long. The two sports that increased the heart rate the most was Badminton and surprisingly bowling. The two sports the increased the heart rate the least were soccer and tennis. If you attached the leg strap, this could be increased likely but with the joy con hand controls, it doesn’t do much.

As an added benefit, if you played online, not only would you be increasing your heart rate and burning more calories than sitting, but you would also be earning points towards all the in game rewards like outfits and gestures.

At the end of the day, anything active is better than anything sedentary and while Nintendo Swtich Sports likely won’t have you sweating buckets by the end of a play session, it is still a pretty drastic increase over your standard heart rate. If you’re looking for good workout while gaming then Ring Fit Adventure would be the better choice but Nintendo Swtich Sports can still get your heart rate going while having fun in your living room.