I love DDR! It's my main source of exercise, after which I do a little stretching and some "weight training" with my own body as the weights.
It
does take some getting used to, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djs06
...Like anything else, if you try to "jump right in" it'll get frustrating and it won't be enjoyable.
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True story. Once I was able to do Basic with no problem and most Challenge songs with "Workout Step" on (so there aren't TOO many super-fast steps), I started sharing it with my family and friends... Some of them really liked it, but a lot of them got really frustrated when the steps didn't always register, and they had a hard time with timing. I was really frustrated the first day, too, because I just paid like $100 for the game and mat and it wasn't as simple as I expected, but sticking with it another day or two made me love it.
Be careful with your foot placement! I have unlady-like size 9 (or so) feet and got used to lifting my toes up if I was standing in the center so as not to hit the front arrow with the toes or the back with my heel. It's also extremely easy to hit the side arrows unintentionally while in the middle - another great reason for this advice:
Quote:
Originally Posted by djs06
Something that really helped me was to resist the tendancy to go back to center in between moves.
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Probably the best tip anyone could give for DDR.
Took me a lil' to realize it, as well.
If you haven't already, I also recommend you turn on "Workout Step" in your personal settings (if you're using Workout Mode) - it makes things vastly easier, and lets you do a variety of what WOULD have been harder songs without breaking an ankle.
I started out with Workout Step
on and Jump
off to ease into the flow of things, and now Jump has to be on to get me sweatin'. After a few more weeks of practice (and hopefully some weight-loss) I'm going to turn Jump back off and switch off Workout Step and try all of the songs with the fast, off-beat notes in there. I've tried it for fun a few times and it's even more of a workout than jumping all over the mat! It's HARD to move that fast, and a real challenge to follow the music/arrows when they're hitting off-beats.
For reference, right now I do mostly "random" songs, all of which are at Challenge (3rd difficulty level out of 5) with Workout Step on and Jump on, and I go for around an hour, usually a tad more. Even with my weight set lower than it really is (to fool the game) it still says I burn 500 - 600 calories per session.
Also, if you're more gifted with coordination than I am, you can throw in some dance arm moves to burn some extra calories. I can on slow songs, but they're usually flopping dead-weights at my sides during hard songs, haha.
Or, just hold them out to the side so they get a little exercise, too. It doesn't take much of that for mine to start burning.
Bonus: I think I'm going to have chiseled calves after awhile on this game, because I live in a 2nd floor apartment and I'm constantly stepping lightly on the balls of my feet so as not to anger the downstairs neighbors!
Keep on dancin'!