Ring Fit Adventure

[Abnormal Palm]

Until I injured my knees a few years ago, I never had to make myself do exercise or even think about what I ate because I did so much sport as part of my regular week. Even when I lived abroad, I organised loads of group sports with mates and various expats and locals. I really enjoyed it and it's undoubtedly something I miss. To be honest, it's not really the camaraderie, it's the expression of physical skill and competitive challenge. It's probably why I'm really into shmups and fighting games and shit like that. I like a goal, I like the feeling of improvement and doing something physical and I do really enjoy competition. These days, I go on the exercise bike while playing on the Switch, which is perfectly enjoyable and at least some physical activity but it's not especially exciting. And that's the fascinating context for why I was interested in this seemingly dumb game. Scummers have been flipping it on Amazon and eBay for 200 notes so I decided to bide my time and pounce when stockinformer pinged.

This is really really good fun, and deceptively good exercise.

For a start, the game component is quite a bit more involved than I was expecting. Even while you're jogging or squatting your way to next battle or next rest area, there's loads of little stuff to be doing to engage you and basically make you forget that you're exercising. Squeezing and pulling the daft ring is pretty hard work, never mind all the squatting and stretching and crunching and what have you. You can rotate and squeeze it to fire a gust of air and the harder you squeeze, the further you fire. There's loads of little targets and stuff to shoot and you forget you're jogging on the spot pretty quickly. Likewise, if you tilt it down and squeeze and hold, you'll jump and kind of float for a bit while you maintain that position. It's fun and responsive, simple as that.

They recently added a load of rhythm games and mini games and different modes and exercise only stuff, cut out the story and high score chase against your mates. I haven't tried much of that yet but I expect it'll be pretty cool from the vids I've seen.

Anyway, something very different for me and different to what I usually post about here but I am looking forward to getting up early tomorrow and playing some more. I actually feel excited to get exercising again which is a great feeling. As dumb as it looks, I would recommend this in all sincerity.

[falafel]

Glad to see you are enjoying it. It's brilliant. And pretty tough going. Skill tree is pretty massive, there is some pretty well done RPG stuff in there, and it has let me get into grind mode with zero guilt. Over two months in of playing every other day more or less and the story is far from over, with the balance just right to make you feel a sense of jeopardy and forcing you to mix up your exercises whilst fairly rarely actually letting you lose a battle. So it just pulls you onwards. There is an elderly yoga instructor called Guru Andma and as of a couple of weeks ago they introduced a rhythm game that lets you do pilates jazzercise to Jump Up Superstar.

[Jim Bob]

PRO TIP: During squats, put a kitty litter tray beneath you and you won't even have to pause the game when you need to give your secondary ring a workout.

[Jim Bob]

Sorry, I shouldn't make fun.  I think that it's great that you've found a creative outlet for your competitive exercising needs,
Abnormal Palm.

[peanutbutter]

Where'd you find it in stock? I'd probably buy a switch if I thought I could get this for less than an arm and a leg, gonna be getting one later in the year for Burnout Paradise anyways

[Hobo]

We got ours from Argos on friday. Set up a stock alert on Hotukdeals and it'll email whenever a deal goes live.

[brat-sampson]

It really is good. Thorough cardio workout that will beast you regardless of fitness level if you want it to and the actual game is pretty impressive for something attached to fitness routine, with xp, stores, item creation, fun enemy designs, etc. I've been on it most days during lockdown after having it since nearly launch. It's not there to bulk you up, but to keep you trim and as something you can easily run at home it's bloody great.

Word of warning, Fitness Gyms will knock you the fuck out.

[madhair60]

Edit: Decided to be sincere. I'm considering getting this but I'm not sure I have enough space.

[falafel]

It's surprisingly modest for how much it needs. If you can find a way to arrange furniture so you can lie perpendicular to your TV, and you can stretch your arms out to your sides, there is only one exercise that can be a bit awkward so far (boat pose, requires you to lie with your arms stretched above your head so needs about 7 ft which has me bashing the sofa)

[falafel]

Also an exercise mat is a good idea. If you can get one unrolled in front of the telly, you probably have enough space.

[brat-sampson]

Boat pose always makes me feel like I'm just falling over backwards, slowly, then struggle-wiggling to get back up :/

[falafel]

Same. Worst ones are fan pose and seated forward press, the latter which in particular looks piss easy but is utterly and incomprehensibly outside of my range of motion and makes me feel permanently on the verge of rolling backwards like a fuckwit

https://ringfitadventure.fandom.com/wiki/Seated_Forward_Press

[Abnormal Palm]

Since I started playing this, my spine feels like a peperamo.

In a good way! Limber af.

[Hobo]

Reported stock in Currys at RRP

[falafel]

Has anyone managed to work out how to do an ab guard in a way that feels like actual exercise? Convinced I'm doing it wrong but the guidance is shite.

[brat-sampson]

I feel pressure on my tumtum, but that's about it. I find putting my arms across it with my elbows by my hips helps make sure it's my stomach doing more work than my arms, at least, but that's about it.

[Dewt]

I would love to be allowed to purchase this fucking game.

[MojoJojo]

I would love to be allowed to purchase this fucking game.

[thelittlemango]

I still can't do the boat pose, I just end up rolling around on the floor like an egg.

[Abnormal Palm]

Had a good session on this with my missus this morning. Good laugh and fun doing the rhythm games together trying to beat each other's scores. Probably the best ever fitness game.

[falafel]

I feel pressure on my tumtum, but that's about it. I find putting my arms across it with my elbows by my hips helps make sure it's my stomach doing more work than my arms, at least, but that's about it.

Yep that's my experience. It makes the flying and rowing bits a bit annoying because they would be good fun and decent workouts if they used different exercises, but in practice just feel sort of silly.

I'm complaining, but this is still tops. Wasn't sure about levelling up some exercises (turning left and right repeatedly probably shouldn't be doing much damage) but I think squat level 2 makes you go a bit lower to get Great, might be my imagination?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Ring Piece Adventure

[brat-sampson]

Yep that's my experience. It makes the flying and rowing bits a bit annoying because they would be good fun and decent workouts if they used different exercises, but in practice just feel sort of silly.

I'm complaining, but this is still tops. Wasn't sure about levelling up some exercises (turning left and right repeatedly probably shouldn't be doing much damage) but I think squat level 2 makes you go a bit lower to get Great, might be my imagination?

I think you maybe have to do more/longer reps, but the movements stay the same. It's definitely not balanced in terms of damage/difficulty of exercise in any way, though I guess that can vary for different people. Hard to imagine someone finding overhead squats easier than say Ring Raise for example. Still, try and 'focus on your core' or whatever and hope for the best :p

[sirhenry]

Totally fucked up my knees with this a few days ago. I was doing really well, enjoying keeping up a daily routine despite hating the idea of exercise for exercise's sake, until I had two days of mostly squats - spring squats, rowing with loads of low bridges, etc. After the second day even going upstairs was wobbly and painful, not something I've had since giving up on the Munroe-bagging. But having given up on it I was genuinely surprised to be missing it.

But yesterday my wife discovered the ability to add 'Be gentle with me' settings for different parts of the body so in the next day or so I'll probably be back pretending that my abs are herculean because ab guards don't feel like exercise. An addiction I can live with...

[falafel]

I think you maybe have to do more/longer reps, but the movements stay the same. It's definitely not balanced in terms of damage/difficulty of exercise in any way, though I guess that can vary for different people. Hard to imagine someone finding overhead squats easier than say Ring Raise for example. Still, try and 'focus on your core' or whatever and hope for the best :p

Right, a lot is about discipline and using the muscles you're supposed to. Front press and chair pose are good examples. If you just casually lift and lower the ring in chair pose it's a pisstake, but it can be pretty tough if you focus on holding your spine straight, stretching your arms right out and folding your body (rather than just stooping).

Apparently once you're fully leveled up all the exercises have the same power, looking forward to that.

sirhenry - my fiancée ruined his ankle doing that run-stepping blue exercise a bit too vigorously. That was a month ago, and he has chickened out completely now. I can't imagine anyone injuring themselves with Wii Fit so maybe it's just a testament to this making you actual exercise, which is inherently a bit risky...

[brat-sampson]

I played in barefoot for the first 10 days or so then managed to really hurt my foot. Now I put on running shoes and haven't had any problems, apart from one time it made my shoulder hurt for a couple of days... It's definitely possible to do yourself some damage if you're not careful.

[MojoJojo]

Taking orders now at amazon, although the price has gone up and not actually in stock till 7th June. It's £90 in the uk store but I got it for £83 from the german store.

[thelittlemango]

This boat pose still mystifies me, is it an issue of balance or core strength? I'm not even close to being able to do it without falling on my big and then rocking myself forward aggressively to get back into a sitting pose and always overcooking it. It's demented.

[Mango Chimes]

Has anyone managed to work out how to do an ab guard in a way that feels like actual exercise? Convinced I'm doing it wrong but the guidance is shite.

I think you're supposed to really tense, like you're about to be punched in the stomach, so that you're pushing out as much as you are pushing in.

[falafel]

Weirdly, this turned out not to be a fad for me. I have had a couple of fallow periods but I still pick it up and play probably more than anything else on the Switch. But I really fucked it today. After a lot of fannying about with side quests, I decided to take on the last Drago boss. Went and did it, and it was taking AGES, got through a ton of smoothies but was comfortably about to kick his arse, on the last health bar, about 45 minutes in... I got a phone call from an insurance company, fobbed them off, and went to go back to the game and somehow managed to ACCIDENTALLY QUIT. So now I have to start that all over again, minus the smoothies.

No bother, I thought, I've got a load of diamonds and stuff I never use so I will just sell them all and then buy a bunch of smoothies and ingredients back. So I went and sold them, and then went over and started buying the smoothies. Got loads of them. Until I realised what I was actually doing was selling them. Selling the few that I had left. Fuck. So then I went back into the buy section thinking, y'know, like in most RPGs, they will have added my stuff to their inventory so I can just buy it back.

No. A load of shit they had. Stupidly marked up too. My stuff vanished into the ether. So i have about 15000 coins which will buy me basically fuck all, no gems, barely any smoothies, and I am punching myself in the face repeatedly for being a fucking cretin.

The frustration is especially excruciating because I wasn't just pressing buttons, I was exerting myself in quite painful ways for quite a long time and now I'm all achey and have nothing to show for it. Insult thoroughly added to injury. So, fuck this game. By which I mean life, the game of life, fuck it hard.