This year, I’m in the same boat as many other people: I’m committing to losing weight by picking up an exercise routine. For me, that routine includes Nintendo’s Ring Fit Adventure, although it has royally wrecked my legs on my first day.
Back in 2021, I committed to playing Ring Fit Adventure every day for two months (with the odd rest day). Sessions would take between half an hour and a full hour, and after those months, I managed to shave off 10kg. It’s exactly what I wanted.
If you’re unaware, Ring Fit Adventure is a game for the Nintendo Switch that uses your motion controllers (the JoyCons that come with the Switch and slot into its sides). It was released in 2019 as a piece of gamified fitness tech and became the Switch’s own Wii Fit, except much more engaging.
One of your controllers slots into a flexible ring, which can be squeezed in and pulled out (to give your arms and body something to flex against and work out with). The other gets strapped to your thigh, to track your leg movement and jogging. You can see how it plays out in the trailer below.
How it works is like a linear RPG with fitness mechanics. You run through levels and collect coins and ingredients (which you can use to brew performance-enhancing potions) as you go. Every now and then, you’ll encounter a party of monsters to fight, culminating with a boss fight with a weirdly jacked dragon at the end of the stage.
How do you fight? Well, with different workout types. Aerobics, squats, yoga poses, arm stretches, all kinds of workout styles can be used in combat.
It’s very basic fitness tech that, honestly, has more depth than intricacy. My brain latched onto the idea of a fitness videogame with basic-level RPG mechanics and a weirdly thirsty art style.
Even if you don’t want the RPG stuff, there’s still a lot to be had with Ring Fit. You can design your own workouts with different techniques, without even touching the game’s linear storyline. As I’ve come back, this is what I’ve been doing.
The problem is that I fell off, and now, two years later, I’m trying to get back on. And I’ve f*cked it.
On January 2 I booted the game up. I stretched, got my water, got my workout playlist in order and gave the game a good half hour of time, jogging for most of it.
In the one level that I played through (I didn’t want to push myself too hard after returning after so long) I encountered three battles, and in the first one I absolutely destroyed my legs.
One of the attack styles I had equipped was the Overhead Squat. I’ve got nothing to prove, and I’m not gonna pretend I’m a fitness professional, but these destroyed me.
I spent the next few days recovering, with my legs barely able to move, all because I had my difficulty cranked through the roof from my original playthrough and thought I could take on these high-level squat powers on my first day back (I can’t believe I just typed that).
So, why am I writing this article? Well, I guess it’s a commitment piece. I wanna keep this fitness stuff up, and I’m going to be much more proactive with it, using a Google Doc to track my daily progress and food intake. Now that my legs have recovered, I’m back on the Switch and hopefully losing 10kg again (which I picked up again after a year and then some).
I’m hoping to update this article at some point with an update on my Ring Fit Adventure journey. I’m hoping to lose between 10 and 20kg, while also eating much healthier.
But here’s my warning to you. Don’t f*ck with leg workouts, especially if you’re just getting back into a routine. Jesus.