New to DDR, need workout mode advice

[DNJSHORE]

Hello all,

I just purchased DDR Max2 yesterday and a pad. Last night was my first time playing and I thought it was fun.

DDR actually caught my eye due to seeing a video story on the girl who lost 90 lbs. It sounded like a fun alternative to the treadmill for me.

I wore a heart monitor while doing it and got my heart rate up while going through some of the practice exercises.

However I'm having a problem with the workout mode. I'd like to avoid any pauses so I can keep my heart rate up. Avoiding the course cleared stops, etc. Also I'll start going on some of the songs and then all the sudden I'll hit one that is very overwhelming. Any tips on how to best setup a routine as a beginner? Is there a list of the difficulty of the songs? If I can't keep up it feels like I'm stepping just for the sake of stepping. I'm looking to get my heart rate up and shed some pounds. ;D

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[jerradk]

The real only advice I can give you is to play some light songs or whatever is to your doing. Then go to Non Stop mode and there should be an option called Players Best (or something), it is the songs that you frequently do!

I have Max 2, but I really haven't gotten into it, cause I've been playing Max lately!

Let me know if this works or not, I'd be interested!

Take care!

[FaerieLink3]

the stops drive me crazy too...but i found an option (in 4th mix) to set work out mode to non-stop all songs... so i just play and play and play!!

and yea...some of the songs are hard =( ... so i really do just keep moving thru the hard songs... slowly getting better....steping for the sake of stepin is better than not stepping at all =)

and welcome to DDR!

[sean]

If you're using Max 2 I can offer a few tips:

- Use the Beginner mode; most of the songs there are one-footers and shouldn't be a problem. A few of them are two-footers though (and Maxx Unlimited, when you unlock it, will be a three-footer even on Light mode).

- I'm guessing that the songs you're having trouble with are the faster ones. If you hit "Start" on the song selection screen twice, the songs will be reorganized by their speed or BPM (beats per minute). Stick with the slower songs to start out, then work your way up to the fastest ones.

- Once you've played enough songs you'll unlock "Endless Mode", which spews the songs out at you fairly nonstop (you get to take a water/bathroom break after every five songs). You won't get the calorie counter, but the calorie counter isn't that accurate anyway. When you do access Endless Mode, though, be sure to set the difficulty to Beginner; I didn't when I first accessed it and nearly tripped over myself when I had a real tough song chucked at me without warning.

[DNJSHORE]

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I did workout mode for 30 minutes today and did a lot better. I organized it by BPM as suggested and bumped it up each time.

It said at the end that I only burned about 150 calories or so. I know it has been said that the calorie counter is not that accurate but how off is it?

When I workout on the treadmill I usually do 30 minutes so I guess that's the time I'll continue to use while playing DDR in workout mode.

[FaerieLink3]

humm...yea...calorie burning can vary so much

I burn about 300-400 in 30 min on trick

*shrug*.... i burn about the same on a bike...

[DJLancer]

Ya but you can't "Shake it like a polaroid picture" on your bike. =) I actually started out with XBox workout mode which sets the songs slightly easier then in normal game mode light, but harder then 1 footers tend to be. I tell ya I dont know if I just developed a lot of stamina fast but I went from huffin and puffing doing 2-3 footers for 15-20 mins to going for 2 hours a day now doing 3-5 footers (only 5's challenge me now) =) for a lot of people thats not much, but for me it is. Considering Im obese moving around this much really does make the phrase "What doesnt kill us only makes us stronger."

My best advice, dont even do workout mode except to get into the game. Do game mode, do that and just play and play and keep working to beat your scores. Its always nice when you go from a E to a C or a C to an A etc. Keeps me motivated. Some of you may feel the same.