Just Dance 3 offers workout freedom

Most of my columns tell you to go to the gym to exercise. This one isn't  telling you not to exercise, but come on, how many of us actually wake up and think, "I just can't wait to go to the gym." It's boring, and who wants to do something that's no fun? Think about it, even if you have a friend to go with and a sweet playlist to listen to, chances are you'll still be bored.

 Half of the time while doing cardio, you aren't able to watch the TV show you'd like because other people have control over the TV set. If you're in a public gym and get so lucky to watch your show of choice, you are probably going to have to read the captions.

That's no fun. Even if you're lucky and live in a place that allows you to listen to the words instead of just reading them, you'll probably still be bored of doing the same repetitive up and down movement on the elliptical machine. Who really wants to run on a treadmill for a half hour? It's critical to find workouts  you enjoy doing. The key word being "enjoy." You can work out for an hour a day, but if you hate it, shouldn't you spend your time doing something more fun?

Most of us have some sort of game station to play. If you have the Wii or the Xbox Kinect, you can workout without boredom. I was watching TV the other day and saw the Wii commercial for Just Dance 3. There was a group of friends dancing and, as most media has to have some sex in it to sell the product, one of the girls had a sports bra on.

Is video game dancing a good workout? Yes. Do you really get that hot that you need to only wear a sports bra? Probably not. Yes, you will get sweaty, but unless you're playing the Xbox Kinect or working out in an 80 degree apartment, you probably won't get sports-bra-and-short-shorts hot. Regardless, it's still a solid cardio workout that could replace the extreme boredom of the machines at the gym.

According to http://www.calorie-counter.net, line dancing burns four calories per minute, active dancing and aerobics burns seven calories per minute and strenuous dancing such as tap or hip-hop burns 10 calories per minute. Even though this may be only one statistic, there are many additional factors determining the number of calories burned per workout session. The amount of lean muscle you have, your metabolic rate, fitness level, intensity and of course how long you exercise all play a fair role in how many calories you burn.

Don't think you can just dance for two songs and that's sufficient. If you're going to use these dance games as a form of exercise cardio, plan on working out to at least 10 songs. At three minutes per song, you'll burn a fair number of calories. Also with games such as Just Dance for the Wii, there are special "workout" modes, which allow you to choose how many calories you'd like to burn per session.

As with all exercises, don't cheat yourself. We all know if you play the Wii, you could decide to not move your legs and the system wouldn't be able to sense the lack of movement. In reality, you could sit on the couch, move your arms in the correct way and trigger the game.

But that's cheating. Out of all of the people in the world, the last person you want to cheat is yourself. In addition, with our busy schedules, cheating at exercise would just be waste of time.

There are a variety of different options when it comes to dance games, and you can find most of them at a fair price at places like Wal-Mart or Target. I personally love playing the Michael Jackson Experience on the Wii and Dance Central on the Kinect.

Of course, there are other great workouts you can do on a game station, but in my opinion, the dance games are the most fun. Who in their right mind would be opposed to burning calories while having fun?  So, go ahead, grab a friend, and "dance like no one is watching you."