The world is going crazy for Pokemon GO right now.
Millions of fans are traipsing around the streets of every major global city, glued to their phones looking for Pokemon to catch and trainers to fight. It’s every ’90s kid’s dream.
The new augmented reality app, which has finally launched in the UK, allows you to see Pokemon in the game overlaid on real-world locations.
But you have to go outside and hunt them down to catch ’em all – with water Pokemon found near lakes and rivers and grass Pokemon out in parks and fields.
Therein lies the beauty of the game. It gets gamers off their arses, out of their bedrooms and into the real world and moving around.
Don’t underestimate the power of this game to get you fitter, burning fat and losing weight either.
Walking is incredible exercise for burning calories. If you’ve ever had a fitness tracker you’ll know just how many calories you can burn off walking – and you’re going to be doing A LOT of it if you’re playing Pokemon GO.
Late Night Pokemon Walk
— P-Lo (@p_lo) July 13, 2016
The mobile game uses your smartphone’s GPS map to take you to physical locations around your town or city where you can catch Pokemon or battle other trainers at digital ‘gyms’.
The more you walk and explore, the further you get in the game – and obviously the more rare and exotic Pokemon aren’t just going to be sat in the bottom of your garden.
You can’t cheat the system either, there’s an in-app speedometer that knows if you’re travelling at more than 5 to 10 mph and will stop tracking if you do.
Eggs also won’t hatch unless you walk say 2km, 5km or even 10km and the app measures all your distance travelled. So basically, you have no choice but to get on Shanks’ Pony and walk.
Why is walking so good for you then? Well, apart from the general health benefits of improving energy levels, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, it is an incredibly effective fat burner.
Because it’s so low impact and your heart rate isn’t spiked enough, your body won’t burn carbs and will instead tap into your fat reserves for energy to burn.
Pokemon is about to solve Americas obesity issue. Burn calories and catch Charzard… It's a win win
— Alex Bachman (@AlexBachman) July 11, 2016
Just walking around trying to catch Pokemon for an hour can burn 262 calories for the average British man (weighing 12st 6lbs).
Given that you’ll probably be hooked on the game and playing it for more than an hour at a time, you can expect to burn of even more calories.
This chart from Very Well shows how much you can burn depending on your bodyweight and how far you walk…
Already we’re finding out that people are clocking up some incredible mileage playing Pokemon.
‘In the six days that I’ve had it since the public release, I’ve walked 36.1km (about 22 miles), according to the game,’ Seattle man Joe Kim, who was one of the first people in the world to test the game, told Men’s Fitness.
A Reddit subgroup has already sprung up with tales of Pokemon GO trainers sharing stories about their physical exploits playing the game…
And the old saying ‘if it’s hurting, it’s working’ is anything to go by, then the game must be having a positive effect…
Walked so got damn much last night because this Pokemon GO shit is controlling my life, my legs are sore lmao
— luis (@greezy_lou) July 9, 2016
My legs are actually sore from all the walking I did yesterday playing pokemon go…who needs a gym membership
— Erik Vincent (@DaBestErok) July 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/Luxanite/status/751883724380307456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Pokémon go is the best work out I have ever gotten
— J O S H (@Josholzz) July 11, 2016
Bought a Fitbit to track how many calories I burn while searching for Pokemon pic.twitter.com/2e6BpCJJKo
— Andrew Talbot (@AndrewTalbot14) July 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/DaniRhem/status/752873207758073856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
