A FORMER Scotland rugby star has invented a new fitness regime – running for your life from zombies.
Ian Dryburgh said the fat-busting programme – called Zombie Survival Club (ZSC) – is designed to “get the adrenaline pumping”.
The former national under 21’s player said people who re-enact a flesh-eating apocalypse are likely to get fitter because they ran faster and punch harder – just like those being chased in the movies.
Ian said: “If someone is being chased through the park by a zombie, even just a pretend one, they tend to run that bit faster or box that bit more powerfully.
“You don’t need to dress up – you use your imagination for inspiration and your body to win the challenges set out.
“If you get a person in the right mindset it gets the adrenalin pumping – people will get out of breath because they want to win the challenges and they want to be able to beat their friend, who in this instance is a zombie.”
Ian used gamification – a way of using computer game thinking in non-game concepts – in order to get people off the couch.
Participants of ZSC – whose motto is ‘Get dead fit, or get dead…fast!’ – can recreate chase-scenes from famous walking dead films such as 28 Days Later, Resident Evil or Dawn of the Dead as they work out in Inverleith Park in Edinburgh each week.
In a basic exercise people are paired up with one being the zombie and they simply chase each other around the park.
Other scenarios involve people being ushered into a confined space while wearing tags that represent a ‘life source’ – they need to protect tags while the zombies try and rip them off.
The concept originally started as a way of getting die-hard video-gamers to stop blasting zombies in games and get them doing it for real.
Ian added: “Initially it was gamers and zombie lovers because there’s no outlet for people like that for actually doing exercise.
“But it turns out after starting it up that everyone likes the idea. It’s something different and it’s something actual sports people are using for fitness because it’s enjoyable.”
Another popular zombie trend is the 2.8 Hours Later treasure hunt in Glasgow.
A large-scale treasure hunt and chase game sees players hit the streets of the city and outrun people made up as zombies as they hunt for clues to the whereabouts of a survivors’ camp.
Other unusual fitness crazes include FitWet – launched last year it involves people cycling a stationary bike while sitting in a hot tub.
