Last week, we featured a U.S. Navy-sponsored research that first person and third person shooter video games can enhance cognitive performance that gamers can be ideal recruits for the armed services. Whilst that is a good thing, there is one thing that bothers us --- are video gamers physically strong enough to undergo the rigors of military training?

Well, according to a U.S. Army Major, those from the “Nintendo Generation” but really pertaining to Generation Z (those born from the Mid-1990s to early 2010s), are not ready:

"The ‘Nintendo Generation’ soldier skeleton is not toughened by activity prior to arrival, so some of them break more easily," said Army Maj. Jon-Marc Thibodeau, a clinical coordinator and chief of the medical readiness service line at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.

The first thing that comes to mind is basically are those gamers playing long hours inside their darkened rooms with no physical activity except for their fingers on their controllers or bringing snacks to their mouths. Worse, according to the Pentagon 71 percent of young Americans between 17 and 24 are ineligible to serve in the United States military for being not physically in shape, drug use, or even the meeting education requirements to join the services.

"We see injuries ranging from acute fractures and falls, to tears in the ACL, to muscle strains and stress fractures, with the overwhelming majority of injuries related to overuse," said Army Capt. Lydia Blondin, assistant chief of physical therapy at the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital at Fort Leonard Wood.

According to the report the injuries are mostly at the lower extremities with females affected more.

It is recommended that before go to the nearest recruitment center and getting hauled off to boot camp, they better prepare physically some weeks before to get in better shape so they can survive boot camp and here are the tips:

• Start a training program with weight bearing exercises like running, walking, and some weight training.
• Consider a "Couch-to-5K" running progression program online or something similar to help slowly build into the rigors of basic training, especially if you've never played sports in high school, or if you're older and haven't been super active for a few years, since that makes you significantly more likely to sustain an injury at training.
• Talk to your recruiter about any train-up opportunities.
• Make sure you get in that sunshine and drink some milk regularly. Captain Blondin said they commonly see low calcium and vitamin D levels, specifically with bone stress injuries
• Watching your diet: In general, diet is a huge factor in bone and muscle heath and can significantly affect injury risk and recovery.

Well and good, but the U.S. Army is facing another issue, the Gen Z do not want to get drafted in case of  a major shooting war happens again according to Task and Purpose.

For our readers who are also Nintendo gamers, they can watch the full version of what we think to be the best Cosplay series, Beat Down Boogie’s “Mario Warfare” which we hope can inspire them to put down their controllers and get some real physical activity: