.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Are Wii Fit yet?
.AUTHOR Heather Wardell
.SUMMARY In this helpful article, Heather Wardell puts the Wii Fit through its paces, as the Wii Fit puts her through her paces right back. Nintendo’s Wii Fit is one of the most difficult to find gaming peripherals. Is it worth the effort to hunt down? Read Heather’s review to find out.
.OTHER
Nintendo’s Wii Fit is one of the most difficult to find gaming peripherals. Is it worth the effort to hunt it down?
While I’m carrying a little more body fat than I’d like, I am in good shape. I run half marathons several times a year and, until 2009, did several weight training sessions weekly at a local gym. I wasn’t sure Wii Fit would be enough of a workout for me, but I love gadgets and so was excited to give it a try.
.CALLOUT I find that the system is more geared toward posture and balance than toward weight loss.
What makes Wii Fit truly revolutionary is the Balance Board accessory. Basically a white plastic plank about one by two feet, the Balance Board is both a scale and a way for the Wii to know exactly where your body’s weight is positioned. The system picks up even the slightest shifts in weight and balance and translates them into movement. There are a few games available that use the Balance Board, mostly skiing and snowboarding, but I’m sure more will come as developers understand the potential.
.TEASER Are you fit? Learn more about Wii Fit and find out.
.H1 Calculating your body mass index and fitness age
While Nintendo does encourage using the Wii Fit for exercise, I find that the system is more geared toward posture and balance than toward weight loss. For each day’s body test, you stand on the Balance Board, trying to remain still and centered, while the system determines your center of balance, degree of stability, and your body mass index (BMI).
BMI is calculated by dividing your body weight by the square of your height. It is generally reasonably accurate for sedentary people, but gives unrealistic results for the muscular as muscle weighs more than fat. It’s also not recommended as an assessment method for children. It is, however, a simple way to give an approximation of your relative body type, and I’m not sure Nintendo could have found a better one.
Calculations complete, the system announces, "That’s obese!" or "That’s overweight!" in a ridiculously cheery electronic voice.
The body test ends with two balance tests and then the system calculates your Wii Fit age. Supposedly this is based on your real age and the results of your tests, but in practice I’ve seen everything from 23 to 56 without any significant difference in my test results from day to day.
Nintendo has done a nice job of displaying your data without giving away more than you might like. In Figure A, for example, you see my weight graph for the last few weeks, but the start weight isn’t shown. No worry of accidentally telling someone your weight if you’d prefer to keep that secret. You can even put a password on your information if you feel the need.
.FIGPAIR A My weight graph for the last two weeks shows the patterns but not the actual weight numbers.
.H1 The exercises
After doing your body test — or without doing it if you’d rather not know on a particular day — you have four choices of activity types: yoga, balance, aerobics, and strength.
The exercises in each section, with a few odd exceptions, progress from easier to more advanced. Not all exercises are unlocked at first, which gives you something to look forward to.
Each exercise takes between one and ten minutes to perform. However, there is time lost between each exercise while you go back to the menu and select the next exercise. As a result, I find that accumulating thirty minutes of actual exercise time takes anywhere from forty to forty-five minutes.
Unfortunately, there is no option to set up an exercise program that strings a group of exercises together. To my mind, this is the biggest failing of the system. You’d get a better workout without the pauses between exercises, and it would also take less time.
.H2 Yoga
The yoga exercises begin with a simple deep breathing exercise and culminate with a challenging shoulder stand. In between are some typical yoga poses (triangle, warrior, cobra) and some I hadn’t seen before. Success is determined by how steadily you can hold a pose.
The balance activities are games, ranging from ski jumping and slalom skiing to an amusing "lean left and right to bounce soccer balls off your head without taking a shoe or panda head to the face" that’s probably the most fun of the entire system. The Balance Board’s sensitivity is so high that a shiver shows up on screen, and it can be difficult to hold the perfect position, but with practice it does get easier.
.H2 Aerobics
In the aerobics section, we have running in place, basic, and advanced step classes, hula hooping, and eventually boxing. My cardiovascular endurance is such that only the advanced boxing and hula hooping raise my heart rate.
For a newer exerciser, these aerobic activities are a great way to get started, especially for someone who’s uncomfortable exercising in public or at a gym. Both running and step have an unlockable "free" mode, in which you receive instruction through the Wii Remote and can watch television while working out.
.H1 Strength
The strength section is where I spend most of my time, and I in fact cancelled my gym membership because of it. Figure B shows the selection screen for the strength exercises, which work all the major muscle groups.
.FIGPAIR B The Wii Fit offers a wide variety of strength exercises.
While some exercises are pretty easy, some are a distinct challenge, and it’s here that Nintendo has made their strangest order decision. The first exercise is a fairly simple leg lift. The second is a gruelling "push up and side plank", in which you do a single push up and then shift your body weight to your right hand and foot while raising your left arm to the ceiling, then do another push up and switch sides.
While this is a great exercise, it appears far too early in the program. Even after two months of Wii Fit and a background of weight training I can’t complete the basic six repetitions without significant fatigue. A beginner would be frustrated by this exercise and might feel even less capable as a result; if it had appeared at the end of the list it would have been much more appropriate.
There are also three challenge exercises in the strength area: jackknife, push up, and plank. In these, you compete against your trainer (you may choose either a female or male trainer) to see who can complete more repetitions. If you’re able to continue, you always win, because the trainer will drop out eventually, but these are a great quick way to test whether your strength is improving and where you’re imbalanced. I can complete one hundred jackknives but only twelve push ups, so clearly I need to focus on my upper body strength.
The Wii Fit, however, gives you no guidance in this area. If you choose instead to do only the exercises that you find easy, it will cheerfully add up your minutes and not say a word. But then, that’s the same thing as joining a gym. You get out of exercise what you put into it, and if you put time and energy into the Wii Fit you will get results.
.H1 Does it work?
That being said, did I lose weight in the eight weeks or so I’ve had the Wii Fit? About one pound. However, I notice considerably more definition in my arms from those push ups, and my balance and posture are significantly better. I am aware of how I sit and stand now in a way I’ve never been before, and people think I’ve lost weight because my posture has improved.
Plus, the Wii Fit makes daily weigh-ins more entertaining, and so I do them, and I can see patterns in my weight (as in, I go up every weekend) that can guide my eating and exercise decisions. I’ve spent years in various gyms and on various diet programs, and still the Wii Fit is teaching me new things.
I have now unlocked all exercises, although there are a few cases (such as the side plank and push up) where I will eventually be able to unlock more repetitions of the same exercise. I would like to see an add-on pack available with more exercises and perhaps more balance games, and I do wish that Nintendo had made it possible to select the exercises you want to do in a particular session and then just run through them without constantly having to return to the menu.
However, the Wii Fit is entertaining and challenging as it is, and I anticipate making use of it for a long time to come.
My rating is a solid 4 out of 5.
.RATING 4
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Learn more about the [[http://www.nintendo.com/wiifit/|Wii Fit]]
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