So I finally got my hands on the infamous Wii Fit (read more about stock problems here). After the first few days of hype what do I think of it? Has it delivered all it has promised? In short for now the answer would probably be yes. Although there are a few catches to it.
Pounds Do Not Magically Disappear
Let's get this out first. If you think that just by buying the thing your weight problems are going to automatically go away, then do not bother spending your money. The games are fun, and very addictive - especially when your damn bubble keeps popping when just seconds away from the finish line - but at the end of the day it is exercise, and if you want to see results you have to not only do more than 5 minutes, but also try to be consistent at it.
Just like with any other fitness program it is good to establish routine. It doesn't need to be daily exercise, but consistency is a must. Another thing worth noting is the time you spend playing - 30 minutes is pretty much a must, and as the Wii Fit itself will inform you:
- try doing at least 30 minutes for a day
- if you cannot do it in at once, try breaking it into 10 minute sessions
- 60 or more minutes should give you good results
When Does the Fun End?
Some criticize Wii Fit for the simplicity of the games. And that is true, it is purely a collection of plenty of mini-games categorized into activity groups: yoga, muscle, aerobic and balance. Though back to my initial point this is mostly a fitness encouraging program not aimed to satisfy the hardcore gamers tastes.
I think that it is actually good these games are so short... Call me crazy but, when you ache after your 60 minutes sessions the next day, you might appreciate you had not spent 3 or 4 hours on it. And yes, if you are not a fitness example yourself you will probably feel your muscles working. But as the saying goes - no pain no gain...
A word of warning when it comes to activities - make sure you do not overdo the Hoola Hoop onhe. It looks nice and easy, but boy, does it hurt your knees! Yes, you heard me right, knees. You do work your waist alright, but it's the legs that really get it. Out of the aerobic set I did find the step activities to be the most pleasurable to work with.
The Benefits of Yoga
You will be surprised how hard some of the activities are to do. I guess I didn't really need Wii Fit to tell how much I suck at push-ups. One thing that I was quite pleasantly surprised with, was the yoga section. I have done yoga before, and I though to myself, well what can I really gain from doing it on the board. Imagine my surprise when I realized how much my body actually shifts when breathing! But overall the center of gravity tracking is really helpful in increasing your awareness of your body balance etc.
For those who have not done yoga before. You might be amazed how effective it is, despite the looks of it. You might think, well what is the big deal in standing for a few seconds in one position... But once you actually start practicing, you will realize that even standing straight on it's own, can be quite a difficult task.
One thing I would hope to see possibly as an update is the ability to increase reps in yoga just as you can do with the muscle training activities. As some of the poses I would love to do 2-3 times longer, but to repeat it you have to break your pose and press the button a few times to restart the process.
Are You Well Balanced?
Last but not least come the balance games. This is the really fun bit. Skiing, snowboarding, walking the line, flying in a little bubble, catching fish and more. What I found very interesting is that what one person finds hard another might find quite easy. According to most tests I am fairly well balanced, while my Partner did slightly worse. However when it came to the Skiing challenge I suck till today, and he mastered it almost immediately.
Track Your Progress
OK, so maybe it is slightly more fun than going to the gym. Maybe it does have the plus of not having to leave your house (especially when it is raining). Maybe it spares you exposing your unfit body to all those exercise freaks at the gym... But does it actually work?
The graphs that help you track your progress are quite good. And when you see the bar going down towards your goal it does make you feel good. It does have the downside of daily weightings - as your weight fluctuates during the day, even though you are progressing you might see an occasional climb in the measurement. To help avoid random results you could try to do the body test about the same hour each time. Obviously doing it sometime in the morning has the extra benefit of most similar conditions - no varying meals, no different daily activities to influence the measurement.
My progress so far has not been exceptional. After about two weeks of Wii Fit, I managed to go down about 1-2 kilograms. So if you are expecting to suddently become fit and slim, you might be disapponted. On another note most of the activities are proper excercise and although following them on screen makes you forget you are exercisisng and feels just like having fun it still can leave you aching...
