Wii Fit: At First Glance

Nintendo recently released a new fitness game for its popular Wii game console. Tonight I decided to try it out. The Wii Fit uses a wireless balance board for all of its games. Here’s how it works. You step on the board, and the magic begins. It measures your center of gravity to determine whether you are doing the exercises and movements correctly.

Getting Started

At first, you create a user profile by providing basic information (age, height, etc). The balance board then measures your weight and calculates your body mass index (BMI). It puts you through a couple of balances tests to determine your “fitness age.” Mine was a devastating 43, but in my defense, it took me a couple of times to understand how to work the balance test. I’m sure I’ll do better next time.

After undergoing basic tests and setting fitness goals, you can move on to the fun stuff.

Working Out (or for those who don’t like to work out: Game Play)

Wii Fit offers about 40 different activities, and they are divided into four basic categories: Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance. I started with Yoga. Wii Fit offers a handful of Yoga poses, but you can unlock more by earning credits which are gained by performing activities. At first glance, I enjoyed it. Some of the poses were easy, and others were more challenging. I do wish that the Wii Fit had an option for a complete workout rather than just a choice of individual poses. In addition, it should have a way to bypass all of the talking and instructions provided by the trainer. That will get old really fast once you’ve done the exercises a few times.

After Yoga, I moved on to the Strength Training. I enjoyed these exercises because they were more challenging than the basic Yoga poses. One of the neat things about the Wii Fit is that even though you are doing strength training exercises, it feels more like a game. For example, you get points by doing the exercises correctly, and you can earn status rankings (i.e. high scorer lists, etc).

I skipped Aerobics since it was almost midnight, and I didn’t want to get my heart rate up. Instead, I played the balance games. There are some fun skiing activities that will give your legs a good workout. I wasn’t the best at these, but they were fun.

All in all, I think it’s worth the money. If you already have a Wii, you should check it out.