The Nintendo Wii was originally designed with 'Active Play' in mind and with the addition of the Wii Balance board is takes it to a whole new level!

The balance board was originally made for and comes complete with the Wii Fit software.

Using this software you can work on your posture and balance, excercise, lose pounds and tone muscles, engage in some yoga, track your progres towards reaching your ideal B.M.I and all whilst having fun.

The balance board is extremely easy to set up and install, you simply press a button and the computer connects it for you.
The first time you play you have to create a profile for yourself. You proberly already have your own Mii from playing other Wii games in which case you select you Mii, enter your age, sex and height details and the board will weigh you, check your center of balance and put you through a series of tests to check your general fitness.

Once you have a starting point it will then tell you your weight and B.M.I. as well as telling you what your ideal B.MI should be.
If like me your a few pounds above healthy it will allow you to set a goal to lose the weight. You enter how many pounds you would like to lose per fortnight, and it recomends what a safe amount is and then you mark it on your calender to aim for.

When using the software to work out you have a choice of:

Aerobics- This is the best way to burn fat and improve your general fitness and it's what I tend to use the most. Here your choices are hula hooping, stepping, jogging or boxing. On all them you have a goal to aim for and it will rate your performance at the end. You unlock new levels as you progress and then increase the difficulty to get the full benefit.

Muscle- These are a series of workout designed to stretch and tone your muscles. Different exercises work on different parts of your body and the software explains which exercises work well together for maximum effect. Again you have little goals to aim for and can increase the difficulty as you progree.

Balance- In this section there a series of fun games such as tight-rope walking and marbles all designed to improve your balance and posture. It explains why balance and posture are so important to weight-loss and fitness.

Yoga- A series of yoga strechs which are very usefull when warming up or down. It talks you through each one whilst you watch a demonstration and you unlock the more complex ones as you master the simpler ones.

Losing weight is a long process and so the balance board keeps track of your progress and lets you know how far you have left to go. It tracks what activities yo do the most and adds them into your favourites. It conducts a daily fitness test and weigh in, providing obviously you go on it each day and you have what is known as the fit piggy. Each minute of exercise earns you one point and you generally try to aim for 30 minutes a day. The more points you get in your fit piggy the more exercises you unlock.

It's like having a gym in your own living room but much more fun.

The balance board itself appears very sturdy and is very relaible, I've had mine for months and it has always been very precise.
It can hold a maximum weight of 300 pounds which is around 23 stone so should suit most people.

The board is also very easily stored when not in use. It is approximately a foot wide, a few centimetres tall and weighs only 3kg. I find that it slides perfectly under my settee when I am not using it.

It is a little expensive at around £70 (that's what I paid) but when you consider the features it offers and how long it will last you see it's well worth the money. There are also some new Wii balance board releases promised such as a snowboarding game which means that you will soon be able to use the board for much more then just keeping fit.

The Wii balance board and Wii fit software is fun, effective and personal. Forget going to the gym, forget your work-out video's.
This product WILL get you into shape and best of all you'll enjoy every second of it.