Can getting fit really be fun??? (Wii Fit (Wii))

Member Name: rlparker23

Product:	Wii Fit (Wii)
Date:	23/06/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Shows you how to do exercises correctly, balance games are fun, the balance board

Disadvantages: doesn't get that hard if you are really looking to build your fitness

I bought my wii fit a few months ago now and after a couple of uses put it away and forgot about it. I started doing normal exercise DVDs instead as I thought they would be more beneficial. Sadly my complete lack of will power meant I didn't do the DVDs for long either! Over the last year I have piled the weight on and I must admit I am dreading the summer. I am the largest of all my friends and work colleagues and I am embarrassed about taking part in activities as I am so unfit and self conscious. I have stopped wearing skirts and dresses and now live in the same baggy tops and jeans.

The annoying thing is I know when I put my mind to it I can loose weight and follow an exercise routine. I have done it before and lost over 3 stone. The problem is keeping it off and staying healthy. Also I hurt my knee two years ago on a skiing trip and it still causes me a lot of pain today. After one x-ray my GP has got bored of trying to help so I rely on a large amount of ibuprofen gel/tablets and a knee brace for when it is cold. This doesn't excuse my lack of exercise but it is definitely something that puts me off even trying.

So as I have been racking my brain to think of a new review and I don't want to turn into The Blob I thought why not dig out my wii fit and give it a proper try. It promises to ease you into exercising gently so it may be better for my knee then 40 minutes of squats with a crazed Davina Mccall! So here we go a one month trail of the wii fit.

As I am probably never going to meet any of you I will be big and brave... I am 27, 5 foot 10 and weigh 16 stone 5lbs!!!!! Oh dear I was a size 12 about 4 years ago that's an increase of about a dress size a year as I am now an 18. Bugger.

I will also be trying to eat healthier food so hopefully that will make a difference. No more afternoon choccy for me... bigger bugger.

Right then on to the wii fit.

As you will all know by now the wii fit comes with a balance board (big white plastic thing you stand on so it can tell you how fat you are :D ). This detects even the smallest movement you make while you are standing on it. Throughout the exercises it shows you your centre of gravity so you can check your balance and make sure you are doing it properly. It is also used as a step for doing the step aerobics on.

First you need to select you Mii character and enter in some details about yourself like your height and date of birth. You then have to stand on the balance board to be weighed. It then shows you your BMI and weight against a scale of underweight to obese. It put me at obese and made my Mii character get fat! It was very funny when my mum tried it as she is short and fat so when her Mii became fat it looked so much like her it was scary. She was not amused!

You can set a goal of how much weight you want to lose over what time period and it gives you recommendations of a healthy BMI and a healthy amount of weight to lose a week. It also gives you some balance tests and works out your wii fit age. Mine was 41.

You are given a menu with 4 types of exercise options, yoga, muscle toning, aerobics and balance games. At first you only get a few options in each of these menus and the more you use it the more exercises you unlock. You also only get a few repetitions of each exercise and then as you get better at them you unlock longer versions. The aerobics includes hula hooping, step aerobics, and jogging.

I like this as it eases you in to learning the movements and it helps to build you up gradually. I also found that I was using it more just to try and unlock extras particularly on the step aerobics and boxing as I really enjoy these. I must admit that after the first time of using it I didn't really feel I had done much but I was a bit achy the next day from doing the hula hoop! It only took me a couple of days to unlock the boxing game and quite a few more yoga and toning movements.

I have done yoga quite a lot by myself but I really find the balance board helpful. For each movement you get a yellow box or circle appear on the screen with a tiny red dot in the middle. If your posture is correct the dot will stay inside the yellow shape and you get points depending on how well you hold the pose. You are also told which body parts the exercise helps and which other ones you should combine it with.

The main annoyance is that you have to select each exercise one at a time and there is no option to build routines. This can add an extra 10-15 minutes on to your work out time. It can also be a bit frustrating having to listen to the trainer say the same things after every exercise, it would be a nice feature if they only said it the first time you do an exercise or if there was a setting to shut them up!

OK end of week one.

I have actually gained a couple of pounds due to the massive amount of alcohol and pizza I consumed on Friday night - shocking lack of will power on my part, do apologise I will try harder. I even went to Asda today to buy salad. I did get my wii fit age down to 40 though, yeah :(

I have managed to unlock most of the yoga and muscle toning exercises though and all of the aerobic ones. There are now a couple of useful versions of the jogging and step routines. you can select how long you want to do them for, 10, 20 or 30 minutes, then once it has started just turn the TV over to any channel you like. You can then do the exercise while watching TV! When you do the step aerobics the wii remote will make a clicking noise every time you need to step so you can keep your rhythm, it will also tell you every time you do a hundred steps how much time you have left. I really like this feature as I found the running a bit dull but now it is easy as i can watch something interesting and still be monitored by the Wii.

Week 2!

Lost 6lbs!!! but before I get too excited that is a total loss of 3lbs as I put on weight during week one. Still its an overall loss so I'm happy. Plus my knee is hurting me a lot less, must be all that yoga! My wii fit age is also down to 32 so that's an improvement of 8 years. Have my doubts about the relevance of the wii fit age though as I certainly don't feel 8 years fitter :D.

Really starting to wish that you could turn off the instructors comments, she/he does bang on a bit. Plus it adds on quite a bit of extra time where you are stood around doing nothing

Week 3

Still Wii fitting away! Lost another 3lbs but to be honest I am starting to get a bit bored. The pauses between each exercise is getting more annoying and I seem to have unlocked everything already. Its no longer getting any harder so I am not convinced that this will be a good way to lose any serious weight or get that much fitter

Week 4.

Lost another 2lbs to that is an 8lb loss overall. I'm quite happy with that but I can't help thinking it is more to do with the healthier food I have been eating. Still the fairly gentle exercise has done wonders for my knee and I can now get off the sofa without lots of groaning and joint cracking!

I can think of many improvements they could make to the wii fit. The ability to make your own work outs to remove all the stopping and starting would be good and I think the next version (wii fit plus) will do this and have some routines already made for you to do.

Having said that it has got me moving again (quite an achievement in itself!). If things like the balance games and aerobics get kids/adults moving then it can't be a bad thing. The balance board is great and there are now quite a few games that make use of it.

Even if you have no interest in the Wii fit game I would recommend buying it for the balance board alone. If you have kids it encourages them to move whilst having fun and there are now quite a few games that make use of it.

G1 Jockey Wii - will be released with balance board support and you have to crouch down like a jockey and steer your horse to victory

Raving Rabbids TV Party - some of the mini games use the balance board, one you even use your bum and sit on the board to steer!

EA Sports Active - looks a lot more interesting/harder work then the Wii fit and is advertised as a more serious exercise game then the Wii fit. I think this and the new Mario game will be the big Wii releases this year

There are also several ski, snow boarding and skate boarding games and the Don King boxing uses the board in its training exercises though I don't think it is used in actual game play.

In Conclusion

The Wii Fit is good fun and if you are looking for something to gently ease you into exercise then this could be for you. It has helped with my knee even if it hasn't been quite the exercise tool I was looking for. If you want to look like Louise Rednap then you will be disappointed!

But the balance games are fun and it is useful to know you are doing the yoga moves correctly. Plus now there are so many fitness games coming out for the Wii it is easy to start with this then build up to something more advanced.

The balance board is great and creates a whole new dimension to gaming and it is also very funny trying to snowboard after a few glasses of wine with your mates. Just remember DON'T jump on it, that would be bad. Although I did once and it lived to tell the tale so it must be quite strong!

I would recommend this to anyone. The new Wii fit plus should be released this year but the balance board will be the same so you can pick one up now and then just buy the new game later if you want. The Wii fit retails for around £70 and as more and more games include balance board support I think it is definitely worth it.

So can getting fit be fun? Yes I think so. Though probably not using this game! I think the best way is to use the balance board with the ski and boxing games and to try out the new EA sports active (which will be my next purchase). You could even buy a bike and leave your living room....



also on ciao as rachael23

Summary: Have fun and get your body moving!