For Chirstmas, my dad gave us a Wii Fit. The wife and I love our Wii, and it has given us hours of enjoyment over this past year.As an exercise device, the Wii Fit is intended for the most grossly obese or most embarrassingly inactive only. Jogging in place for four minutes is surely better than nothing, but it doesn't really substitute for the 30 minutes of activity a day that is reccommended.
One thing that the Wii Fit does to well, though, is give you some good advice. One of the first things the little machine asks you to do is take a "Fit Test." Again, this test has little actual bearing to one's fitness. The Fit Test essentially tests your balance and measures what it calls your "Center of Weight." When I first took the Fit Test, it gave me a Wii Fitness age of 48.
First, that's brutally unfair. The Fit Test works on the Body Mass Index (BMI). I'm a little overweight, but according to Wii Fit, my BMI
is 26.7, which makes me borderline obese. My little Mii (the user avatars on the Wii) looks like Uter from The Simpsons. That is just not how I look. Also, when I play Wii Sports (which in itself is hours of fun and can be a good workout), my Wii Fit age is a very nice 21.Anyway, my Center of Weight seemed to be two inches behind the actual middle of my body. So the Wii Fit reccommended that I practice standing with more of my weight toward my toes. I can't say for sure that it's improved my posture, but I'm definitely more cognizant of how I stand.
I'm not going to become an evangelist for Wii Fit other than for fun (the Step game is particularly great). But I think that if a little piece of technology can convice you to stand differently, I think that's worthy of mention.
i love uter!! hes so fat and squishy!!
ReplyDeleteWe have a Wii Fit at our house too. It seems cool enough, but I prefer to get my 30 minutes outside of the house.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, I actually like the yoga things and some of the balance games are fun. But I do 45 minutes of running three days a week, and lift weights. When Wii Fit chides me for not spending more time with it, I laugh and tell it that I turn to her when I'm on a break.
ReplyDeleteApparently, it's the booty call of exercise equipment.
I'm surprised that people would think about it *as* exercise equipment. I'm all for getting people to move, but never thought of it as a substitute for running or a workout.
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