Wii Fit

When Wii Fit was first released I was in my third trimester and hoped that it would be a great way to get into shape after having my baby. As you probably know, Wii Fit is a fitness game that introduced the Wii Balance Board. Wii Fit is a well rounded fitness aid that utilizes yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games. Last winter I finally felt ready, physically and financially, to give Wii Fit a try and I found it both fun and beneficial with only minor disappointments.

When you start Wii Fit you will meet the Wii Balance Board character that walks you through the game. When you begin you will be asked to create a profile and will select your Mii, height, and age. You will also get to try some balance games so that your weight and balance can be assessed and your Wii Fit Age and BMI can be determined. Part of creating your profile is setting a goal for yourself. It is important to be realistic when setting your goal. Seeing progress towards a goal will help you stay motivated, but if there is no way you can reach the goal you might be more likely to give up. You may also want to add the Wii Fit Channel so that you can check your weight/BMI at anytime without actually having to insert the disc.

The aerobics section of Wii fit is an entertaining way to get moving. When you start you only have a few options, but you have the ability to unlock more the more you play. I personally love the hula hoop games. The premise of this mini game is fairly simple. Swing your hips as fast as you can to keep the hoops going, but you occasionally have to lean to one side or the other in order to catch new hoops. While this game is really fun to play, it is even more fun to watch someone else who is really bad at it! Ok. Once you are done making fun of your loved ones, give the other mini games a try. The more you play the more you unlock. The good thing is that as you unlock more games you get more options that effect difficulty of your workout.

Along with your weight the Wii Fit uses your balance to help determine you Wii Fit Age. If you need some help with your balance there are plenty of balance games to help you out. You may find that the balance game section seems the most game-like out of all the sections. Ski jump is by far my favorite! In order to play this game you want to crouch down and lean forward in order to pick up speed while you head down the slop. Towards the end you pop up (don't jump!), stand straight, but lean forward. If skiing isn't your thing there are other games such as a soccer based game, table tilt, and several others to play.

The yoga portion contains 15 different yoga poses and the trainer will give you instructions on proper form. Since an important aspect of yoga is breathing there is also an indicator that tells you when to breathe in and out. There is also corresponding sounds to help you remember to breathe when you are unable to see the screen. While yoga is beneficial to muscle strength you still might want to check out the strength training section to really give them a workout. Since the balance board can not check your form (this is true with yoga as well) it is important to self check to make sure your form is correct. If you can not see the screen there are verbal clues to help you out. The more you work the more exercises, as well as reps, you will unlock.

I think what is obvious is that what you get out of Wii Fit is entirely dependent on what you put into it. You have to use it in order for it to work. It is also worth noting that Wii Fit is probably not going to have you ready to run a marathon, but it will get you up and moving. While I think that Wii Fit is more than worth while I do have a couple of issues with it. One is that I really lost a lot of motivation in the beginning before I unlocked the more reps and longer time options. I also found it fairly annoying that you can not chain exercises into workouts. In other words, you can't set up an actual workout program where when you finish one exercise it automatically goes to another. So in the beginning, before you unlock more options, it really doesn't feel like that much of a workout if you have to stop and pick another option from the menu every minute or so. But like I said, Wii Fit will probably not get you into amazing shape, but you will burn calories and with a healthy diet it can help you get into shape.