Wii Fit

[pompeyparsons]

I didn't even realize this was coming out today until I went to the tailor's to get fitted for a Tuxedo.

I was standing there as the woman measured me when she asked "Are you a Wii man?" At first I couldn't figure out what she was talking about because I'm a fairly big guy. Then she goes you know the Nintendo Wii then it hit me.

Anyways I guess her and her sister both purchased one today and both of them love it. She said it wasn't quite as good of a workout as doing Yoga or real Aerobics but it wasn't bad and it was fun. Wouldn't mind trying it out sometime, but I'm not going to go out and buy a Wii becuase of it either.

[andymol21]

I'm curious if it's effective in weight loss. (I'm very skeptical)
If they could make something that is effective and fun at that price point, I'm in.

I don't see why it wouldn't be effective in weight loss. All you need is a phone book to do aerobic "step" exercises afterall (although, I'm sure Reebok will try to convince you that their "step" tools are X% more effective and provide better shock absorption to keep you from injuring your ankles or something).

As for making it fun... I can't comment as I haven't tried it

Nintendo came out in a press release recently saying that it wasn't an effective means of losing weight. So much for backing your own product...

[HoboJoe]

It's so they won't get sued. Otherwise some fat tard who uses it for 30 seconds once a week would sue them saying all that happened was that got fatter because they figured they could eat more McDonalds because they're losing so much weight. It's the same reason why when you buy rat poison it says do not eat.

[selfdestroyer]

I enjoyed the step aerobics and yoga.. and man my fat ass was hella tired after doing the run. I really recommend this thing, my wife has been messing with it off and on all day.

[gradualmeltdown]

Bought my mom a Wii for Mothers Day. She loves it especially the snow boarding. I think Wii fit is a trojan horse to convince people to try out the balance board. More games will support it soon and the "new" demographic they are after might love the simplicity of playing game like We Ski more than even the Wii-mote.

[SpaceBooger]

My webcomic this week deals with WiiFit: http://www.spacebooger.com/index.php?comicID=54

[nightwalker]

I dont know if you guys seen the trailer of the new rayman raving rabbids. You use the Wii fit a lot. I really like all the rayman games especially the rabbids one. I did buy the Wii Fit and I sweat a lot with it.

Something I did notice is that they should change the name and give the rabbids their own game. They are hillarious.

[glynnahab]

I haven't tried it yet. (I'm offshore for the next two weeks.) But my fiancee got it and she loves it. She said it's like a real workout, but there are too many breaks in between each exercise. I'll post my own thoughts after I give it a try.

[baphomet_irl]

I got WiiFit the morning it came out in Ireland (a friday about a month ago) - and I have to say it is definitely useful in weight loss.
If you are disciplined enough, if you cheat etc or dont do exercises properly, of course it wont work.

I've lost about .6kg in that time, but Im almost certain that it isnt as noticeable a weight loss because I have definitely increased muscle mass. I was 113kg when I started and I'm pretty much 112kg now - I know 17.5 stone is quite a lot eheh - but trust me 14.5 stone is my optimal weight - so it isnt THAT much above that.

A lot of the balance games are indeed just games and not much use - although I do think the Soccer/Goalie game is good as a very gentle warmup (my top score in beginner is 555 btw )

However I think if used properly it will indeed make you 'fit' not muscley or anything but definitely fit, and I enjoy it's oriental slant in it's exercises for example the emphasis on posture and at one point they even say when your standing to imagine yourself suspended from the top of your head, which is classic TaiJi theory/principles.

I would say the most useful exercises are the Hula Hoop, Rhythm Boxing, Press-Up/Side Stand, Parallel Stretch (also known by some people as trunk stabilizers) and the free jogging.

This is the basic sequence I do on an (almost) daily basis:

-Warmup Bit-

*Ski Jump - 4 or 5 goes just to wake me up a bit

*Soccer/Goalie game - 4 or 5 goes - great fun IMO and loosens you up a bit more

-Yoga-

*Half Moon - to stretch my lower back before the next exercises

*Crocodile Twist - IMO one of the best stretches of all for reelieving lower back pain if done carefully

*Bridge - another exercise to strengthen lower back

*Cobra - yet another back strengthening stretch

-Exercise-

*Hula Hoop - 6 or 10 minutes - very good for loosening hips and warming up lower back - especially if you thrust forward your hips a lot on the 'front' bit of the circle. This is very similar movements to one of the main TaiJiJuan warmups I used to do. In TaiJiJuan and in pretty much all Chinese, Korean or Japanese arts, they believe that a lot of your power comes from your hips area (well a point in the middle which is your centre of gravity) - in Chinese I think it's called the Dan-Tien and in Korean the Dan-Jun. Anyway, doing this exercises stimulates chi in that area and 'charges' it. If you don't believe in any of my esoteric shit, you could just say it warms you up and loosens your hips and strengthens your lower back.
No matter how hard I try, I can never get past 1000 points in either direction of the 6 minute version - I can only get to 970 - if anyone gets to 1000, I'm very impressed.
[NOTE]I read in a review of WiiFit somewhere that doing the Hula Hoop exercise a lot can damake your knees hurt - and mine certainly were getting a bit clicky and creaky after a weak or so - I think this is because you keep your feet so rigidly still on the balance board (and it's also a bit of a narrow stance for bigger people), I find that dipping your knees a bit on the 'forward' part of the circle stops them from hurting afterwards.

*Parallel Stretch (90 seconds) - finally I start doing something a bit more strenuous now I'm warmed up - I do think however that the position which they say is optimal (i.e when the instructor says 'that's it' etc.) is a bit too bent over - for me anyway it is certainly not a straight line down my back and legs, but a bit bent forward, which seemed to hurt my back a little - so I just do it as straight as I can and dont bother hunting for perfects in this one.

*Step Thing (longest one) - can't remember the one I do but it's the longest one apart from the 'free' one. I have to say as a game, I was quite disappointed by this one, as I think it seems very inaccurate rhythmically, esp. compared to say my Dancing Stage Mario Mix mat for my Gamecube. In order to match a lot of the timings I have to some ridiculously stuttered duck-arse impressions eheh, really stalling my feet as they step off the board in order to get the perfect noise. Having said that though it still is fun, and you can make it a bit more energetic by kicking at the 'green foot' bits instead of just lifting your knee a bit (I try to do a high front snap kick and clap in between my legs), being careful not to slip though (obviously).

*Press-Ups and Parallel Stretch - (6) I intend to increase this to 10 soon, but atm I'm happy doing this

*Rhythm Boxing (10 minutes) - I was really surprised by this as I actually despised Wii Sport boxing as it encouraged you to flop your hands forward in a manner totally unrelated to how one would throw a punch, and if you did punch in an even vaguely realistic way, you were lucky if the game registered 2 out of 5 of your punches. Fortunately in boxing in WiiFit, these problems have been drastically reduced and it accepts actual fist positions (i.e. the wiimote ends up sideways with the D-pad facing you at the point of 'impact'), maybe they also use some detection of your weight shifting on your leg also, but all in all it feels to me a lot better. Admittedly you can still punch very 'weakly' and get full points as long as you punch at the exact time, but your only cheating yourself I suppose :p. I do think their should be a few more types of patterns and I think the detection of the ducking and weaving parts could be better, but overall I really enjoy it, and I'm pretty much dripping sweat by the end of 10 minutes of this.

*Free Running (20 or 30 minutes) - This is another one I was completely surprised by, as I thought that as you didnt use the board it would be crap, to be honest. However I found it great fun, particularly following the dogs and little mini easter-eggs like that - the Mario Bros NES graffiti is cool too. The only thing which does annoy me (and quite a bit) is that the 10, 20 and 30 minute free jogs are the same runs over and over again, I think the idea is probably so that you get to see them as laps, and can plan 'goals' in your mind easier as you get to know the distances of one full lap of the island, but I still think old Shiggy should have at least given us the option of running the longer routes in a way similar to the earlier runs (i.e. being able to chase dogs and go different routes etc.). I tested cheating on it and it was not as easy as I thought, as when you shake it with your hand, it is quite good at realising its not in your pocket (as the movements are probably too jerky) and it immediately trips up your avatar/Mii in the game . If I do the 30 minute one, I tend to take it easy-ish for the first 10 minutes in order to warm up, then for the second 10 minutes I alternate between different things to make it harder, for example - clapping my arms behind my head on each stride, or punching/shadow boxing or also just holding my arms out to the side, the in front, then circling to the side etc. - I usually do these in sections of 1 minute each. This means that by the time I get to the 10 minutes I'm usually dripping sweat literally eheh, and I try to take it a bit easier for the last 10 minutes (but in the last 3 minutes I usually end trying to push it a bit). I think its really cool how the WiiMote tells you the times etc, and you can hear your steps as you run, so for example, my TV room is usually quite warm and clammy, but I can actually go out into the kitchen which has a balcony door and cool down in the breeze then go back inside, and the Wiimote would still be sending data to the Wii perfectly. I know I should probably just go outside and run, but I like the automatic timer and stuff eheh. One piece of advise I would definitely give is to do it to music, the difference is phenomenal (I obviously mean uptempo energetic styles of music here :p ) - my record in the 30 minute run was about 8500m I think, then I put some hard German acid house and I got 13,500m!!!
Anywayz, I reallylike the running.

-Warm Down/Stretches-
*Crocodile Stretch
*Bridge
*Cobra

-Body Test-


there you are, sorry for the essay, but in short I think that if you stick to the regime and do some of the more strenuos exercises, it will no doubt help you get healthier

I also enjoyed the skiing and the snowboarding, although I couldnt really get into the snowboarding too much as I skate and snowboard goofy-footed, and the game is regular footed > - in fact this is very common in games in general for there to be a regular -footed bias (any goofies out there will no what I'm talking about) - even my beloved blue hedgehog goes regular footed when he grinds a rail... :s. It is certainly a very good omen for Shawn White or any upcoming snowboard games. I dont know how they're going to do airs/tricks etc. but certainly just carving down the hill felt VERY realistic to me (although again I do wish the board was wider).

Anyway overall my wife and I think it's great, and add all the little Nintendo touches - the talking balance board, the way you have 3 seperate positiong to prod your mii on the chart screens, the way Mii's that havent exercised will fall asleep at the WiiFit Plaza (and the way in turn that my Mii is running on the spot :p ) and in my opinion you can't go wrong. If you have a Wii, buy it.