ExRx.net

My daughter has a disease and is getting perilously close to liver failure. She and her husband bought Wii Fit. Since she can't do too much activity, the Wii Fit is great. It gets her moving on the days when she can't go out and she can move around at her own pace. When she has good days, she does try to make it to the gym, but sometimes those days are few and far between.

The price was right also. They used up enough points on their card to buy one.

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I will succeed, not because I am perfect, but because I persevere.

I finally got hold Wii Fit. Didn't buy it, borrowed it.

Overall, it's great. It's a lot of fun and can be played by anyone. When you play more and get better, you unlock more advanced activities.

People do forget that it is just a game and criticise it too much as if it's supposed to be a replacement for a gym, but I wanted to comment on an exercise level anyway... So do bear in mind that it is just a game and as a result, it's going to be limited or basic in certain areas. In short - it does what it's supposed to do.

For the average sedentary person, the pro's easily out weight the cons in terms of fitness. Anything that makes people move around more is good in my book. The average sedentary person will also find a lot of it very challenging and would be deffinitly be able to get a decent training stimulus from it. Not to mention, it's 'fun', probably more so for Mr Average.

For folks who train, it's just 'fun'. Not much else. The balance exercises are quite challenging. Even a lot of people who train have poor neuromuscular efficiency so I guess the balance exercises could possibly improve this but then again i'm not so sure. Wouldn't bank on it.

The strength exercises are very basic, and I would class most of them as 'balance exercises'. It's also difficult to figure out how your supposed to perform certain exercises in a way that will get a high score i.e. it has T-push ups, which I do a lot. First time I done then, I varied speed of movement etc to get a feel for how you work it. I got 4 stars (the most) which makes you a 'muscle legend'. However, I then done it again and went exactly the same speed as my 'trainer', and got 1 star - 'couch potato'- LOL.

Oh, i'm also over weight!!!! HAHA, which I knew, since it's based on BMI. Interesting that it's so quick to tell you that since I played the game with people with more fat than me (I have abs) and they were 'ideal'. Obviously I need to bulk a little so I can get into the obese category.

I almost launched it out the window when it told me I had bad posture - ME, bad posture! Not that I like to blow my own trumpet, but I worked my a$$ of to ensure I have good posture, and I'm obsessed with keeping it right not to mention i've been 'assessed' by a human professional. Conversely, the people with me had typical hunch back postures but came out good!

In order to center my gravity, I had to lean way forward with all weight on the balls of my feet. When I pointed out the stupidity of this to my workmates who take everything it says literally, the said 'that's where your weight is supposed to be'. "ok... so what the hell do you think the problem is with high heels then! grrrrrrr" (i did actually growl)

So the assessment side of it is crap, but you can only expect that, It's a shame that people will take it too literally, though, but that's the 'general population' for you, it'll happen with everything.

A lot of the form cues are based on myths shot down about 30 years ago. It also says things like, whilst doing a yoga pose, "stretching your muscles will increase the strength and tone of your muscles"- yeah... right... sure it will. I can see even more Yoga fans crawling out the wood work now.

Another amazing quote, whilst 'running in the park'. I know what your thinking, ME, RUNNING??? Don't worry, i was just tilting the controller back and forth with my wrist which makes you run nice and fast - great work out. However, it proceeds to warn you 'if you run too fast, you won't burn as much fat'.

Finally, some of the exercises are not the most healthy. The 'hula hoop' for example, (ok ok, I done this one), which is very funny, encourages a hell of a lot of rotation (obviously lol). If you have back or knee problems, stay away from this one

Obviously as I said before, it's always going to be limited. It is just a game. And it is fun.

KPj

and you managed to do so well on it despite having such terrible posture

good on you!

haha

I'll have you that not only am I a 'Muscle Legend', but i'm also a 'Yoga Master'.

very impressive!

I can't wait to see how you get on at the commonwealth games when they come to glasgow, with credentials like that you'll be bringing home the gold.

Remember, I'm Scottish too. That means that given my recent 'credentials', I'm bound to do extremely well, but in the end i'll fail, albeit gloriously. Good old Scottish - Glorious Failures, lol. Bad at winning, yet, strangely good at loosing.

KPj

Knocking Wii Fit for not being a great exercise program is kinda like knocking that Wii monster truck road rally game for not being a good driving instruction program.

It's first and foremost a game. It's neat that they're trying to get people to move around more and work on balance and exercising as part of the game, and hopefully it'll drive people to bigger and better things. If people get a little more active in their play, great, most people need it. But at the end of the day, it's a game, and it's just play.