I’m not going to go into details, but before you can begin training on the Wii Fit, you must go through a body test which weighs you, gives you your BMI, and puts you through a series of balance tests. Once you’re set up in the system, you can always skip the body test. and go straight to training.
The Wii Fit is set up with four categories of exercises:
- Yoga
- Weight Training
- Aerobics
- Balance Games
One of the things I really like about the Wii Fit is that it keeps a record of how many minutes of exercise you do during your sessions. You get some number of minutes for each of the possible exercises or games.
I tend to gravitate toward the aerobics section. At this point I’ve unlocked seven of the nine exercises here. They are:
- Hula Hoop
- Basic Step Aerobics
- Basic Run
- Advanced Step Aerobics
- Two Person Run
- Rhythm Boxing
- Free Step Aerobics
My favorite of these is the Advanced Step Aerobics. In step aerobics, you step on and off a step board. In this version you step on and off from the back and from the sides (both in the Basic Step Aerobics), you do kicks, and you step on the board sideways (placing your feet sideways on the board). The Wii Fit gauges how closely you hit the rhythm, whether or not you’ve used the correct foot, and whether or not you’ve actually stepped on the board. You’re scored by how many “Perfects” you get, how many “OKs” you get and how many “Misses” you have. I have yet to achieve no misses in this game – and that’s one of my issues with the Wii Fit.
Sometimes the step board doesn’t register when I step on it. Sometimes I know it’s my fault, as I’ve stepped in the wrong place, but sometimes I’ve stepped in the correct place and it still doesn’t register the step.
The other problem I have is that I’m not sure how to get “Perfect” instead of “OK” on a step. In the Basic Step Aerobics, a hint told me to step on and off the board more slowly to achieve a Perfect. In the Advanced, it tell me to step on and off more quickly. Sigh.
It does seem to work better if I try to hit the board exactly on the beat, but even then it doesn’t seem to work all the time. And I really haven’t figured out how it decides if you step off the board at the right time. To hit the floor in rhythm you can’t step off the board on the beat, you have to anticipate it.
Nonetheless, I’ve managed to increase my score each day this week, finally breaking three hundred points today.
Personally, I don’t really feel that I’m doing much exercise while I’m playing the games, though I am getting more movement in than if I were just sitting at a desk. And they are interesting enough and enough fun that I might do them outside of my normal exercise window. But you don’t get many minutes for the games, so maybe that’s okay. The Balance Games I have available are:
- Soccer
- Ski Slalom
- Ski Jump
- Table Balance
- Tight Rope
- Penguin
- Ball in River
My favorites are the Ski Slalom, where I’m just a half second behind my son for first place. J The Tight Rope, where you attempt to cross a tight rope without falling off in a limited amount of time, and the Penguin game, whatever it’s called.
The penguin game is fun and funny. You are a penguin (your Mii’s face is on the penguin), you’re on an iceberg that tilts as you move side to side, and you are trying to eat the fish that jump onto or above the iceberg. Part of what I like is that you can’t lose points by doing something wrong – you can fall off the iceberg, but a second or two later you’re right back up going for fish. It isn’t a slow, try to catch your balance game, either. You can make quick shifts in your balance – in fact you’re required to – and as long as you aren’t too close to the edge of the iceberg, you’ll stay on. This game always brings a smile to my face.
Okay, but that probably doesn’t tell you what you really want to know.
Well, first, it works for me. It works for me because I have very specific goals I can work towards – not fitness goals, but high scores. Something a friend once told me about games has stuck for a long time now – so long as it’s almost out of date. The goal of an arcade game designer was to create a game such that when it ended, the player would think, “If I play it again, I can do better”, which meant the person put in another quarter, and the game made more money.
Well, today I played Advanced Step Aerobics six times, each time thinking, “If I try it again, I can do better”. All of the games and exercises I’ve tried are like that. You get a score which you can then try to beat.
I was up before work every day this week, and spent at least thirty minutes on the Wii Fit every day this week except Monday (a holiday).
One day I had my thirty minutes in, and went back and did Advanced Step Aerobics one more time simply because I wanted to. Yesterday I spent time in the evening just playing the games just because they’re fun.
My calves and ankles have been sore, as have my arms and shoulders (though I’m not sure why on those), and yet I’ve kept at it.
Something there works for me.
Next Friday, I’ll give a report on my second week. Hopefully shorter, as I won’t feel the need to explain so much about the Wii Fit .
