2 Days with Nintendo Wii Fit: the Balance Board is life changing

DekuScrubby says:

Something you should know, Simon…

Wii fit - MAKES YOU FIT.

It is a health package. It is not a children’s toy. The console can accurately measure your BMI, shift in balance, etc. And your personal trainer sounds like a sarcastic arse.

Wii Fit has - it has been reported - changed lives already. It has made people aware of their own body and the weight they carry. And it is helping people slim down.

Some advice. PLAY before you BITCH.

Joe says:

HAHAHA, everyone takes this so seriously. Clearly its just a toy, but that has uses. I think that the wii fit doesn’t make you fit, but it can change your life, because its easy to access and can inspire you to change by showing you the statistics. For people uneducated of fitness (which is most people to be fair) a machine that can calculate and inform you about your fitness is a great way of making you want to excerise.

That said, i agree with simon that with the wii fit alone there is almost no possiblity of improving your fitness, you won’t break a sweat and if you dont sweat then your really not improving your fitness, and the fact that people are argueing against this really just shows how lazy they are.

Also i dont know if anyone has noticed, but the amount of exercise your “meant” to do (30 minutes a day i think someone said), is the MINIMUM, so thats just enough to get by, that ISNT going to make you fit.

People should make more effort to improve their fitness, including me! I’m finding it hard to go to the gym at the moment because A) i have no money (all my work money is paying for me to travel to africa), and B) i’m revising for my alevels. There is plently of oppertunity for me to exercise outside but i dont.. because.. well, like most people in the UK, i’m kinda lazy (also somebody stole my bike, which at the time was the only exercise i enjoyed), i think if i were to buy wii fit, it could inspire me to exercise, becuase it will tell me just how unfit i’ve become! And whilst i could go to a doctor for this infomation, some people dont feel comfortable doing that.

I think everyone in this forum has said things that are correct, its just people are making views from the extremes rather than gathering the points together and realising the truth of the “game”.

LT says:

Obviously, I’m late to this party but I just found this post and have to say that I’ve now had the Wii Fit for about 3 weeks and LOVE IT!! I am a former pro athlete and dancer who has been stuck behind a computer for a few years and therefore was in the worst shape of my life (although still better than most since I don’t own a car and walk almost everywhere). In the past 3 weeks I have faithfully worked on a routine with Wii Fit with cardio 6 days a week and strength training 3x a week. I’ve had a gym membership for many years that I haven’t used in the past 3, so I know Wii Fit is way more motivating and addictive than any gym (this coming from a former gym rat, used to go there for 4 hours most days) plus buying it cost less than one month at mine. Best of all, I actually have muscles again! I’m underweight but was still flabby and now I can see the fat melting away and the jiggling stop. Plus, my weight is going up due to the newly increased muscle mass.

To top it all of, I no longer crave sugary treats like soda and cookies. When I’m hungry I find I want fruit, veggies, good proteins, etc. I was a Coca-Cola addict and haven’t touched one in over a week just because I don’t want it anymore. I’m way more in touch with my body than I have been in a long time and it’s benefiting me in every way. None of this has ever happened with any other exercise routine I’ve ever been on, including when I spent 8+ hours a day on physical activities when I was younger.

Frankly, I find it way better than the gym because it really motivates me. Even when I’m not in the mood to exercise it makes me bother and then I feel better. My old personal trainer was easier to cancel on!

Seriously, I have lots of muscle definition, less flab, and way more energy than before! If those aren’t the major reasons to get fit for most people, I don’t know what is. To top it off, I now feel ready to go back to some of my more casual sporting pursuits again, like joining my local soccer team and taking figure skating lessons as soon as I have the money. So, basically, it’s a wonderful way to jump-start your body and may even inspire you to go out and do more. What could possibly be less than excellent about that?

BTW, I’m almost 32 and think it’s especially good for us over-30s. The routines are mostly low-impact (unlike jogging or other exercises recommended in some of the comments, of course, the jogging game is the highest-impact) and don’t kill my sports-addled joints.

Of course, it only works if you commit to it, just like any exercise. That’s where Wii Fit is superior for the average person and couch potatoes, it makes you bother! I’m not saying I wouldn’t like a harder version to eventually progress to, but those are on the way according to reports. I’ve also been faithfully loggin my extra exercise and it’s wonderful to see just what I’ve accomplished laid out in front of me.

Oh, and I’ve read very good exercise books that suggest routines almost exactly like the ones you can create in Wii Fit (by alternating the exercises, either by doing a routine like mine or alternating muscle groups each day). Why is it any better to do push-ups without the game than with it, for example? The game pushes me harder than I can push myself in each exercise, making sure I hit “overload”. Fantastic! Sure, a personal trainer does the same thing but how many people can afford one? One session is often the same price as Wii Fit, two to four cost the same as the Wii itself.

And to anyone who thinks yoga is a joke, the people I know who only do yoga for exercise are in much better shape than anyone else I know. It’s not just about toning your muscles but it also has incredible benefits to your metabolism and brain/body chemistry in general that makes your whole self work better. Not to mention that it increases flexibility, making other exercise much easier and less likely to hurt you. I start off every day with yoga and it’s definitely had a huge impact on not just my posture but absolutely everything. Best of all, it’s amazing for one’s sex life! I’ll leave all the reasons to your imagination and just recommend that everyone give it a go.

The fact of the matter is, even the laziest people I know are starting to snap up Wii Fit and use it daily (or close to) and every single person is benefitting right from the start. Fantastic!

Are you going to get huge muscles from it alone? No way, but how many people are looking for that? I’m female, I want long, lean muscle with nice tone and for my true body shape to shine through. I want to look damn good in a bikini, and I’m a heck of a lot closer to that than I was 3 weeks ago. That is an accomplishment already! Wii Fit is a fantastic tool for what I want. All my other exercise gear is collecting dust while my board needs dailing cleaning from all the use it gets.

Sorry to go on and on, but I think anyone who scoffs at Wii Fit either hasn’t tried it or has unrealistic expectations.

Rhian says:

Simon, you asked for it…
Six months later:
I still haven’t gained weight, nor lost any… (I am at the bottom of my ideal weight, sometimes a little under, sometimes into the range called ‘ideal weight’. It depends on the time of the month.
Besides that, I do have a better balance. I have a better stance, and though I didn’t do many exercises, I did yoga often. I was already in good shape at the start, and I feel even a little bit better, having more flexibility.
I can say that I’m a bit fitter than before, having an average Wii-Fit age of 25, while my real age is over 40… I started with an average Wii-Fit age of 37/40.
Other than that, it’s still a nice and funny thing to play with. I’ve not seen any new games, other than We Skii or Family Ski.
So I guess it’s a winner, proving that it can be a motivator to get off your behind and produce some results.

Simon Wells says:

Simon Wells has used a WiiFit. Fact.

Simon Wells’ heart rate didn’t rise more than 10-20bpm. Fact.

Six months after some pretty heated debate, Simon Wells was genuinely interested in whether anyone had got any long term health benefits out of WiiFit, cos if he was wrong, he was big enough to admit it.

But it’s pretty quiet out there.