Nintendo Wii Fit Review

About Wii Fit

Wii Fit is a brand new to the US fitness bundle for the Wii console that includes the Wii Fit software and the Wii Fit balance board. Together, they make up an amazing - and fun - fitness program that just about anyone can enjoy.

The Basics

Wii Fit comes with a balance board that you stand on during most activities. It is synched with the Wii Fit program and counts steps, tracks your balance, weighs you, and tracks your movements. It's one of the most intuitive pieces of equipment I have seen, overriding the DDR mat by miles.

When you get the Wii Fit Bundle, you need only to insert the included batteries into the back of the board and synchronize the software and the board. It takes less than 30 seconds to do that and even I could do it without blowing up the house. Once that's done, you're ready to start on your fitness journey.

Your Profile

When you use the Wii Fit program the first time, you will either create a Mii or use your existing one. A Mii is a little character that you create to represent you. You will then input your age and height as well as birth date. The board will weigh you and tell you your BMI (Body Mass Index). It will tell you if you are over or underweight or normal and explain how it came to that conclusion. Some people who are very muscular will get an overweight reading because BMI is based on weight and height along with age and doesn't account for muscle mass so use it as just a baseline but not as gospel.

Next, you will do a body test. This is a series of five balancing type exercises that test your reflexes, balance, and ability to shift your body to match the goals of the exercises. You will be presented with your Wii Fit age based on your test results and your actual age. You can take the body test everyday. I honestly don't put much credence into the age thing because I started at age 50 (!!) when I first did the test and, after three hours of playing various games and doing various poses, I redid the test and was 26.

The last part of the set up is deciding on a goal. Do you want to lose weight? Gain? Maintain? If you want to lose, you will put how many pounds you want to lose and a goal date in. (Same if you want to gain.) The software will remember everything you put in and weigh you each time you begin Wii Fit. It will graph your weight and, every time you do another body test, your BMI and Wii Fit age.

You will be given a Wii Fit Bank that you can add exercise time you did away from Wii Fit to be credited to your overall fitness time. As you use the Wii Fit program each time, a running tally of how long you have been using it is kept and rest times are encouraged every 30 minutes.

A graph will be presented to you with your Wii Fit age, BMI, weight, and total time using the program broken into the areas you spent time in.

The Programs

There are four different programs or sections that are on Wii Fit: Balance, Yoga, Strength, and Cardio. Each of these programs has a number of games/poses for you to do and, the more you use Wii Fit, the more new games and poses you will unlock. Everyone starts out as a beginner and will move up as they prove their abilities.

• Balance
There is great emphasis on balance throughout Wii Fit. They measure your balance often and let you know if you're swaying, leaning more on one leg, etc. I have balance issues so this section is really challenging to me. However, I wouldn't really call this section balance as much as it is reflexes. There are several games you can play where your body must move fast in order to win. You will ski, head butt soccer balls, see yourself as a pool ball in a strange (and HARD) little game of balancing your rolling body on a wiggly board, and so much more. These games are fun and challenging. Each is scored and you will see where you stand against yourself or, if other family members are registered, against them as well.

The downside for some people to the balance games is that, when you don't do well, your Mii will bow its head in disgrace or even punch the ground in frustration. If you're playing a team sport, everyone will hate you for losing. Well, they will just shake their heads in mock disgust. This certainly doesn't bother me but some sensitive people or younger people may feel like losers when, in fact, they are only losers if they quit and don't challenge themselves to get better. As you play, you will unlock more games and will go to higher, more advanced levels of existing games.

As an aside, in these games and in the cardio games, other Mii's on the system - even that aren't registered for Wii Fit - will randomly show up. My son was my soccer coach and he and the rest of my family has shown up while I was using the cardio games. It's really funny to see them run by or to see them just in the crowd while you play.

• Yoga
Yoga utilizes a trainer. You choose a male or female to walk you through the poses. These look as close to real people as Wii gets which is really not saying much. They are sort of black and white people with clothes on. They talk but their lips don't move. However, they do the poses well and are easy to follow and that's what counts. There are several poses you can choose from and most are based on balance. I consider the yoga section to be much more balance oriented than the balance section. You will do traditional poses like the Warrior, The Tree, and the Sun Salutation. While you are doing these, the board measures your stability and grades you on how well you were able to hold the pose without toppling over or losing your focus. The exercises are tough but practice helps. You only start with a handful of poses but new poses are added quickly as you log more Wii Fit time, not just doing yoga, but doing any activity. The feedback from the trainers is constructive and not mean like from the Mii trainers. That's a relief. lol.

• Strength
This section also utilizes a trainer. The strength portion is pretty challenging right off the bat. You will do traditional push ups (I hate them), lunges, and a host of other strengthening moves for the whole body. You will be assessed on how well you executed a move in a variety of ways, depending on the move. You will start out with limited moves but quickly add new ones as you log Wii Fit time. This is the section I like least. I do it but I feel I need weights for many of the exercises and I haven't yet tried to use them and am not sure I can. The trainers encourage good form and the board helps to determine if you're doing a move right.

• Cardio
The cardio portion consists of several programs that challenge the heart. I love the hula-hoop challenge since I am used to swiveling my hips to Core Rhythms and I do well with it. There is traditional running (off the board, using the Wii controller in a pocket or in your hand), step aerobics that I hate and can't get the hang of, and a number of other games. As you progress, you will unlock more, like boxing (which is my favorite), and you will gain access to longer times of playing a game. I went from a three minute cardio run to an 11 minute run almost immediately since it was obvious I could keep up.

Needless to say, I disappointed everyone in step aerobics and the whole gang was sad at how badly I did. Haha. Sorry, guys, I tried! After each segment, you will be given a title like "Calorie Torcher" and see how you did against yourself or others. Cardio is another area where the Mii's get upset when they don't do well and they bow their heads in shame. My boxing coach yelled at me and said I didn't even break a sweat and to step it up. Haha. He was right, I didn't. Next time, I did step it up!

What's Missing

I really enjoy Wii Fit but there are a few things I wish they had done differently. I would love to know how many calories I am burning while using the programs but that is not an option, at least not that I could find and I have spent hours exploring the program.

They tell you to be sure to warm up before exercising but don't provide a warm up segment. I really think that is important and they should have a warm up to access before jumping into games that require a lot of movement or speed.

They also don't cool down. This is noticeable most after the cardio segments. You just ... stop. We all know that stopping cold after working the heart is dangerous. They really need to either incorporate a cool down or make one and instruct us to go to the cool down right after any cardio exercise. I march in place and allow my heart rate to come down slowly but this program shouldn't leave people to their own devices. They don't even mention cooling down.

They don't talk at all about heart rate. They could easily tell you what your target heart rate is with the info they have about you but they totally skip over that. However, when running, they caution you to only run at 60%. But they don't tell you 60% of what. This is a really big omission as far as I am concerned. None of the cardio workouts really encourage you to work like crazy but everyone is different and knowing what your heart rate is during exercise or even what it SHOULD be would be a huge help. Wii Fit should come out with a patch or add on about heart rates for those who don't know how to track their heart rates and how high their rate should be.

Although I couldn't care less if I disappoint my coach, my fellow Mii's, or anyone else, more sensitive people and young people just may. The idea is to encourage fitness and to keep at a program until you master it. Making people feel like losers doesn't exactly inspire enthusiasm. I think that Wii Fit would probably be a little more encouraging if they stopped telling people they failed and that they let their team down and just encouraged them to try again. Like I said before, it doesn't bother me in the least but it may bother those who already feel like failures or kids who are sensitive and have confidence issues. It isn't a HUGE deal but I bet you will see some complaints about this as the game is played more.

Overall Impression

Wii Fit is an excellent tool for beginning exercisers and those who want a fun way to supplement their exercise regiments. It incorporates fun with fitness and can really be challenging depending on how much you put into it. The balance games are maddening but great for the reflexes and balance, the yoga poses are challenging and wonderful for the posture, the strength moves are traditional tried and true ones that will tone the body, and the cardio is fun without being the least bit daunting. Except for the step aerobics that requires *gasp* rhythm.

For beginners, this program is really all you need. You can get all the facets of a great workout right on the Wii Fit DVD. For those of us who are used to more traditional exercise, Wii Fit is a fun adjunct and encourages even more exercise and things that we may not generally do away from the program.

Keeping the stats of weight, BMI, time spent in Wii Fit, best times and scores, and being able to add outside exercises for fitness credit are all plusses and reasons to log on every day and do a little. I have been using the program since it came out just two days ago and have logged more hours that I care to say. My sons are both registered and have also logged a lot of time. It's fun to see where their strengths lie. You should them doing the Tree yoga pose! Haha. It's great that they are exposed to things they would never otherwise do.

In time, Wii Fit will no doubt have add ons and upgrades and I don't think I will be outgrowing it any time soon. I have many, many programs to unlock and levels to go up. I really enjoy the program and encourage anyone with a Wii console to get the Wii Fit and get YOU fit! I actually bought a Wii just for this program because my doctor suggested it. It was worth it.

Although there are a few things I would like to see integrated or changed in the program, in all, this is one heck of a great idea. Getting people off the couch and onto the balance board while still giving them that video game vibe. Brilliant.

I am going with 4 stars simply because of some of the things I mentioned above but I definitely recommend Wii Fit to all. Families can actually gather round and have fun getting fit rather than staring blankly at the TV as a movie plays. For $89.99, I can't think of a better fitness program.

If you have any questions I didn't address here, please comment. I went so long that I didn't want to get into any more detail unless someone wanted me to.

Thanks for reading and ... are Wii Fit? I am! :)