Reviewed by Anna Slado
I’ll be honest with you, I hate going to the gym. And as I spend most of my free hours in my couch or in bed gaming, well, sometimes I might not feel as fit as I wanna be. I’ve been thinking about getting a gym card for a long time, but it never happens. Lucky for me, I don’t have to get a gym card anymore, because Nintendo has decided to tend to mine – and many others’ – needs. Suddenly, 30 minutes a day in your own living room is all you need to stay healthy (including eating nutritious food of course).
The game Wii Fit comes bundled with the Wii Balance Board. At a first glance it seems like a big chunk of plastic. But it’s really a very sensitive piece of equipment. Do not jump on it, or you’ll be sorry. When you start up the game, you are asked to tell your birth date and your height. With this information, Wii Fit calculates your BMI. If you end up having 19-25 in BMI, you are in the healthy zone and all is well. But still, that doesn’t mean that you should skip daily exercise. Your body is your temple and you need to take care of it.
After being told your BMI you are put to the test with a few exercises. This will determinate your Wii Fit age. If you’re having a bad day or are doing the test late at night, beware that the results will not be in your favor. The best I’ve gotten is 20 and the worst is 43. When that is done, mark the Wii Fit calendar with a stamp and then it’s time to start your training!
There are four types of training; yoga, muscle exercises, aerobics and balance games. The latter have a wide range of mini-games if you will, such as soccer-practice, walking on a tight rope, catch fish as a penguin and ski-jumping. The balance games can be a fun break in between everything else, but what I really like most of all are the yoga and muscle workouts. They complement each other really well and I noticed results quite fast. After the first two days, I had such sore muscles I could hardly sit down. But that didn’t stop me, and training more is really the only way to get rid of that type of muscle strain.
For two whole weeks I was a fitness guru. But now, I have been missing out for a week. I still take time to do my body test and so far I have not seen anything terrible happen. I’ve lost 2 kilos (about 4 pounds) since I started, which is fabulous and it also helps to do something else on the side. I walk to and from work each day for 40 minutes as well, and Wii Fit has an activity log where you can add other activities/exercises that you might participate in.
The whole idea of Wii Fit is very simple and it is wonderfully pedagogical and fun. And this really is for the whole family, not just for the gamer-community. And that’s what I love about Nintendo, they touch ground with everyone. Everybody is supposed to join in and I have no doubt that they will. However, the Balance Board have a 150kg weight limit, so some people actually have to start off at the gym before they can take care of business at home.
With Nintendo’s help, now you too can stay healthy.