Our copy of Wii Fit arrived yesterday, so naturally we couldn’t resist giving it a go. I had read quite a few reviews of just how effective the exercises are (by those lucky few who got an advance copy) which seemed mixed at best so I didn’t really have expectations. As it turns out the system is a pretty good fitness guide, though even some of the starting exercises are a bit on the tough side for someone who hasn’t exercised often (or ever.) The balancing activities were especially tricky, but the one that especially surprised me was the push ups. It does tell you beginners are allowed to do a modified version (on knees rather than toes) but holy crap. I’ve been doing sets of 20 push ups once or twice a day for a couple years now and it was tough for me. It really expects you to have some upper body strength to start with. Thinking back to when I started doing push ups, I couldn’t even push my body off the floor once, let alone 6-10 times! There are going to be some *extremely* sore people out there today.
The most fun activity ended up being the 2-player short-distance run, strangely enough. The system instructs you to put the Wii remote in your pocket and jog in place behind a “guide” (another Mii) who runs at a pace you are expected to maintain (and who turns around to wave at you every 10 seconds or so!) The activity definitely gets your heart rate up, and there is a progress bar at the bottom to show you how far you’ve gone. The thing that made this stand out above the others is the fact that all the other Miis you have created on your system are out for a jog in the park. I really love the idea of a world where Alf, Miss Piggy, Darth Vader, V, Napoleon Dynamite, my mom, Jules, Wacko Warner, ET, Drew Carey, and Jack Skellington are hanging out together outside.
The dialogue is all very positive and encouraging, and lets you know where you can improve. The tone is very lighthearted and quite cute, which makes it a lot of fun. It keeps very detailed statistics of how well (or poorly) you are balancing on the board, and how accurately you are doing the activities. It can tell if you’re cheating! Not that I did, of course, but when you’re trying to figure out what you’re meant to do, mistakes are made.
All told, I think I did about 45 minutes of exercise last night, and I do feel it this morning. I hope I don’t grow tired of it because I can definitely see the potential. It’s fun and it works.
Just one gripe, though…the female trainer pronounces the word “leg” like “laeg” (like a certain someone I know) and her boobs look like baseballs in a halter top. I haven’t tried using the male trainer yet, but that bugs me enough that I might.
