The active-play phenomenon started by Wii Sports now spreads to your whole body thanks to Wii Fit and the pressure-sensitive Wii Balance Board, which comes bundled with it. Used together players will experience an extensive array of fun, dynamic and surprisingly challenging activities, including aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches and balance oriented games. The focus of these activities is towards providing a "core" workout, a popular exercise method that emphasizes slower, controlled motions, but it’s the fun approach to fitness of Wii Fit that will keep players hooked on fitness for years to come.
|
 View larger. |
 View larger. |
 View larger. |
 View larger. |
 View larger. |
The Wii Fit Balance Board
The primary tenet of Wii Fit is balance. Your center of balance, the point between your left and right sides when you stand upright, has a lot to do with your health. Those without an even center of balance will be unnaturally compensating for this imbalance, which causes their posture to become misaligned, increasing the possibility of putting unnecessary strain on their bodies. This is where the Wii Balance Board comes in.
Similar in appearance to a step aerobics board, the Wii Balance Board is much, much more. Easily capable of supporting weights up to a maximum of 300 pounds, it is sturdy and precise, able to measure weight and register pressure accurately when placed on a variety of flat surfaces. This advanced level of sensitivity allows for both the wide range of activities found in the Wii Fit software as well as the board’s amazing ability recognize individual players by their weight alone.
Getting Started: Create a Profile
Before you jump into doing exercises and activities, you’ll start by creating a profile. This is done easily and intuitively by simply choosing a Mii, entering your height and age information, and doing a few quick tests that will serve as a baseline for your new Wii fitness regimen. These tests are:
- BMI Check: BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that is the standard used by agencies such as the World Health Organization and the National Institute of Health. To check your BMI, you’ll enter your height then stand on the Wii Balance Board and let it read your weight.
- Wii Fit Age: After you’ve checked your BMI, you’ll do a basic balance test and find out your current Wii Fit Age. This basic balance test measures how well you can control your left and right balance. Based on the results, you’ll be assigned a Wii Fit Age.
Four Categories of Fun
Once you have created your profile it’s time to have some fun. Wii Fit features four main categories of exercises to choose from: Strength Training, Aerobics, Yoga and Balance Games. Wii Fit will guide you through the first three with the help of your own virtual personal trainer, while the balance games offer variety and fun to help keep you engaged and excited about your fitness goals. In addition, as you spend time exercising, you’ll earn Fit Credits that unlock additional exercises and activities within your favorite categories that will allow you to continue to push yourself. See more detail on the four categories below:
- Strength Training: Put your strength to the test with muscle-toning exercises like Single Leg Extension, Sideways Leg Lift, Arm and Leg Lift, Single-Arm Stand, Torso Twists, Rowing Squat, Single Leg Twist, Lunge, Push-Up and Side Plank, Jackknife, Plank and Tricep Extension. Challenges include Push-Up Challenge, Plank Challenge and Jackknife Challenge.
- Aerobics: Get your heart pumping with fun, interactive Aerobic exercises like Hula Hoop, Basic Step, Basic Run, Super Hula Hoop, Advanced Step, 2-P Run, Rhythm Boxing, Free Step and Free Run.
- Yoga: Work on your balance and flexibility with Yoga poses and activities like Deep Breathing, Half-Moon, Dance, Cobra, Bridge, Spinal Twist, Shoulder Stand, Warrior, Tree, Sun Salutation, Standing Knee, Palm Tree, Chair, Triangle and Downward-Facing Dog.
- Balance Games: Get into the action with fun, balanced-based games like Soccer Heading, Ski Slalom, Ski Jump, Table Tilt, Tightrope Walk, Balance Bubble, Penguin Slide, Snowboard Slalom and Lotus Focus.
Keep Track of Your Progress
Because keeping fit is an ongoing process, Wii Fit also tracks the activities you do the most and puts them into your Favorites category. With this information players can note exercises and activities that they are strong in, as well as others that may need to improve at. Some of the ways players can use this information for are to:
- Keep tabs on your daily progress with easy-to-understand graphs and charts. Using your personal profile, you can set goals, view a graph of your BMI results over time, see how many Fit Credits you’ve earned, check your Wii Fit Age and even enter exercise time you’ve done outside of Wii Fit. It’s all about coming back and exercising a little every day, and the personal profile makes tracking your daily progress simple and easy.
- Quickly check your Wii Fit Age and BMI without even putting the game in the console by going directly to the Wii Fit Channel.
- Allow up to eight family members can create their own profiles in Wii Fit. On the profile-selection screen, everyone in the family can see each other’s recent BMI progress and Fit Credit total. This will allow families to have a friendly competition to exercise and get fit.
Variety, fun and progress tracking; Wii Fit has it all. So, Wii owners if you ready to reclaim your balance and get fit all you need is Wii Fit, a few minutes a day to play and the urge to have fun. Get on board today.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Very much surprised I bought the Wii Fit for my wife as a birthday present after she asked me to. I expected it to be another passing glance as the Wii sports was when I first played it. Well after working with it it for awhile, with my wife’s permission, I can say that this is quite a useful device and adds a bit of fun to the usual circle of exercises. It is also enjoyable to compete with my wife for the top score in some of the events. There is a large variety of exercises and the Wii fit board feels stable and sound when in use. If you do not enjoy working out but would like to start then I would highly recommend this item! I enjoy working out and sometimes my motivation can lose hold. This is definitely worth the price and time you put into it.
3 Stars No flow It’s okay, but what I don’t care for is that there is no flow to the program. It doesn’t have a 30 minute yoga program. You have individual yoga poses. Each requires you to pick up your controller, click on it, wait for it, click through… You’re spending an additional 2-4 minutes just trying to get to the pose. It’s good for what it is, but so far I haven’t found it to be anything worth the big investment.
5 Stars Physical Therapy Tool & Fun Too! I bought Wii Fit to help address major balance problems following surgery based on a friend’s insistence and the reviews here. Boy, am I glad I did! This game has completely changed my life. Wii Fit has helped me identify imbalance and weakness, for example I lean on the right leg and forward too much. Wii Fit then has fun and challenging balance exercises in fun game platforms that have given me impressive results. My physical therapist attributes a large measure of my progress to the Wii Fit balance games. The fact that they are fun is a big factor in keeping me interested and returning day in and day out. Boredom is always an obstacle to sticking to a PT routine, and the Wii Fit eliminates that problem entirely for me. Once you begin to master skills and make progress, you are able to unlock new games that build on your new strength. I have only dabbled in the yoga and aerobic games and I like them. I just love the balance games and my results have been amazing. Everything I do in my life from walking, biking, to lifting, squatting, stair climbing has improved tremendously. For me, the Wii Fit has been so helpful that it justifies the expense of buying the Wii system, even if you never buy or play another game.
5 Stars fun therapy I purchased the Wii Fit just over a week ago in response to a potential medical diagnosis from my physician. I was looking for something to keep me active and involved in the program, and to help me counteract the effects of my condition by improving my stamina and my balance.
Wii Fit fits the bill perfectly. I am a self proclaimed couch potato, my preferred activities are mental challenges, not physical ones. But Wii Fit has gotten me up off the couch and into a daily exercise routine. It has me working up a sweat, and I fully expect to be active each day with this digital encouragement. I appreciate that you can include other activities in your fit log – on days that I do a lot of walking, I log that in and add fit credits for that.
My son and my husband work out on the Wii Fit as well, and, while none of us could be considered olympic athletes by any stretch of the imagination, we’re all enjoying competing against one another in the various modes.
I’ve also enjoyed that the Mii’s that you create on your Wii are used in the exercises – it’s funny to see them doing the step classes along with you!
I think what I’ve enjoyed the most is the sense of humor that the developers have displayed, the Wii board "trainer’s" comments can be hysterical.
This is a wonderful, funny, enjoyable first step into physical fitness – thanks Nintendo!
5 Stars Love the board We LOVE the balance board and are using it to play games. Summer afternoons are just too hot here so we needed to keeps our kids 10 and 11 active and engaged in something fun this summer. We made a great choice. The kids are up and playing either alone or against each other. I guess our kids prefer to stand up and be active, instead of sit down and play even though using the board is more challenging. I am so glad. Our current favorite is Shaun White Snowboarding Road Trip The wii fit workout is good but not super fun so getting the kids to do any of the workout stuff is hopeless at this point. I like the yoga when they let me use the board, and the aerobic boxing is OK, but games we bought for the kids seem to make you workout and sweat more. I really feel it after playing for awhile. The scale feature is really nice. It makes the kids aware of the idea of healthy weight and fitness, and it seems accurate.
