Thursday, April 16, 2009

Wii Fit

Our "family present" this past Christmas was Wii Fit. The boys were kind of excited about it, but not thrilled. It wasn't like their reaction when we bought them Star Wars Lego for Wii – that game was a big hit. Since then, however, they've really started to enjoy Wii Fit. It's not their favourite game – that would be the aforementioned Star Wars Lego – but I'd say it's in the top three. Gail and I also enjoy it. There are basically three "modes" to Wii Fit. It can be:

  1. a fun game
  2. a workout that doesn't seem like a workout
  3. a real workout

The balance games may help your overall balance, but they certainly just seem like fun. Or, you can combine the balance games with a couple of the aerobic ones for a bit of a workout. There's a boxing one that combines throwing punches with step aerobics, or there are regular step aerobics and some running ones as well. Or, if you are actually in the mood to work out, some of the strength training and yoga exercises are quite difficult (the "dance" yoga one is the hardest one I've done yet).

Does it compare to an actual weight bench or going for an actual run, whether outside or on a treadmill? Well, not really. But there have been times where the boys are asleep and Gail is either asleep as well or doing something else, and I have some time to myself. Sometimes I read, blog, work, play my guitar, but rarely do I decide to go and work out for half an hour. However, on some occasions I have decided to play Wii Fit for a while and before I knew it, I had worked out for half an hour or more.

People have been trying to making exercising fun for non-fitness buffs for years, so kudos to Nintendo for finally succeeding.

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