Okay, first I have to say that I have used the Wii about 2 times total up until yesterday when I tried the Wii Fit. I borrowed it from my sister last spring and it has sat in the box ever since. I was feeling guilty and wanted to try it since my sister wanted to sell it when I borrowed it.
When I started out, I felt totally unprepared. I had my husband set it up because I didnt even know how to turn the Wii on. I didnt really know how to use the wand or the attachment for the Wii Fit. Apparently I had set up a character for myself a long time ago when we first got the Wii and my husband convinced me to play once. I've never really been a technology buff.
So, my Wii Fit age was 46 and I was so upset. It was based on a balance test using the balance board (I didn't know what it was asking of me) and some kind of memory test using the wand. Eek. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty crappy about myself but I continued to do some of the workouts. I started with cardio and did 10 minutes of stepping. It was sooooo SLOW and didnt record all of my steps. I am used to high impact aerobic activity and this was way to slow for me. To give credit to the system, it did warn me that my steps would not be counted if I went to fast. I did 1000 steps in 10 minutes and it ranked me at beginner but the funny part was that I was going faster than the system and it was not recording my steps so I have no idea how it would rank me any higher than my score if I cant go faster and it wont record all of my steps.
After cardio, I decided to try the hula hoop. The object is basically to move your hips around in a circle very fast to record your circles. As a bonus, they throw hula hoops at you so you can lean to the side and catch them around your body. At this time I still didnt understand the leaning part (as earlier in the fitness test). I re-tried this activity 3 times to master the hoop catching! I ended up with a "trainer" score.
After cardio, I tried Yoga and scored "advanced" or "trainer" on all of the moves with the program telling me that I had great posture. With this in mind I decided to re-take the fitness test but this time they gave me different tests to gauge my age. I scored at age 50...holy crap!!! So, this motivated me to try the test again and I got the same balance test I took the first time and then a different memory game. Within five minutes my age went from 50 to 36!!!
While I think the Wii Fit can offer some benefits to exercise...mostly posture and proper technique...I think there is a lot to be improved upon. By learning how the program works in general, I was able to increase and then improve my "fitness age". I think the age the Wii Fit gives you is unrealiable, as if you couldnt tell, and I think my fitness level is more advanced than this program is set up. This program would be better suited for someone at the beginner level. I do think that my lack of experience with the Wii in general has had an effect on my scores as well. Please keep that in mind.
Information on the Wii Fit can be found at http://www.wiifit.com/
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