Mr. Fitter tries the Wii Fit

We now have our household Wii! It fits in nicely with all the DuraBalls and Wobble boards we have around our home. My kids are 11 , 12 and my step son is 23 so this stuff is used often. For us, the Wii came at Christmas with all the games except the Wii Fit (which is what I really wanted to test). So for Father’s Day the family gave me the newest version of the Wii Fit Board. It does not look like much, but then again the $10,000 to $80,000 medical Balance assessment units I have used for years at medical Tradeshow do not really look all that fancy either.

My hope was that the unit would help get lazy kids off the couch because couch potatoes start early in life as tater tots- and thanks to technology our tots are looking more like taters all the time! My kids are very active but also able to sit and play computer games for 4 or 5 hours with out having a clue as to the time they have invested.

My son took the Wii out the box and it was operational in less than 60 second. No wories, no fuss, just load the program and turn it on. So far so good! Next they found what looked like games to play via weight shifting from right to left. Not hard but I suppose for some it would be very difficult.

I noticed the yoga, aerobics and strength options but the kids and I finally agreed to test out the Skiing as that is our favorite sport. We all took turns and laughed as we fumbled our way down the slope as we tried to figure out the required weight shift. It is not like real skiing but it was fun and after 3 or 4 tries I could feel that some good old core stabilization was happening. After 4 hours, on the rainy day, we all decided that this was a fun and healthy product.

Over the past week I have stepped on it 4 more times and it welcomes me and makes me feel like I was missed on the days I failed to use it. Today I did a short strength workout including push ups, planks, tree poses, and half moon stretches. After 40 minutes of playing I found my self with a light sweat and felt pretty good. So, for a reward I tried to master the advance ski racing and according to the little man at the end of each run I am still in shame with poor performance ( 5 years of world cup speed skiing should have been enough training, but I guess not for the world of Wii).

I have noticed the Wii says all my family generally has great balance. Some of us are not in great shape (me) but I guess my core is still strong enough from Active Sitting and Ball Sitting that the machines rate me as very fit! When we are taking turns on the Wii , the rest of us are ball sitting or standing on a balance board simply because it helps keep our reaction speed sharp. So the balance toys are always around and available to use even when the Wii Fit is off or busy. It has also proven to us based on the world of Wii measuring, that we have great balance, core strength and coordination in general ( The Wii Fit measures all this and keeps track of it for you- I like this feature a lot).

Wii feedback is more clear proof that daily balance training at work, home or school is worth doing so that you maintain a strong core and good balance. A Balance board for standing and exercise ball for sitting and stretching are so easy to incorporate into your office. Every work or learning place should have many around for casual use. If you do start to use balance product in you 9 to 5 then when you get home to your Wii game or equivalent, you will be the master and maybe even be able to show up your kids!

As for why I cannot do better than beginner in the WII ski racing, well, I guess I am getting older and my reactions are not as fast as they once were. Maybe that is why I lost fun races to both my ski racing younger kids this ski season too.

Bottom line: Wii is fun, Wii is great for balance/ body awareness training, Wii will get kids more active in front of a screen. Wii is a great compliment to the need of making balance training a daily activity any way you can. So use it or lose it!