Wii Fit
Wii Fit with Balance Board
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 List Price: $89.99 Sale Price: $100.00 Availability: unspecified 
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Product Description
The hit combination of Wii Sports and the Wii Remote brought golf swings and tennis serves into people's homes. Now Nintendo turns the living room into a fitness center for the whole family with Wii Fit and the Wii Balance Board. Family members will have fun getting a "core" workout, and talking about and comparing their results and progress on a new channel on the Wii Menu. Lean to block soccer balls, swivel hips to power hoop twirls or balance to hold the perfect yoga pose. As users stand on the Wii Balance Board, included with Wii Fit, their body's overall balance is tied to the game in a way they've never experienced before. Wii Fit also uses the Wii Balance Board for daily tests. These evaluate two key measures that a household can track via progress charts:
Details
- Wii Fit requires a Wii console to play. Wii console sold separately.
- Wii Fit combines fitness with fun and is designed for everyone, young and old. Wii Fit players work towards personal fitness goals and they block soccer balls, swivel hips to power hoop twirls, and go big on ski jumps to get themselves there.
- Check your daily progress, set goals, check your Wii Fit Age, and even enter exercise time you've done outside of Wii Fit.
- Wii Fit Age is measured by factoring the user's BMI reading, testing the user's center of gravity and conducting quick balance tests.
- Training is at the core of Wii Fit. You can spend as much (or as little) time as you want trying out all of the 40+ activities Wii Fit offers.
Rating
I just recently received my Wii Fit and I have to say that I’m generally impressed. First of all, the exercises presented work well. If done properly without any cheating you will definitely raise your heart rate and will probably “feel the burn.”
The Good:
==> It functions as a very accurate scale, although I noticed that if it is placed on a thick, spongy carpet it registers my weight about 10-20 lbs lighter than I actually am.
==> Exercises are well explained by the onscreen trainer.
==> Challenging exercises… some of these are really hard, especially at first. But they are hard in a good way.
==> Fun little balance based mini games. I especially enjoy the Ski Slalom and the Marble Tilt games.
==> Built in progress tracking system.
==> Menus are very easy to navigate.
==> Doesn’t cost $50+ per month like my gym membership does.
The Not So Good:
==> It doesn’t have a “Workout Program” that links your exercises together. You must interrupt your flow by selecting new exercises in between each set.
==> Weight limit of 330 lbs. If you are really heavy, regardless of your fitness level, this “game” is not for you.
==> Uses BMI (Body Mass Index) to evaluate your fitness. BMI is generally a great indicator of healthy weight except that people with large amounts of muscle mass can be mislabeled as obese, regardless of whether or not you can bench-press a truck and run a marathon before breakfast. BMI is also not very accurate for a lot of children.
==> Wii board width. I wish they would have made it a little wider. I’m a moderately built guy and I found the push-up positions to be awkward. The balance board doesn’t really allow for much flexibility in how wide you can place your arms. I imagine that people with much broader shoulders will find this uncomfortable.
==> Minimalist graphics.
==> Bland music.
Overall, I highly recommend this product as a supplement to your regular exercise routine, especially for days when you can’t make it into the gym. As a stand alone workout regimen it is fairly limited but effective.
Rating
I was a little scared of this when we got it, thinking “I don’t want to jog on television!” But after watching my kids and seeing what is all included with the game, I was very anxious to play. After a simple set up of the platform, you are ready to go. It came with 4 AA batteries and included 4 little risers for thicker carpets. I haven’t tried these as mine is a berber carpet and works fine, I didn’t need a pad or anything.
You have to personalize your Mii with your age, height, weight (yes, it is a scale, too.) From the data, your BMI is calculated and you are noted as underweight, ideal, overweight, or obese. You then take a little balance test (where you shift your weight to certain areas within a time limit.) Your Wii Fit Age is then displayed in large numbers on the screen. Well, of course this could be incorrect (especially if you are heavy due to muscles or something!) but it is an okay feature as long as you don’t get bent out of shape about what it says. It isn’t a doctor, it is only a game, afterall! As you get better, your Wii Fit age decreases. NOTE: You can even play as someone else’s Mii if you don’t have time to set one up for yourself (or don’t want to.) You’ll get a little voice when you step on saying something like “you weigh a little different than before, do you want to continue?” Just click “continue.” I didn’t want to set one up at first, so I just played as my husband’s Mii. Then I just set one up…geez, it wasn’t so bad!
Game play: If you have played Big Brain Academy, this game reminds you of that, but you use your body, not just your brain (but maybe this should be called Big Butt Academy for me!! ha ha) The exercises are divided into four different categories designed to help improve your health (and to have fun!) They are yoga, muscles, aerobic, and balance. The yoga and muscle categories feel the most like “real” exercises. You start with a few unlocked categories, and earn new ones. You dont’ have to master everything to get the new stuff as things unlock as you bank “time spent” minutes. You can choose a woman or man virtual “trainer” to help guide you in your form (they will also give you feedback on how you are doing.)
My family’s favorite parts are the aerobic and balance activities. The games include things like hula hoops (super funny to be a spectator!), jogging, boxing, or step dancing. The balance activities are the ones where everyone wants a turn (even grandma wanted to do these!) These include a marble game (where you balance and lean to get a marble through a hole), ski jump, slalom skiing, snowboarding (you get to turn the balance board sideways to simulate riding on a snowboard), riding in a river inside a bubble (you lean forward and sideways to get your bubble to move and avoid the walls), and even tightrope walking.
Many of the games show a little icon of the balance board and a dot. There is a red dot that shows you where your center of balance is. It is like a target where and you try to get the dots to overlap by shifting your weight. It is really an amazing little board! Even pushing down with only your toes effects the on-screen outcome. We play the balance games the most and all try to get the top score (it shows the top 10 leaders.)
Do we cheat? Well, no..but it is possible, especially with running. You don’t use the board with this game, but your arm movement while holding the Wii remote register as running. You could certainly just wave it around, but that sort of defeats the fun!
It seems that there will be many more games coming to work with the balance board. I hope so, because it is a fun gadget. Would I change anything? Maybe. You can’t really compete with each other on too many games (you can jog two-player.) You are mostly playing one at a time then comparing scores. It would be fun (but more expensive) to have a split screen, two balance boards, and snowboard against each other! Also, I would like it if you could set up your own little workout routine (like link together 7 or 8 activities that you like the most to run consecutively) but you cannot do this. It isn’t that hard to select each one with the remote, but it seems like it would have been a good addition. I actually thought this would be an option before I bought it.
Will the Wii Fit replace a “real” exercise program? Of course not. Will it get you off of the couch more often? Definately, and your muscles will feel that you are doing something! Plus you can see some progress with weight, Wii Fit age, and improved scores. Overall, we really like it and we have logged many hours on it in the first few weeks (which I can’t say for all the Wii games we have!) For the price and amount of fun, it is definately worth it!
Rating
I own the Wii Fit since last week. I’m 32, 1.76m, ~82-84kg (fluctuates) and with my wedding coming up in a few months I wanted to lose some weight. I work all day and have little time in the evenings so the preparation and driving to and from the gym was too much. I wanted to use that 30-40 min to exercise, not prepare for exercise. I own a Wii since Xmas and decided to try this out after reading various reviews on the internet. Is this as good as going to the gym? No it does not replicate a gym. Will it get the job done? Will it keep you fit and help you lose weight? YES YES YES! I love it and highly recommend it. I get a great work out in 45 min. I feel great about myself, and have already lost a kilo. (note I have not changed my diet). Notice I get my work out in as much time as it takes to commute and prepare for gym. I also have more fun than going to the gym on my own. Perhaps going to a gym with a friend would be more fun. Depends. Anyway I love the Wii Fit! Note it takes a few times to get used to it and figure out how best to use it. Why? Well there is no prepared program for you. You have to decide on your own what you want to do and in what sequence. I start off by doing the aerobics (jogging, holla hoop) and then vary. Basically, the Wii Fit breaks its exercises into Muscle, Balance, Aerobics, and Yoga. I mainly doing the Aerobics and mix in some muscle and yoga. The muscle and yoga can be really tough. You wouldn’t believe how much. You can really feel the muscles working. I do the balance exercises when I’m tired and want to relax a bit in between exercises. They may help with balance but are more of a game than anything else. The more you exercise, new exercises open up. In other words, you start of with a limited about of stuff to do and slowly you get more and more. Don’t listen to the few negative reviews you may read on the internet. They were probably biased against the product before even trying it. This product costs a little more than going to the gym for a month (at least in my country). By the time I unlock all the exercises, I will have exercised more than a 1-month gym subscription, burnt more calories, and will have a fun game left too! Compared to nothing after a month at a gym. I highly recommend this. As I explained, you are getting more than your money’s worth, having fun, and getting fit.
Rating
I’m 38 and my back had been bothering me. I remembered hearing that core strengthening exercises are supposed to be helpful in countering back pain. Since the wii fit advertised its focus on core development, I asked for one for father’s day, and my family came through for me.
The pleasantly surprising news is that the wii fit has come through for me as well–after an initially unpleasant wake-up call. My first body test made my “mii” (a cartoon version of me) fat. Then, it told me that my wii fit age was 51, based on my balance test performance. Yikes!
I didn’t really expect to hear either piece of the above news.
I weathered the appraisal, and started doing the wii fit exercises for 30 minutes a day. True to my hopes, after about two weeks, my stomach got firmer, and my back pain decreased. The surprising part was that I felt myself getting stronger, and I started losing weight. In the 2.5 months since my family bought the wii fit, I have dropped 15 lbs!
The secret is not merely the exercises, which are generally taxing, but not usually rigorous. Instead, I think the real strength of the wii fit is that it holds you very accountable.
The wii keeps perfect track of you. It measures your weight, it knows how long and frequently you work out. If you have a weight gain, it asks you to tell it what happened to cause it (multiple choice).
If you haven’t worked out for a couple of days, the next time you start the program, it mentions that you’ve been away.
The truth is that when I eat now, I know that an extra helping means that the wii be disappointed in me.
Aside from the accountability, the beauty of all of this tracking is that I have a much better gauge of how much I can eat without gaining weight, and I know how much exercise I need to augment my more disciplined diet.
I feel like I’m learning more about my body while my body gets fitter.
In the end, you won’t become a body builder doing wii fit–there are no weights involved. And, you won’t develop killer cardio–it generally makes you take breaks after 15 minutes of work. But, you will get stronger, fitter, and firmer, and you’ll do in an entertaining way.
Only downside: The cartoon wii fit board on the TV does a lot of chatting, and the wii trainers want to demonstrated new exercises when you first try them. Also, you have to sort through which exercises you want to do next–it is not an automatic process. All of this activity means that 30 minutes of actual exercise takes close to an hour of clock time at first. But, as you get more experienced, you can skip the demos, and you learn to speed through the board’s messages. Now it takes me about 45 minutes to get 30 minutes of work-out time.
If I could recommend one item to Nintendo, it would be to add a circuit training component to the wii fit program, where the trainer would choose a 30 minute work-out without pauses.
Still, overall, it is a “game” that has changed my physical health for the better. I get up at 4:00 AM every morning to work-out before going to work, and I feel good about it. By the way, I dropped my wii fit age from 51 to 23…Pretty cool huh?
Rating
The Wii Fit “game” for the Wii is far more than a game! It comes with a balance board and lets you practice yoga, strength training, aerobics and other fitness games with your very own Personal Trainer.
First, how it works. There is a white plastic balance board you stand on, which is in essence a multi-part scale. It can tell exactly where you are standing on the board, and where your weight is. If you lean forward, it senses the weight shift. If you stand on one foot and wobble around, it can sense that wobble. *Precisely*.
So for example, in the yoga area one of the exercises is “tree pose”. This is the classic yoga pose you see with one foot against the other leg and the hands up in the air. You stand that way for about a minute. The Wii knows exactly how steady you are, and shows you a red dot dancing around the screen to show your fluctuations. Of course, if you are really good at this, it shows that dot calmly at rest.
Being a scale, the system tracks your weight loss (or gain) each time you use it, and because you put in your age and height, it tracks your BMI as well. The charts show you how you progress each day, and what your daily exercises levels are, broken down by the various categories.
You can choose a male or female trainer, and the trainer demonstrates the moves visually on the screen while you watch. So for push-ups, the trainer is on the screen, doing them properly, giving you advice on form and what to do. They tell you exactly what muscles you will be working out. They provide front-and-back views so you can get a better sense of what you’re doing, and give audio messages as well so you know when to change position.
There is really a lot of variety here. There are games like hula hoop and walk-the-tightrope to give you some fun. There are different levels of some games you can unlock. You can “go for a run” where you have the Wii controller in your pocket and run (not on the board) in place, while an interesting scenery scrolls past on the TV. The speed the scenery moves is based on your own running speed, so you can go faster or more slowly. You can even run with a friend!
You are told NOT to jump on the board and in fact the game will restart a given level if you do, to help make that clear. The board is a scale, as mentioned, and they do their best to have you treat it relatively gently.
You really can work up a sweat if you do harder activities, but there is a LOT in here for the out of shape to start slowly.
Now all of this begin said, there are several downsides to this game that they really should have added in.
First, they have lots of little short games – and no way to connect them together! You have to track down activity 1. Go through it. Then go back out to the menus and track down activity 2. It can take literally a minute to go between one thing and the other, with lots of button clicking. They should have let you string together “my fitness set” to do this more easily. They do have a “favorites” menu that lets you see the 10 things you do the most, but it’s not the same.
Next, they don’t recommend anything at all based on your weight / BMI. You are completely on your own to know what to do. You can tell it “I want to lose 20 pounds in 6 months”. Fine. It doesn’t give you any help or guidance at all. No “hey you lost 20 calories” or “only 10 minutes to go!” You have to make your own plans. Normally this is what a trainer does for you – so their virtual trainer is pretty useless.
Which goes into another thing a real trainer would help you with – the order of activities. Muscle groups work in combination with each other and you should warm up, then do a combination of activities, then cool down. The Wii Fit has no information at all about this type of planning. You could randomly choose things to do that all work out your legs for example and never touch your lower back. You could cause strain on your body by leaping into the higher activities without doing a warm up lower activity. This would have been SO simple for them to build into the system, but they did not.
The scale unit tops out at 330 pounds. I work with many obese people and there are MANY people out there over 330 pounds who this system would have been ideal for. They can’t use it. I know someone who was 270 pounds who used this and the system kept giving them errors. I know they can’t have an infinite weight scale, but something a little higher end would have been very encouraging.
To me these things are all “really should put into Version 2″ issues. I will still give WiiFit 5 stars for being a groundbreaking entry into the video gaming world – something that can really change lives and help people become more healthy. There are all sorts of other “would be great” enhancement ideas – for example, if you hooked up a video camera, you could see how YOUR downward facing dog looked, to see if it matched the “trainer” on the screen. That could be hugely helpful for people.
WiiFit is definitely a great software package – I wouldn’t call it a game – and I highly recommend that everybody get their hands on one if they can. It’s a system that appeals to all ages, is healthy for all ages, and is a lot of fun too.
Rating
Addictive. Hard. Rewarding. Fun. Tiring. Frustrating. Amazing.
Too many adjectives, I know, but Wii Fit is all of those things.
I was impressed when we bought a Wii for our daughter last Christmas. Now I’m thrilled. Finally, a video “game” that seems tailor made for me! I’ve only had my copy of Wii Fit for a few days now, but already I can tell that if any piece of home equipment is ever going to help me get back in shape, this is it. Setting it up is hardly tougher than slipping in a DVD, and, unlike the Total Gym I once had, it makes you feel young just using it.
The first thing you do is weigh yourself by standing on the included wireless “Balance Board.” After that, everything seems more like a game than a workout, but after 30 minutes with this thing I was sweating just as much as I do at the gym. There are four types of exercises: aerobics, balance, strength training, and yoga. Lasting from a minute to 10 minutes each, specific virtual activities include boxing, hula-hooping, jogging, push-ups, some very fun snowboarding action and this funky tilting game where you push balls into virtual holes.
Back to that balance board. You’ll hate what it tells you about yourself, but love that it told you. Besides your weight, you learn your Wii Fit Age, a figure that combines your weight, body mass index and sense of balance. As you exercise, the program tracks your progress, or lack of it.
My only two complaints: the voice that speaks to you is little-kid cute, and there are no pre-set workouts.
If you’re like me, you buy a lot of video games for your kids. If you can find it, buy this one for yourself. I got mine at list price, but I’d say it’s worth about $150.
Rating
We have been waiting for the Wii Fit release for quite a long time and are certainly not disappointed!! I’m sitting here, having worked up quite a sweat {and, counterintuitively, munching on a piece of Wegman’s Ultimate Chocolate cake}!
The Wii Fit is very sturdy, heavy and well-built. The exercises are well-balanced (pardon the expression) between aerobics, balance, yoga, and strength. The device is easy to set up and anyone can be successful using the device. My one complaint is with the push-up exercise included under the strength regimen. The Wii Fit is made of hard plastic and it makes it difficult to get a good purchase on the device while doing the push ups. Its great exercise, since your hands are also fairly close together, but my hands keep slipping and it feels uncomfortable. Several people have suggested buying one of the covers, such as Wii Fit Protective Silicon Cover, but I have not tried this yet.
Otherwise, the games included on the Wii Fit disk are fun and the skiing is great!
I believe we will continue to use the device, especially since my Mii was visually”adjusted” to reflect my Body Mass Index (BMI). Losing a little weight is now a matter of pride!! It also calculated my “age” at my actual age…absolutely unsatisfactory…must be 20 years younger!! {grin} However, it allows you to set target weight and BMI, so you will compete against yourself to lose weight and also improve your overall fitness level. It’s fun! If your personal stats are upsetting to you, fear not, you can password protect them! One word of caution…don’t take the BMI or “Age” calculated for you by the software too seriously. Use common sense. Although it SHOULD help you improve your fitness, this is still a game and NOT a professional exercise device. There have been several bits on the news this week claiming that the Wii is no substitute for a personal trainer (interviewing personal trainers, of course) but most of us don’t have time for a personal trainer and also cannot afford one. The Wii Fit is much better than the alternative….nothing.
There are plenty of exercises and activities to keep things fresh and to keep your interest. Particularly good if you live in a dorm or apartment and don’t have much room for dedicated exercise equipment.
Overall, This Is A Great Device!! An absolute “Must Have” for all Wii owners!!! Now, if it could only keep me away from the cake!
UPDATE 2009: We really like using the Wii Fit with the Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. Much fun!!
Rating
I’ve been doing this for 67 days now, and I have over 35 hours of credits. The difference in my body is quite obvious. I started off in pretty good shape, but all of my muscles are clearly more toned now. I’ve also really honed my balance well.
Yoga: Everything can be fairly distracting at first, and you really should focus on just learning the poses before you worry too much about your balance. The instructions and demonstration are far more helpful than any book could be, and unlike video, you can view any part of the pose from all around while they are paused or moving. Once you’ve learned a pose, the yellow circle and little red dot make a very useful tool. The guided breathing was a brilliant addition.
Strength: Many of these start off easy, but as you unlock more, it can get very intense. Obviously this isn’t meant for body-builders, but you can do quite a bit with it. Between the push-up challenge, jack knife challenge, rowing squats, and lunges you can give your whole body a VERY effective work-out. Many of the other exercises are great too, especially the one-arm stand.
Aerobics: None of these will compare to swimming or riding a bike, especially at first, but they can be a lot more than a walk around the block. Once you unlock Free Step, put the board on something sturdy to raise it about a foot or more. If you do this on high speed, you’ll get a very real work-out for your heart and lower body. The running works too to of course, but it’s a bit clumsy and there’s no stair-climbing effect.
Balance Games: My sister said they remind her of the exercises she does in physical therapy. They are all short, simple, and fun. The coolest part about getting better at them over time is the fact that you are literally improving your balance, something people tend to seriously neglect.
Overall, this game really is what it promises: a great, effective way to exercise at home and without equipment other than the board. You can definitely cheat at just about everything on it if you want to, and it’s measurement of your performance isn’t always perfect. But look at it for what it is: a tool for you to use to help yourself.
Rating
I preordered this from Gamestop after Amazon sold out their preorders. I wasn’t disappointed.
I’m fat, and ashamed of it; “clinically obese” would be the term I’d use. My doctor has begged me to get a trainer, but they’re expensive; and I hate gyms since they’re boring, and out of my way. But I’m a gamer — I love to sit and play CoD. Exercise is almost non-existent in my life.
Setting up the Fit Board is easy. You slap a few batteries in and sync. The graphics are cute. The music is cute, too. (you can just mute the TV an put on some better music, if you want.)
You set it up by telling the game your height, weight, and let it weigh you. And then tell the game how much weight you want to lose (you can lose up to 22 pounds/cycle, and can edit this every 2 weeks). If you try to lose too much weight too fast, the game cautions you against it, but will allow you to do it. Additionally, the game will allow you to password protect your profile, if you’re worried about others finding it.
So, how’s the game itself? In a word: fun. Really fun.
The exercises are easy. Step aerobics. Hula hooping. Running. Basic toning exercises (except for the pushup/jackknife. That’s killer, man. killer.) Some are annoying (the balance board ones are really fun, but are killer hard for me to get right.)
And you get good feedback from the game — you earn points for each activity, and you can actually chart the weight loss through the Wii itself. It’s really sweet.
The game is fun. In a good way. I’ve put in an hour already tonight, and I’ll continue to use it tomorrow. This is, by far, the best chance I’ve had to lose weight in a long, long time.
Get this game if you’re looking to exercise in your own home.
Rating
I won’t repeat what others have said about how this works, what it includes, or the fact that it is a quality piece of equipment.
Nope, all I will say is – I’m a 54 year old female who HATES any type of “formal” exercise (that which is not walking or gardening, pretty much) and I LOVE MY Wii FIT!
I just got it last week, waited a few days before getting it set up, and immediately set to learning how to balance my body (not my strong suit) – and finding it amazingly FUN in the process.
Turning point was Friday when I CHOSE to get on the Wii instead of go make a sandwich for lunch! And 32 fast minutes went by, twirling, leaning, sweating and HAVING FUN before I finally made it to the kitchen.
I am SO glad I bought this! I LOVE racking up “points” and unlocking even more games and the advanced levels.
OK, so the graphics and voices are a little less than stellar but honestly I don’t care. I hope this thing lasts forever. Fun for the whole family!