Losing Weight with Nintendo Wii?
Nintendo continues to deliver hot selling games and accessories. With the release of Wii Fit they really struck gold and many stores outsold their stock in one day. It surely has positioned it self as the fastest selling Wii game to this date.
The Fit Balance Board is a clever device that is pressure sensitive and detects shifts in balance in any direction. You put it in front of your TV, step on and use it to interact with the varied activities. The great thing about it it’s wireless, so there’s no chance of you tripping over a cable and picking up an injury.
Nintendo Wii is known for getting physical with the games but is it enough exercise to get you fit? Studies made on Wii Sports resulted in a weight loss of 12kg per year by using the included sports games daily, so with Wii Fit added to the consoles fitness arsenal we’ll expect to see more people losing weight in front of the TV.
There are around 40 different exercises included in Wii Fit. They are divided into four categories: Aerobic exercise, Muscle conditioning, Yoga poses and Balance games. Examples of the training activities are:
Step Aerobic Exercise: a game in which the player must step on and off the Wii Balance Board in rhythm to the background music.
Muscle Conditioning: Wii fit features controlled motions using arms, legs and other body parts.
Yoga exercise: Make classic poses in this exercise to focus on balance and stretching.
Ski jumping: Whereby the player squats as low as possible, while maintaining his or her balance, and then quickly stands as fast as possible in order to gain a good jump
Balance Games: These fun activities include heading soccer balls and hula hooping. Challanges for the players overall body balance.
Nintendo has said it has at least ten games in development that support the board and not just fitness games either. Fighting and Sports games can also take advantage of the unique balance-based interface.
The wii Balance board can be used for daily Wii Fit tests. Wii Fit will evaluate two key measures tracked via progress charts:
Body Mass Index (BMI): A weight evaluation based on a ratio of weight to height. Wii Fit Age: The Wii Fit Age is measured by factoring the user’s BMI reading, testing the Wii Fit user’s center of gravity and conducting quick balance tests.
Is Wii Fit for all overweight people? Unfortunately the balance board can only hold 136kg so people above that weight better start losing some weight in order to use this game. Hovewer when you get to that range using the activities in the game will surely get your weight down even further and you will acually have fun losing weight.
Filed under: Computers & Technology