Today, for the first time, I tried the Nintendo Wii Fit and Wii Sports video games which turns exercise into a game. It consists of exercises using the Wii accessory Balance Board.
The Wii Fit has over 40 different activities divided in four categories – Yoga, Aerobics, Strength training and Balance games. The game first calculates the users Body Mass Index (BMI) before suggesting exercises. I tried the Balancing games, Hula-Hoop exercise and jogging.
At the end of 40 minutes, I burned 210 calories by jogging 3419 metres in 10 minutes and 623 hula-hoop spins in five minutes.
The Wii Sports has baseball, bowling, boxing, golf and tennis. I tried boxing, bowling and tennis for about an hour. Now my arms ache. I am not a fan of gaming consoles but this one was worth trying. The Wii is healthier than sitting on the couch or playing other video games.
However, according to a study conducted by Mark Anders suggested that exercising using the Wii will use up the same amount of energy that a person uses by performing the same exercise without the Wii but it will burn half the amount of calories.
At the end of the exercise, I was panting and sweating which would have happened after any physical exercise. The Wii experience was like playing a game and the fitness was a bonus. Exercise was fun! The Wii is better than sitting around idle in the house but it is not as good as playing the real sport. The Wii may entice non-exercisers to motivate them to exercise and realise that fitness can be fun.
Could the Wii be the future of exercise?
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