Interactive Wii Fit offers an easy and fun workout

Published 8:55 am Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Recent buzz in the HR world suggests that Wii Fit may soon find its way into an employee break room near you. The software that plays on the Nintendo Wii gaming console is not overly expensive, people love it and they may actually gain some physical benefit from the activity.

In fact, a blog from Intuit, a leading provider of business and financial management solutions, praised the company’s break room Wii console as a great stress reliever.

Wii Fit is just one software program for the console but currently it is one of the most popular. It uses an accessory called a balance board to offer an interactive experience for the player while they do some lightly disguised exercise.

Some of the exercises are game-like while others are more traditional. But the fact that the game recognizes the player’s movements and responds accordingly adds an element of interest that keeps players going.

The variety of activities includes everything from jogging around a virtual island and ski jumping to standard strength training exercises and yoga with a virtual trainer. It’s not a difficult workout. In fact, it’s far more suitable for the less-than-physically-fit. But that’s a plus for the thousands of people who have no desire to walk into a gym and demonstrate what long hours of sitting behind a desk can do to the human form.

The jury is still out as to how effective the Wii Fit program is for those that stick with it. The easy workouts don’t maximize calorie burn. But any activity is better than none and even casual users can see an improvement in basic balance.

In the medical world, the Wii Fit program is now being used at many physical therapy clinics across the country. Games can take a lot of the drudgery out of rehabilitation sometimes jokingly referred to as “Wii-habilitation” when it involves the console. Initial studies also suggest the program greatly improves balance, a fact that is currently under official study by the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and the UK’s National Health Service.

Additionally, Wii has been a hit with the senior set and is being made a fixture at many senior centers across America. Nintendo figured out early on that the ease of the activity combined with the fun factor made retirees a likely demographic. They have attended AARP conventions to show off the product to the gray gamer market.

The Nintendo Wii game console, required to use the Wii Fit software, retails for $199 and is compatible with both analog and digital TVs. It comes with one motion-sensing remote control as well as a courtesy disk of games that includes bowling, tennis, baseball, boxing and golf.

Wii Fit software, sold separately, has recently been upgraded to a newer and better stand-alone program called Wii Fit Plus. The only other piece of equipment needed is the Wii balance board accessory. The balance board can be purchased separately or can be bought bundled with the Wii Fit Plus software for a special price of $99.

A nice feature of the Wii Fit Plus software is that it keeps a journal of each individual user’s weight, BMI and performance from day to day. These can be locked for privacy in the workplace or in a multi-user household. As the user progresses, more games and activities are opened as a reward.

Less flattering is lack of control over the user’s avatar. The “Mii” avatar is initially built by the player but the first time the player steps on the balance board for a weigh-in, the avatar’s body shape expands to match the user’s body weight.

This “Mii” avatar does not appear in all of the Wii Fit activities. Only balance games and fun games take place in the Mii cartoon world. Presumably this is to pad the user’s sensibilities when their ski jump attempt fails and the Mii winds up as a giant snowball or gets beaned by a flying soccer shoe or falls in a virtual river. That would be disturbing to watch with something more realistic.

Strength training and yoga exercises have a different, more adult appearance. A user avatar is not on screen in these activities. Instead the user is instructed by a virtual trainer. Serious exercises and fun exercises can be mixed and matched in a customer program.

One drawback to the Wii Fit is that it can take up to an hour to complete 30 minutes worth of exercises. Between each exercise, time is taken to explain what to do. There are warnings to always wear the remote’s safety tether around the wrist and reminders to turn on or step on or off the balance board.

Some of these warnings can be skipped through but it still takes longer to complete the exercises than if they were being done without pause. Many out-of-shape or older users appreciate the brief pauses to catch their breath between sets but others might find this frustrating.