A Wii bit of a review

For my birthday this past year, Joe gifted me a Wii.  At first, I thought this gift was really for him that doubled as obligatory present for me.  But I have to say that other than ON my birthday (where he beat me soundly at each game we played), he hasn't touched the thing. 

I knew that I wanted to do something more active with it - I wanted some fitness games that would be fun to do on the Wii but still provide a good workout.  That's when I bought Dance Dance Revolution (and no...you still can't watch me dancing to such hits as "Never Gonna' Give You Up" and "Ice Ice Baby").  While it IS fun, the songs aren't long enough for me to really break a sweat before moving on to a different impossible dance combination for my clearly uncoordinated self.  Each "song" is just an excerpt and seems to last just a minute or so.

So I did what anybody else would do - I Googled the crap out of Wii Fitness Games including tags like "Top Rated" and "Best Workout Games for Wii".  And then I read eleventy hundred reviews and blog posts of these games which meant that I was thoroughly confused.  The thing is, comments like "Best Workout Ever!" are helpful...but only if you know what fitness level the reviewer is already at. 

So, I emailed Krissie at Questions for Dessert - I knew that she had just run a half marathon AND that she had a Wii Fit.  She was awesome and answered back immediately...and basically said that the Wii Fit is more fun, but the Biggest Loser Wii game is better a workout.

I took that knowledge and did NOTHING with it for months, as I am wont to do.  You may call it procrastination, I call it "letting thoughts marinate."  Truthfully, it's because I didn't want to waste a lot of money on a game that wouldn't be a good workout.  I learned my lesson with the DDR game.

Recently, I decided to invest in the Wii Fit Plus program.  I wanted the balance board, the games, and the goal setting.  I also secretly hoped that inside the box would be a fairy that would make me want to lose weight and do the exercise. 

Sadly, no fairy was in the box.  Looks like it'll just have to be me in charge of my weight loss and fitness program.  Bummer.

Katy asked a question in yesterday's post about if the Wii Fit was worth it - which made me remember that every review is subjective to the person doing it AND dependant on the person's beginning fitness level.  I figured that there must be some of you in the same boat, so I'm willing to let it all hang out...just to benefit you.
Here is my current fitness level:
I'm a 33 year old female.  I can run 3 miles easily without stopping to walk.  If I take one quick break (walking about 1-2 minutes in the middle), I can run 4-5 miles.  My longest run was 6 miles.  When I was running regularly, my pace was under 10 minutes a mile.  Now it's up to around 11 minutes (yes, if you don't use it, you lose it).  On any given day, I weigh between 225 and 230 pounds (UGH) and wear a large top and a size 16 bottoms. I'm between 5'9" and 5'10" (doctor's offices have measured differently).  I used to do the 30 day Shred DVD every day.  Climbing stairs or hopping up and down (hello jumping jacks!) hurts my knees, but running doesn't (I know.  I'm weird.).  Other than my weight, I'm pretty healthy (seriously, did I JUST write that?  I know...it's preposterous).

There you go - that's how healthy I am now.

Having said all of that, here is my review (not compensated in any way - just trying to share information):

Wii Fit Plus:
The Wii Fit games ARE fun - even if I am apparently as uncoordinated as a bowl full of jelly.  They have several different types of games but aerobic and balance games are the only ones I've tried.  I've heard that balance is good to work on - and judging from my scores on these games, I have a LOT to work on.  I usually score the lowest in this area...and only burn about one calorie per activity.  Better than sitting on the couch, I'm sure...but I might burn more calories when I'm eating chips and sitting on the couch (due to the hand movement from the bag to my mouth).

The aerobic parts have been fun too - I've tried the step class, the boxing, and the running.  Here I'm better, but you can't speed up the pace or music - so it's not a great workout.  I've done the freestyle running program and have definitely broken a sweat.  The jogging program is fine, but because you have to use the Wii balance board (for other games within the Wii Fit game) without socks or shoes, I found myself running barefoot on our wood floors, which is not how I choose to run.  Even if it's all in my head, I feel better about running in place with the support of my shoes.

Incidentally, I think it's cool that when you play the Wii Fit, it brings the other little characters you've already created to help you.  Joe and I created "Klaus" on my birthday who looks like an older male transvestite - with a full white beard, pink beanie cap, and wonderful make up.  He even has a beauty mole on his face.  He's a total train wreck and seeing him as my coach in soccer or in my step class cracks me up.

Biggest Loser Wii Game:
Yesterday I tried the Biggest Loser Wii game - and this was a whole different ball o' wax.  Granted, I've only tried it once, but in the 30 minute circuit work out I did (on the medium intensity setting), I had sweat dripping off my face.  I picked Bob Harper as my trainer (swoon!) and the circuits were long enough that I wasn't jumping all around and changing positions like crazy, but short enough that I really gave each my all because I knew I didn't have to do a ton of reps. My workout last night had one circuit (of many different activities that equaled 10 minutes) that I repeated three times.

Things I am not a fan of:  when you're on the ground doing hip raises, planks, and push ups, he switches moves on the screen - and since you're not looking, it can be hard to realize that he's switched.  I just went with the flow because so far it wasn't a big deal to me...only slightly annoying.

What I really didn't like is that apparently it must be hard for the Wii to figure out my movements - I would do them perfectly (or so I thought) and wouldn't be scored appropriately.  The game has little icons that flash on the screen when you're doing them right - and you're supposed to try to get five in each activity.  There would be some (like ladder climbers) that I would do perfectly and get NO icons (and therefore no calorie credit).  Because I'm a person driven by awards, I found this a bit discouraging.  I thought about screaming how it wasn't fair, but Bob doesn't like excuses so I saved my breath. 

At the end of my 30 minute work out, the game said I had burned 82 calories.  Umm...NO WAY is that correct.  I wouldn't say that this game is FUN per se, but it did what I wanted it to do - gave me a good workout and knowing that I have signed on for a 12 week program makes me want to keep coming back.  I don't understand how I can get kicked off yet (which I hear is a possibility) so if you're interested I'll write more later after I've had more experiences with it. Hit me up in the comments if you want me to expound more about it later.

So there you have it - my review of my games on the Wii.  Basically, exactly what Krissie said. 

Things I'm thinking about adding to make my workouts even better: weights, a stair riser, and some sort of padding.  Thanks to Jessica for letting me know that some of these are possibilities.

There are a few styles of weights that you can either add to your Wii remote (and they look like barbells!) or velcro on your wrists.  When I worked out regularly, I used 5-10 pound weights in each hand...the Wii remote ones are only 2 pounds each.  So I might start out with those and then graduate to the weights you just strap on your wrists/ankles.

The stair riser would raise the Wii balance board to a full 4" off the ground - which would be about the same height as most risers at a step class in a gym.  To me, that would make the stair stepper on the Wii Fit much more challenging.

The padding would be used for when I'm running in place or when I'm having to be on my knees to do planks or push ups.  I don't have great knees to begin with and having them on hardwood floors doesn't feel great.

Do you have any questions or comments about these or other games?  I'd love to know your opinion.   Tina mentioned Wii Active (I think by EA Sports?)...has anyone tried that?  And Tina - if you're still reading, what do you love about it?