We got one for Xmas this year. My wife is mad at it. Here Wii fit age is 64 and mine was 37.
I am 57.
not to hijack the thread - but I have a few questions as well.
- Is there a weight limit for the boards?
- Can I hook it up to a computer monitor or do I have to have a TV?
- What’s the main differences between the upgrades?
I just got one this Xmas, and I know I’ll need to supplement with a stationary bike for calorie burn. There’s nothing really sweaty about it. I’m liking the yoga and strength training, but I haven’t done much of that yet.
I’d love to hear about your experiences with EA Active Sports - I’m thinking of picking up next payday. The Gold’s Gym game is just boxing training, which can be a tough cardio workout, but is kinda uninspiring.
I’ve only used it twice so far, but I worked up a pretty big sweat. It’s a combination of cardio and strength, which mostly relies on a resistance band and various lunges. It also comes with a thigh strap into which you put the nunchuck.
The workouts are supposed to be a little over 20 minutes, but it takes me more like 40 to get through them. This is mostly due to the instructional videos, which don’t count towards the total time exercised. Once I get more familiar with them, I can just skip them.
I have the Wii, balance board, Wii Fit, and just got the Wii Fit Plus last week. I use it about 3, 4 times a week. Fit Plus gives you more, and slightly more challenging, games and yoga poses than the original Fit. I like it. I look at it more as interactive, full-body fun than actual exercising, although the hula-hoop really gets the cardio pumping.
I also like that the Fit Plus tracks calories, waist size, and allows you to structure an exercise regimen.
What I really like, however, is the body test. The weight scale is super accurate, and my balance has gotten better.
Fit Plus has a lot of great stuff. One thing I thought was cool was the thing where you sit still trying not to let the candle blow out. My niece tried it and could keep it going for more than a couple of seconds. Neither could my sister. I, with my zen-like calm, kept it going for a good 45 seconds or so. Then I heard my niece whisper to my sister “We could tickle him.” Trying (and succeeding) to hold in a laugh blew the candle right out.
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Is there a weight limit for the boards? - Approximately 300 lbs. Heavier than that is inadvisable.
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Can I hook it up to a computer monitor or do I have to have a TV? - If you have a monitor that will take your Wii’s video output, it’ll work. I believe different video output cables are available but it comes with a composite cable by default.
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What’s the main differences between the upgrades? - from what I hear, Fit Plus will let you do things like create a full workout routine to save going through the menus in between exercises, and pick a ‘trouble spot’ and have the system present you with exercise options to target that. I have few details though, don’t have the Plus game yet.
I liked EA Active Sports - I felt it gave you much of a better workout than the original Fit game. I did buy a new set of flexible rubber cords, however - I found that the resistance band included with the game was pretty light for me. Got some resistance cords at Target for $20 and didn’t look back - my new set has three cords, each going up in resistance, so I can work through the exercises again with a higher resistance.
I liked it a lot, and did the 30 day challenge. Definitely enough to work up a sweat; many times I was really tanked afterwards. I’ll probably buy the expansion soonish too. That said, I haven’t touched it since finishing my challenge. I need to, however, badly - the pounds I lost came back with friends. Oy.
I only registered last night for the first time and it says I’m borderline obese - I know I’ve put a pound or two on over Christmas, but my Mii in Wii Fit looks like the Michelin Man. Something must have gone wrong somewhere, but not sure where.
Coming back to provisionally correct myself; according to Wikipedia, the balance board can only measure up to 330 lbs accurately. It will actually support up to 600 lbs.
If it’s any consolation, Mangetout, my Mii is just as inflated looking as yours. BMI’s not a very sophisticated measuring tool, and that’s all the board can go on.
Do you really believe your Wii Fit stats? It seems so ridiculous to me when each day there’s a different result based on some ridiculous test of various difficulty. C’mon! :rolleyes:
I believe everything except the Wii Fit Age, which is all over the place. Some days I’m 27 and others I’m 52, so no, I don’t believe that. The weighing, however, is spot on, and always matches my digital scale. Wii Fit wins for me, however, because it shows my weight trends graphically, over time, which is something my digital scale can’t do.
Moving thread from IMHO to The Game Room.
One thing that I’ve found is that if you feel like taking a break from it, just force yourself to at least do the weight check every day. I seem far less likely to extend my break, since it’s already out, on, etc., if I do so.
There is really nothing to believe, the age thing is just a way of showing how well you did on the little tests every day.
As far as using it to exercise I enjoy the fit games I play on it and I can sweat a bit doing them but it will never replace my trips to the gym. My wife however is really getting into it and I will be eternally grateful if she can stick with it. ANYthing that can motivate a non-exerciser to get up on move on a regular basis is worth its weight in gold.
I have the wii fit (original) and the EA sports active, and I just ordered the expansion disk for EA sports but haven’t gotten it yet. I plan to get the upgrade for the fit also.
The original Fit is fun, but not much of a workout. I think the upgrade will improve it immensely b/c you can string the exercises together, that was the main problem with the original fit. It is lacking in cardio though, something the EA Sports does much better. It is good for yoga and balance and tracking though.
I think you can get a decent workout with the EA Sports games, although the first one is distinctly lacking in abdominal work. I hope the next one fixes that.
As others have said, you can get a lot or a little out of it. I have made some of my own custom workouts with the EA sports software and can string a bunch of difficult cardio with some of the more challenging sports activities and my heart rate is comparable to when I work out on my elliptical at a good pace.
Overall, if it makes you more likely to stick with it, it is worth it, IMO. I think the games and software will just keep getting better too - I can see these kinds of interactive workouts quickly replacing DVD workouts. For the price of the games, you get a lot more to do than buying an exercise DVD.
You all have inspired me to just get on the damn thing, already! We got ours LAST CHRISTMAS and I have not used it once. To be fair, I spent a lot of time getting good exercise walking last year, but since the cold dark winter arrived, I haven’t been doing squat. I’m too much of a fraidy cat to go down in the basement to use the treadmill in the morning before everyone gets up, but the Wii is in an upstairs TV/game room and I wouldn’t be askeered all by myself up there! :rolleyes:
Anyway, I’ve already lost a couple pounds on my new year’s resolution diet, so I’m all ready to roar.
I got the second EA sports and it has a lot more abdominal work. The thing I don’t like about it is that I can’t seem to do all of the exercises from both discs at the same time. It would be great to have all of the exercises to make a custom workout with all parts included. Maybe you can do that and I just haven’t figured it out yet.
I greatly agree with some of the other comments. I was never going to go to a gym but I have used my Wii (Fit, EA, other discs) for a year and a half now and can get a great workout. I do also have other fitness equipment that I use in conjunction with this, but I like it much better than most of the DVD workouts I’ve used.
I just got it today and tried the 10 minute “easy” ab workout and I was pretty impressed with it. I am familiar with pilates and good ab exercises and this one was not a breeze for me at all!
I got it around october '08 and used consistently for about 6 months. After that I had “jumpstarted” my other exercises (stationary bike, swimming) and I haven’t felt the need to use it for anything but weighing myself (its graphs help me to keep on track).