Wii Fit Reflections

I didn't actually use the Wii Fit today (actually, in a small backsliding incident I ate frozen cookie dough out of a plastic tub instead), but I've been meaning to post some reflections on it for a few days now, but have been to tired to put real thought into writing anything (as perhaps my last few posts demonstrate).  Anyway, I now offer you my reflections on the Wii Fit as an exercise tool.

General reflections: I love this thing.  I like how it talks to me, how it records weight and BMI and what have you without me having to calculate it, and I like how it allows me to exercise in my apartment where no one can see me.  And, okay, it's not the most intense workout in the world, but it's a better use of my time than sitting on the couch, which is the primary activity that goes on in my apartment.  Seriously...I eat meals on the couch (I own a dining room table and chairs, but they end up more as a catch-all for random junk and a serious work space when needed), I study on the couch, I watch TV from the couch, I use my laptop on the couch, and, since I work from home, I even do my job on the couch.  Thankfully, I have a comfortable couch.  But it's good to get up off it every now and again, and the Wii Fit has been helping in that goal.  Now, if I'm sitting around doing nothing, I'll use the Wii Fit.  I also like being able to get some form of exercise when the gyms are closed and it's dark outside...and where no one can see me make a fool of myself shaking my hips around with an invisible hula hoop.

The games are fun too...Kung Fu is my favorite, and I'm also a fan of Step Aerobics, and the aforementioned Hula Hoop adventures.  I'm HORRIBLE at the balance games.  Really horrible.  Maybe this is the reason I tend to trip and fall over my own feet so often.  Granted, the balance games on the Wii Fit involve juggling while balancing on a giant ball (which I'm sure takes real skill in real life), but you wouldn't think that it would be so hard in video game format.  I'm actually getting a bit better at that one, though.  The one that REALLY gets me is the soccer head-butting game, where you have to hit soccer balls with your head and dodge other things like shoes and flying panda heads (yay AOII?)  Somehow, I manage to miss every soccer ball and get hit by everything I'm supposed to avoid.  It seems that I am incapable of standing with even balance on each foot; I'm always putting more weight on one leg than the other.  It's weird.

So all in all, I'm a fan of this gadgetry.  Although, since I'm really not too terribly tech-savvy, I had a few issues at first...after I finally figured out how to hook it up to my TV, and what input channel it was using, I went to do the first body test and discovered that my plush and comfy carpeting made my weight measurement off by about 25 pounds (less).  So, in doing the body tests, I have to move my balance board over into my doorway, where I have about a 2x3ft stone entryway, allowing for a much more accurate (if somewhat heavier) weight calculation.  But, of course, I'm not going to do all the exercises standing up against my front door, so I always move the balance board back to the middle of the room, so the Wii keeps getting nervous that I've "experienced a significant weight change."  But it only does it once per Wii-workout, so it's not that big of a deal.  Also, during the first body test, I had the balance board facing the wrong way...so every time I leaned one direction, the little dot on the screen would go the other direction.  I thought it was just playing mind tricks on me to make it harder.  Not so much.

So anyway, after being incorrectly weighed and ineffectively tested for balance, my initial "Wii Fit Age" was a whopping 42 years.  Seeing as I'm 22...that's not so cool.  I'm thinking that was mostly related to the fact that I failed all the balance tests spectacularly, as I had the board backwards.  But, then I figured out all the problems with it and did everything over, and moved down to like 30 or something (I forget the exact number...it wasn't as traumatizing as the first number so it didn't stick in my head as much).  And even though 30 is still quite different from my actual age, it's a lot less discouraging than 42!

The exercise plan of attack is to alternate the Wii Fit with walking around my neighborhood lake and going to an actual gym.  I've recruited a group of girlfriends to go to the SMU fitness center on Wednesday mornings after we've all been properly spiritually formed by our 8am "Spiritual Formation" classes.  Last I heard, the count was up to 5 of us total.

So the exercise game is on!  Even though today I didn't exercise, and ate cookie dough instead....you've got to start somewhere, right?