Rain. It poured
from the skies like buckets being dumped on the Earth. Rain and more rain that was the forecast for
the next few days and since I couldn’t get out I decided to do something in. I
have a Nintendo Wii and a Balance Board for games. There is a game called Wii Fit. You actually exercise to a video game. After I hooked everything up and turned on
the game it informed me that it had been over 1300 days since I had last worked
out. How did it know?
It has been more than a little while since I used my Wii
Fit to get in shape (which obviously it didn’t work) so I had to do the perfunctory
“Body Tests” that it calls for. It
started by asking me to stand still while I closed my eyes. This test would gauge how well my center of
balance was. I wasn’t off by much and
the game told me to envision gazing into the distance to focus on standing completely
still.
Next it asked me to walk in place 20 steps and from there
it could tell if my balance was off. No
chance, my balance was spot on. The game
went on to inform me in a gleeful voice that I was most definitely obese. It
said so in those exact words. I quote: “Obese,
Obese.”
Did I mention that every time I stepped on the balance
board it made a grunting sound? I am not
kidding. Enough with the measuring and
it telling me I am obese, let’s get on to the exercise.
I chose the aerobic exercises. My first exercise was a step game where you
had to time your steps on and off the board with the music. The close you got to the beat the better your
score. I did well enough to unlock the tougher mode. Next I tried the harder mode.
It was indeed harder.
It included side steps and changing tempos as well as a step kick
routine. After all this the “game”
deposited fitness coins into my bank. I
moved on to a 5 minute jog.
You have to put the controller into your pocket and the
game decides your pace and how well you are keeping up with your virtual
trainer. It seems easy but running in
place made my calves sore and I was starting to get a little fatigued towards
the end.
I moved on to the Hula Hoop game. You have to stand on the balance board and
make believe you are trying to keep a hula hoop going while other people throw
more hula hoops at you. I was swaying
like Elvis and only managed to score in the middle of the pack.
Finally there was boxing.
My virtual trainer, who I thought of as Apollo from Rocky ran me through
a series of punching drills. I had to
time both my foot work and my punches.
We went through two rounds and midway through the second my shoulders
were burning a little.
When I turned off the game I was surprised to find I was
sweating, maybe I am getting fit after all.
Daily Recap:
Matt: 30 minutes with the Wii Fit Personal Trainer
Kelly: 30 minutes with a real personal trainer.
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