First reactions to the Wii

I purchased a Wii yesterday. Apparently, Toys R Us had a huge shipment of Wii's come in on Sunday, maybe for Valentines day?? Regardless, I finally got one!!!!

If you read my previous post Quit the gym and get a Wii you already know that my main objective was to get a Nintendo Wii in order to quit the gym. If you haven't seen all the publicity gained from the Wii experiment, check it out and you'll understand why I was so intrigued.

So after rearranging my apartment to make my space optimal for wii-playing, I started. The Wii console, consist of 5 sports games: tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing. I tried all 5 games to see how my body would feel compared to a work out at the gym. Tennis was very realistic, swinging the controller in different variations would accurately reflect the types of shots, i.e. topspin, lob, etc... Your range of motion does not have to be very dynamic, but actually moving the position of your body as if you are hitting a real shot gives a more realistic feel to the game. In terms of a cardio work out, I didn't really break a sweat or feel winded. Although, my arms did get a little tired from swinging the virtual racket, which i can feel today.

Let's quickly skip through baseball, golf and bowling. These three games are really fun, especially golf and bowling. Baseball is well, ehhhh. Final conclusion, play these sports with friends while drinking beers. There is no hope for true exercise, unless you're insanely creative.

So the real test was the boxing. The Wii experiment revolved around the boxing game mainly because it requires the most activity. I found it a little hard to control the punches at first but after a while I got the hang of it. The continuous punching and dodging made me tired & sweat. But it's really the amount of effort you put into it. Hypothetically I could play this game while sitting on the couch and flicking my wrist to throw punches, but jumping around, throwing punching and dodging with your entire body will give you a work out. I played for about 30-40 minutes. It's not as strenuous as a boxing class at the gym but it is a work out. My arms and back are noticeably sore today. Overall it wasn't to the level I imagined it would be, but again it really depends on the amount of effort put into it. Before I suspend my gym membership, I'm giving myself a few more days to get adjusted. It's too early to judge its real potential.