Mi Fit

Now that the house is back together after a whirlwind Christmas/Vacation period I thought it was time to get this body back in shape. I could go to the gym but the thought of running indoors on a treadmill depresses me a bit. So I cracked open the Wii Fit Santa brought to us. I set up my profile and took the Body Fit test. This test rates your balance, BMI, weight and gives you your Wii Fit Age. I'm happy to say I'm 35 in Wii Fit years. I don't like that I'm only a pound or two away from being overweight though according to my BMI. I think Wii Fit is putting a little too much stock in the BMI. I'm not sure that's so accurate a measure as it does not take into account fat vs. muscle. But I now have a baseline from which to measure my progress. And I have a real way to track my workouts. each time you "play" Wii Fit, your minutes are charted on a graph. And if you miss a day, the animated balance board will give you crap for it. I worked out two days and took a day off. When I turned it on on the 4th day the board asked, "Too tired to work out yesterday?" I love it. A smart ass computer to motivate me.

In addition to the Body Fit test there are 4 Training Categories : Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics and Balance Games. For the Yoga and Strength Training you are given a trainer who shows you how to do each move and encourages you and gently tells you improvement is needed. For example, I suck at pushups and after I did what I thought was a good job on the pushup move she said, "I can see you're not quite strong enough for this move yet. Keep working out to improve your strength." Well, I'll show her. And I have. I no longer cheat and do my push ups with my knees on the floor.  You see, the balance board is constantly measuring the weight and when I was on my knees, it knew and wouldn't credit me for having done the pushup. They aren't pretty push ups, but I do get credit for them now. 

Another good motivator is the Piggy Bank. For each move or game you play you are awarded credits. These credits unlock new games, moves or increased reps or activity levels. As I run through all the Yoga moves, I may unlock a new balance game. I was overjoyed yesterday when I unlocked Snow Boarding. Frank asked if he could try it. "Oh, no," said I. Only I have unlocked it. And if he got on the board pretending to be me, it wouldn't work. So of course I gloated about all the games I had unlocked already and got the reaction I wanted. Frank signed on and registered his Mi. Now, he and I have a healthy competition. The Wii Fit tracks the standings of all the games for all the Mis registered. So we are now trying to knock each other out of first place in all the games and yoga moves. In fact, Colson topped my Hula Hoop status today and I can't wait to get back up there and kick his butt! 

All this competition can only be good for us. I know I feel good. I've got muscle pain in my abs and thighs that I have not felt in a while.

I think this Wii Fit is going to be a good thing and I hope I stick with it. The competition within the family and the encouragement from my trainer should be enough to keep me interested. And, I've still got a lot of games to unlock and master. I'll keep you posted.