Wii Fit Review - Illustrated

The other day we broke out the office Wii and had the opportunity to try Wii Fit for the first time. We’ve put together a review of Wii Fit and it’s potential for a healthier society and application to rehabilitation. I’m sure all of you have been able to enjoy and laugh at (or be laughed at) Wii Sports a million times by now, but with Wii Fit the laughing is less and the purpose much more important.

Wii Fit consists mainly of a white board measuring balance, pressure, weight and posture. I wouldn’t call Wii Fit the most technically accurate measuring device in the world (For instance, body fat percentage cannot be calculated), but it is perfectly suited to the wider consumer market and sleek enough to make exercise interesting. What Nintendo has done with the Fit is remarkably sharp, and their efforts make fitness something accessible from the dorm room to the elder care facility. Most importantly, it might just open the eyes of some physicians a tiny bit and change the way healthcare thinks… Just a little.

Paul photo is our model here today and he will help illustrate some of the steps we went through. The first thing you are asked to do is create your own individual user profile, password protected, so that others don’t know your private heath information. This is actually a tedious opening process, but important. The Fit walks you through calibration, your measurements, familiarizes you with the board and also asks you to define your personal goals. You can choose to become more flexible, lose weight, strength train, or increase stamina and there are more options as you go along – It’s your decision. However, its main focus is on weight loss and general aerobic activity.

It is a bit of a challenge at first to learn the way your feet and muscles register on the board. It is surprisingly sensitive and an introductory system of scales and zones help you focus attention to muscles you rarely ever think about. This is good in terms of creating general awareness of body and health in participants outside of just Wii activities. Also, and I’m not sure how it does it, it knows your posture and stance, which it uses as a measure of your general fitness. It takes a surprising amount of strength in your mid section to stand at correct posture and thus it knows how you rank on a fitness or injury scale. But most remarkable is the feedback on success and failure it gives you. You see instant and clear reflection of your success or failure as you go along. Be prepared to not like what you hear though… It’s a gentle machine, but brutally honest.

From there you pick a trainer who you feel comfortable with. Literally. You pick a digital entity that is of the sex you feel best working with. Their attitude and demeanor is very warm, welcoming and pleasant. They are a bit socially awkward like the computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but appropriate for all ages and interests. These trainers are, I think, the best asset of the Wii Fit because of their motivation, coaching and their ability to serve as a guide-on-the-side. Their measurements tell you when you’re doing something wrong (for the most part) and when you’re doing something right and modeling of your own behavior shows your action just like looking into a mirror (but much better).

From there it’s up to you where to go next and how your fitness program will unfold. I think most people will generally begin with Yoga and the additional sport packages customized to the Wii Fit like skiing. In skiing your feet and shift are registered as direction and degree perfectly. The additional sport packages on Wii Fit are key and will be one of the biggest gaming attributes to the system, which help it appeal to those not interested in fitness.

Now, there has been a lot of talk recently in regards to the Wii and rehabilitation. I do, however, believe that the Fit needs a more specific program directed at physical rehabilitation for injury patients or the elderly, but legal concerns will most certainly keep them from getting anywhere near that. Nintendo, after all, is not a team of licensed physical therapists or physicians and there is no way for them to know what routines may be beneficial or harmful to an individuals needs. It would be great if as part of the personalization process Nintendo let you input past and current injury problems so that it could be aware of certain exercises that would either be helpful or harmful. Though I must keep in mind that Nintendo is not trying to be a rehabilitation resource, but here in Boston we are doing some Wii-habilitation directed by physicians. Read about it here.

While I think Wii Fit and the Wii system will have a hard time replacing the physician, physicians will have a hard time finding a more effective way to get patients engaged. Physicians everywhere should go play for a few hours on a Wii fit to understand it’s true implications and that will certainly begin to change the way rehabilitation is done. It may not be the Wii Fit that makes the change, but its successors will be able to spawn that impact.

So the drawbacks are this: The Wii Fit pad is not made for big people. Paul seemed to stand comfortably on the pad for the most part, but for a better series the pad really needs to be more like a mat. I applaud Nintendo for taking the step up from Dance Dance Revolution to the Fit Pad, but size is a drawback here. If cost weren’t a factor I’m sure the pad would be more like 5’ by 3’, but it’s not. Still, this current Fit Pad is effective and programming for it is made with limitations in mind.

The other drawback I see is that it can only coach you so much and so far. It cannot actually see you, at least all of you. So if you are doing an activity incorrectly it might not know. This could produce bad fitness habits, could cause physical damage to a person (especially in rehabilitation), or create frustration if results don’t show due to incorrect performance. For serios rehabilitation a specialist is needed in person for coaching sessions.

Finally, right now the focus of Fit is favored toward weight loss, which is good, but I have yet to know anyone claiming to have lost weight thanks to the Wii Fit. Having said that, I would love to hear about it, and if anyone has interest in starting a rigorous program of weight loss with Wii Fit for themselves as an experiment, please contact us.

The giant positives: Fit is the first big step from what many of us saw with Dance Dance Revolution. Nintendo did it, and congratulations: The Wii Fit and the Wii System are tremendously powerful tools to healthcare. Their impact, application and potential could not possibly be stressed enough. For any drawback it might have the Wii Fit has ten positives in health, entertainment and philosophy.

There has clearly been careful thought put into the philosophy of such a program for the Wii and it shows. The programs are strong, entertaining and good for all ages, genders and needs. You will be amazed at how this board knows you and how you learn the board. In our testing process we saw many different age ranges and type of people jump on and give it a try, all were smiling and successful. It’s clear that the Fit works in theory, but in practice we just have to wait and see. Everyone should try this machine today.

And finally, for all of you gamers out there: Yes, you can ‘game’ the Wii Fit as you can any technology. And of course people love to game things and show their dominance over the faults and failing of circumstance or engineering. Of course you can make the Wii think you are doing exercise when really you are just wiggling your toes, but the minutes of pleasure that satisfaction may give you will not compare to the satisfaction a rehab patient will get when they do it right. You just… Get lost in the Wii and the Wii fit. Any sense of embarrassment leaves and you just get so wrapped up in a very physical activity.

Game Changer? Maybe…

Closing thought: Last year at the POVe John Abele remarked to me that things like Dance Dance Revolution need someone to explain to physicians and engineers the potential application. John explained to me how Dance Dance Revolution had potential in healthcare arenas, but people wouldn’t think of it as more than a game unless bright people explained it clearly. Well, John was right. And Nintendo has, in part, made that connection for us. Bright people.

Related Wii-Habilitation Articles:

Break a Leg?Try 'Wiihabilitation'
 

Wii are the world More seniors using video game system to stay fit

Or try our Friend Ann DeMarle's Blog from the Emergent Media Center

Comments

[Laurie, CIMIT Webmaster]

Hi android apps - It's our pleasure!

Cheers,

Laurie, CIMIT Webmaster

[android apps]

Thanks, this helps a lot!

What a great article about the Wii Fit. It is just so nice that the gaming industry is helping keep us fit. From Wii Fit to Dance Dance Revolution. Everything is just focused on helping our fitness level.

I used a Wii Fit for the first time at Christmas and played the hula hoop game. Oh my goodness i cannot tell you how much my calf muscles started to hurt.

This game is absolutely amazing!!! There are 4 different types of training:Strength, Balance, Aerobics, and Yoga. You can track your weight and BMI using the balance board. It keeps up with your weight loss goals too! Nearly all of the exercises seem more like games than exercise, after nearly 2 hours of playing this morning I feel like I've done more than I ever had at the gym. Try the Hula Hoop game or the tight rope walk, they are my favorite so far.