If that is your question, the answer isn't a simple yes or no. But you probably guessed that or this would be the shortest blog post in history.
Since the Wii Fit Plus came out just in time for the holiday season, you may still be in the swing of things, so to speak. Or, on the contrary, it may be sitting in a corner gathering dust.
Wii Fit is an exer-game for the Nintendo Wii. It offers programs for strength training, aerobics, yoga, balance and sports games performed on a small white balance board that looks similar to the scale in your bathroom.
Since its launch in 2007, Wii Fit has been selling like hotcakes, which, given the childhood obesity epidemic in the U.S., is encouraging news. But just how much better is the Wii Fit than sitting on your couch and eating actual hotcakes? Well, it turns out that the amount of exercise you get from the Wii Fit is only a wee bit better than doing nothing. I'm sure Nintendo, as I write this, is still trying to develop the George Jetson virtual workout program. Remember how he'd lay in bed watching himself working out and get the benefit in his real body? That's what people really want. In the meantime we have the Wii Fit, and the Wii Fit Plus.
The exercise industry is taking this modality seriously, as 300,000 premature deaths a year are related to obesity and it's complications. Recently, the American Council on Exercise (ACE) commissioned a study using 16 participants ranging in age from 20 - 24 years old to test the efficacy of the more aerobically focused Wii Fit programs: Free Run, Island Run, Free Step, Advanced Step, Super Hula Hoop and Rhythm Boxing.
The results were not stellar. According the standards set by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), none of these workouts meet the level of energy expenditure needed to maintain or improve your cardiovascular fitness. If you're curious about how many calories were burned during the study, Free Run and Island Run fared the best with an average of 5.5 calories per minute or 165 calories in 30 minutes. The real thing burns virtually double at approximately 11.8 cal/min. The others tested burned even less. Free Step burned 3.3 cal/min., Super Hula Hoop came in at 3.7 cal/min. and Rhythm Boxing at 3.8. That translates to less than one serving of pretzels, chips or 16.5 peanuts per 30-minute workout. Yeah, I did the math.
ACE surmises that the lower than normal calorie burning for these activities has to do with the mandatory instruction prior to each move. All that stopping and starting kills your cardio buzz and slows the calorie burn. This problem may be improved with the new Wii Fit Plus, whose new features include workouts that can be set to any duration in five-minute intervals up to an hour. Plus, you can now see an estimation of your calories burned during each workout.
So what's my verdict on whether to Wii or not to Wii? If you think the Wii Fit can be a cost effective replacement to a gym membership (that you use) or a real cardio machine (that you use), think again.
What I do think it's good for is easing you into making exercise a regular part of your life, if your current fitness routine is little more than looking at your local gym as you wait for your order at the In-N-Out Burger drive thru. Ironically, many people actually avoid going to the gym because they think they need to lose weight or achieve a certain level of fitness first, before walking in the door! (Head scratch.)
Another potential benefit can be the Wii Fit's balance and yoga games. Balance and flexibility are important components of anyone's fitness, not just strengthening and weight loss.
And finally, if you're looking for a fun, easy way to do more activities with your kids, the Wii Fit is a much better way to spend family time than watching American Idol or playing Final Fantasy.
Follow Jill S. Brown on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jillbrownfitnes
So as far as a weight loss tool for healthy people it may not be that great, but for the disabled it has done some good for many that I know.
People are incredibly self-conscious about the way they look. They don't want to go to the gym, where they'll be surrounded by fit, skinny people effortlessly using the machines that they struggle with. Exercise machines at home are expensive and bulky. Many people simply don't have the room. With the Wii Fit, you have privacy, and you have convenience, even if you don't have much in the way of effect.
The Wii Fit is good enough to get you into a workout mindset, but's functions are too limited to provide effect past a certain point. Unfortunately, most people who pick up the Wii Fit will never get to that point, and they'll treat it like any number of gimmick devices they've used in the past. They won't see instant results, and they'll give up on it.
If you happen to be one of those people who doesn't want to be seen in a gym full of skinny people, remember that those machines can turn you into one of them, but sitting with your rear firmly wedged in a couch never will.
And getting kids to go outside? When I was little, not a problem. Nowadays with all the fears pushed at parents about kids being kidnapped, or killed accidentally, etc... Yeah. Most parents won't let their kids out to play!
At least the Wii gives you privacy while you work out, and it goes exceedingly well with lots of stretching before and after to help a bit.
For myself, I prefer "real" work-outs. But if Wii fit gets a couch potato up and moving, then it's succeeded.