I received one of these for my birthday several years ago and personally I prefer to sit on the couch and zone out when I play it, so to counteract my busy daily schedule in which I am on my feet. There are a lot of games now that involve actual exercise, however and so the question comes up as to whether or not this is the future of exercise... Remember there are yoga dvds, P90X is a great program to get you in shape in front of the tv and none of those seemed to take down the local gym.
Wii and Posture??
Perhaps one of my favorite new tools for the wii is the balance board. One activity you can use it for with the Wii Fit Game is to test your balance. It records your center of gravity and then puts you through a series of tests to see how well you can shift your gravity. I found this to be intriguing and a great tool to use in my practice.
XBox 360
If you have a chance to visit a Microsoft Store (sort of like the Apple Store) at your local mall, you have to see the room (Fashion Valley in San Diego has one) where they have set up XBox 360 with the Kinect. Now this game actually requires real sports movement withour controllers! Kinect is a sensor that you hook up to the XBox 360 to pick up your movements and transfer them to the XBox so that when you are playing a Volleyball Game for example and you jump and hit the ball (virtually) the character on the tv picks up the movement.
So is it really Exercise?
This all comes down to you and what other activities you are doing in your life. Where you live also matters. If its 20 degrees below zero in your town in January, then this might be the best option. There is not exchange for fresh air and sunlight. These two make being outdoors one of the best options for physical activity. Virtual Reality is fun, but it needs to be added into one's lifestyle as a portion and not the only outlet for exercise.
Have fun!!!
