Wii-Fit - a discourse

Ok so I have been studiously Wii-Fit-ing since we got it. As you do the activities and exercises you accrue "FitCash" in the form of minutes. So far I've done something like 3.5 hours worth of Wii-Fit and have just clocked into my third week, so doing well.

There are four sections to Wii-Fit.

1. Yoga Poses - As the name suggests these are a series of Yoga stretches and poses where you focus on keeping your centre whilst holding the pose.
• You stand on the "Wii Balance Board" (wiiBB) while you do the pose, and focus on breathing. You accrue points for how well you can keep still and keep your centre whilst in the pose.
• I've unlocked I think 8/12 poses so far. (and not this one!)
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2. Muscle workouts - These are kind of aggressive stretches and exercises and are quite similar to some of the stuff I was doing at the gym. There are things like Lunges, Sideways Leg Lifts, Press-ups and sit-ups.
• You can do little "workouts" by doing 1 x Yoga Pose and 1 x Muscle Workout as suggested by your trainer. Also using the wiiBB, but you may be standing, or balancing on one leg, or have your hands on it (press ups) or resting your feet (sit-ups).
• Points are accrued by how steady you keep your body whilst doing the exercise, and as I learnt, if you step off the board when you're not meant to (giving up) you get 0 points :(
• I think I've unlocked 8/15 and there are "challenges" which I'm a bit afraid of...
3. Aerobic Exercises - These are fun, and can be quite hard work! A very funny one is Hula-Hooping, which involves standing on the wiiBB and rotating your hips, which can be hilarious when watching others give it a "whirl"
• There's also a Step-class type game, which I haven't quite figured out how to be "good" at. Clearly has nothing to do with real step classes, of which I've done heaps, and hubby M has done none, but he has a higher score than me! This one you "step" on and off the wiiBB in time to what it tells you, and in specific directions.
• I've also got a Boxing exercise which uses the "nun-chuk" so you're punching with both hands. You box a punching bag, in the set patterns it gives you, stepping on and off the wiiBB appropriately. Can't figure out the scoring system on this one either, might be as simple as landing all the punches?
4. Balance Games. This is the best section, as it combines all the things you're meant to be "learning" in games. You might have seen some of them in action, or maybe not.
• Soccerball-heading. Standing on the wiiBB, you shift your body from left to right to "head" the approaching soccer ball. For spectators the enjoyment comes from the other objects that fly toward your head, such as Panda heads and soccer boots. You lose points for getting hit with anything but a ball, and get more points for heading consecutive soccer balls. Great fun.
• Ski-Jump - crouching down and leaning forward you gain speed before "jumping" (Warning message pops up -Do not jump off the wiiBB). The fun part of this one is that if you try too hard to lean forward while flying through the air, you can fall off the front of the wiiBB.
• There are other ones, a great one where you have to tilt a table top to roll and ball around, a snowboard slalom course where you spin the wiiBB around and shift your weight around, I am RUBBISH at the slalom courses (also a ski one).

The way the program works is that it gives you an incentive to keep you coming back by "unlocking" more games and activities the more time you spend on it. In our household I've got the most unlocked as I've done the most on the Wii-Fit.

M has been away this weekend, so last night I was Wii-Fit-ing alone. (is that sad?)

I did some Yoga, some Muscle, and managed to unlock the last of the 9 Balance Games. They've all been great so I was wondering what the last one would be, having been "saved" until the end. It's called Zazen, and this is what appeared on the screen...

You sit on the wiiBB with your legs crossed, in lotus position if you can (I can't) and you just watch the screen, keeping your breathing even, and staying still. As time goes on a moth flies into the frame, and flies around the candle supposedly to distract you. Then, a sound comes from the game that sounds like a heavy man walking across the wooden floorboards, and there's lots of heavy breathing. I tell you, it was the creepiest thing ever!

I got horripilation (word of the day!-the word for when your hairs stand up on the back of your neck and you get goosebumps), expecting a large scary "BOO" to flash on the screen. It SO different to anything else in the set of games and exercises, when it ended I jumped on Google to find out what other people thought about this exercise.....and it seems I'm alone in that it scared the willies out of me. I did discover that its a general meditation term however.

Perhaps it's because I was alone in the house, but I can't see myself trying this one again. I got to 86 seconds, and a moth inexplicably commit suicide in the flame, ending my time, but others apparently reach 180 seconds and it ends. Just freaked me out, and I was glad for it to be over.