Review - Wii Fit Plus

Before I begin this post... don't forget to enter my giveaway and support Threads of Compassion! If you've already entered, thanks for the support! You rock! :)

So last week I had a mind-numbingly boring, agonizing exercise session on the treadmill where I seriously considered dying to avoid having to finish the session. Realizing that any ideas I'd cherished about making this the year of a healthier me were going to die unless I came up with a new strategy, I posted a Facebook status update asking if I could borrow someone's Wii Fit for a week; a few seconds later, my incredible friend Krista wrote back saying that she'd lend me hers. She brought it on Sunday and I brought it home and plugged it in... and I've been hooked ever since. Not that self-discipline isn't great, but making an otherwise dreaded task fun is never a bad idea!

I had never used a Fit before, but I found the interface pretty consistent with the rest of the Wii games - nice for a non-gamer like me. I did think the "set up process" was a little ridiculously long - I mean, does anyone actually read those little info blurbs all the way through? I know I was skimming and pressing "A" the whole time. I also wish there was a "privacy mode" where you could take the balance test without having your weight or BMI displayed, since I often play with others around (or watching).

Let me just take a moment to review the actual balance board, the hardware which makes the whole Wii Fit concept possible. I have always wondered how well a plastic balance board would work for someone curvy and heavy (like me!) and I can now say I feel completely confident in it. Yes, it's rated for over 300 pounds, so no worries really, but it feels sturdy and doesn't warp under your feet. Nice. I have been thinking that if I were going to design a system like the Fit, I'd have made it a neoprene-type mat that lay flat on the floor, since that would allow for different stances (and make tripping over it less of an issue). Also, you could roll up a mat, making it more mobile, and dropping it wouldn't be a problem (since I'm told people like to travel with their boards... I can't see this, personally, but ok).

I have a wider stance, and the balance board sometimes feels unnatural to me since it requires my feet to be placed closer together than I prefer, thus throwing off my center of balance. I also notice that the board is much less sensitive towards the outside than it is in the center, which can create issues when playing games like Step, where you really need to pound on the board to get it to register your footstep. However, it does remarkably well overall - it recognized "jumps" in the Obstacle Course, subtle shifts in skiing and skateboarding games, etc, and my sibs and I were impressed.

The Fit features a nice little "toaster" (I'm sure it's a screen or counter of some sort, but for the life of me it reminds me of nothing so much as a toaster over) which keeps track of your actual workout time (in other words, time spent moving, not time spent perusing the menus, switching between games, etc) and calories burned (based on your actual height/weight). When you read 30 minutes of exercise, it does a little happy dance and dings gratifyingly. :) The Fit will also prompt you periodically to stop, catch your breath, and drink some water.

One of the things I wondered about was if the Wii Fit was actually capable of providing a good workout. I can't speak for the avid fitness expert, but for the beginner/recreational person like me, the answer is definitely yes. I am sweating, my heart rate is up, I can feel a satisfying soreness in my muscles. My younger sister, who is slim and athletic, said after one session on the Fit that it had worked muscles she didn't know she had. However, unlike other workout videos, the Fit seems to find the perfect balance of challenge and achievability. Is it just my imagination, or do the yoga poses last exactly as long as I can handle? Nice!

Speaking of yoga... this is the feature I was most excited about when I heard about the Fit, and It's totally lived up to my expectations (or rather, it has well exceded my dubiousness). When you select a pose, the trainer will demonstrate the pose at a slower pace, allowing you to try it out in slow-motion, then take you through it at a normal pace. If you're struggling, the trainer will offer you tips; if you're doing well, the trainer can tell this too and offers praise! Best of all, you can string together yoga moves in the My Workout mode and create your own routine.

The aerobics games are great! The Basic Step can be a little strange at first (tip: it's easier to watch your fellow Mii's then the floor at first) but once you master a few moves it's a blast! Coincidentally, this is possibly the most group-friendly activity... My sibs and I will do this activity in groups, with one person using the board and the rest using the floor. Advanced step is possibly even more fun!

Basic Run has taken my treadmill on and won. Essentially performing the same function as a treadmill (you run in place all over a scenic island), but with the encouragement of a fellow runner and some beautiful scenery. The chance to "race" other runners in itself is motivational.

There are many more games included, but I'll leave you something to discover yourself!

We have enjoyed our time on the Fit so much that the kids and I have decided to chip in together and get ourselves our own Fit when we return this one!

Monday Again!

I love it when I have Mondays off! It makes the week feel special. :)

This morning, my brother Allen and I went "back to school". One of my goals for this year is to help him get caught up to grade level in his math skills, something that he has been working very hard to do. I am not mathematically inclined, but I did take a lot of remedial math in college, so we pretty much struggle through together. Somehow our math lesson turned into an impromptu yoga session - Allen studies Tang So Do at a local dojang - and many of the moves he learns or observes are related to yoga moves.

Two weeks after I got my drivers license at sixteen, I was driving home from work in the pouring rain and I rear-ended a poor guy driving a little Honda, completely totaling his brand new car. Even though I wasn't "injured" in the accident (we both walked away from it without needing any medical attention), I had some form of back pain ranging from mild (take an aspirin) to severe (go back to bed) for the next two years. One of the things I found that really helped ease those painful muscles and keep them from getting worse were simple yoga stretches. I brought home a book from the library and basically tried out every pose I could figure out. I enjoyed it, but I'd never seen the poses put into a "routine". After awhile, my back healed, and I got out of the habit.

I would love to get back into this form, so I downloaded this workout from Exercise TV by Meaghan Townsend. It's a $1.99 download and lasts only 10 minutes, so it makes a nice mini-session. The speed is a little fast for me, and the poses move pretty quickly, so I usually follow along at my own pace, but it's a nice routine.

Another DVD that I like is Megan Garcia's Just My Size Yoga. I'm a big curvy girl and I sometimes have issues figuring out if I'm doing a pose correctly and it just looks different because of my size, or if I'm actually doing something wrong. Megan Garcia is no bikini-babe but is beautiful, and it's wonderful to see yoga performed gracefully by a larger woman.

One of the routines I'd like to try as soon as I get my own computer back up and running is the Beginner Yoga routine, also from Meaghan Townsend.

Anyway, Allen and I enjoyed doing some of my favorite poses together, like downward facing dog and warrior one and two. Allen is so flexible it's crazy! :) I'm ridiculously jealous, especially when I remember I used to be able to do a bridge pose. I would love to find a simple yoga video that Allen and I and maybe some of the rest of the clan could do together. Anyone out there practice the art? Any suggestions?

I So Severely Need A Nap... Part II?

Two posts about being tired in a row? Apparently so! :) Suffice to say I love teaching, but Tuesdays are really, really long.

First, a couple of resources... Sarah over at the Chic Mummy blog is offering a special deal for ABCTeach.com membership. I've blogged about how much I love ABCTeach before, and this deal cuts the $40 membership down to $20/year. Worth it. Do it. Let me know how much you love it. :)

Also, I just got an email announcing that Adam Andrews of The Center for Literacy Education is offering free shipping on his worldview supplement curriculum, which will equip you to take your literary criticism to a higher level, answering questions such as, "What does this story say about the nature of man? What sort of a person is God? Can man control his own destiny? What is love? What is beauty? Can we agree with the answers this story gives?" I have it, and I have loaned it out - that's how good it is. It comes with a set of DVD's that demonstrate the use of this supplement. Again, worth it.

As to my life... I've been dealing with some issues and questions in my life lately that have left me, quite frankly, drained. I have finally just come to grips with this and decided that rather than try and push through and accomplish everything, I am just going to try to rework my to-do list to a more realistic scale and take a little extra downtime.

In that spirit, I spent the weekend at home rather than running errands or trying to accomplish everything in sight. Instead, I slept in and spent the day alternately curled up with my sister (who I feel I haven't really 'seen' much lately, due to my crazy work schedule and her multiple appointments) watching Stargate: SG1, spending my small bursts of energy cleaning my room and getting my closet/wardrobe autumnized. I wondered while I was purposefully "wasting time" if I would regret not "cramming" in some more tasks, but in hindsight I am so glad I did. Somehow having my space neat and organized, and being able to tell at an instant what's clean and what's in the laundry makes everything else go so much more smoothly.

The rest of my week's "to do list" includes putting together a care package for a friend, organizing my "Favorites" tab so I can actually locate and use all the resources I've collected, and starting up my reading habit again. I need to remember to feed and rest my soul - I need to be learning and reading, but I feel like I often lose sight of that as a goal in the midst of other things. On the other hand, when my inner self is being taken care of, all the external "tasks" just seem to be so much more manageable. Something to remind myself of.

Some Resources

Just a few of my fav resources that I use in my own personal research/study, as well as teaching:

Online-literature.com - I have found very,very few pieces of literature that are not included in this beautiful online repository. To search for a particular piece (or even just browse among the authors!) click on the "authors index" link in the first paragraph. In addition to the literature itself, it offers nice author bios, info on particular works, and a discussion forum where lit buffs can wrangle questions about plot, setting, theme, and anything else that catches their fance.

abcteach.com - If I need a worksheet fast and I don't have time to create it from scratch, or if I'm in a bit of an inspiration "slump" and need a fun activity idea, I hit the good folks at abcteach.com. While there are many pages limited to their members (I think membership runs about $30 a year and is probably worth every penny), there is a bevy of pages available for free, which tend towards the colorful and fun!

Of course, I'm a stickler for format, so I love The Owl At Purdue. MLA format made easy!