Kate Can Cook

A few weeks ago, Jazz and I saw a Wii Fit at Target, and Jazz suggested that we buy it. I’m a codgety ol’ miser, so I said no.

Fast forward to a week ago, when I decided that I really, really wanted a Wii Fit, but could not find one anywhere.

On Saturday, Jazz found out that Toys R Us was going to have some in stock on Sunday. The store opened at 10, so we arrived at TRU around 9… and were about 30th in line. I really couldn’t believe it. Jazz thought more people would be buying Wiis, rather than Wii Fits, but I was pessimistic.

About 15 minutes later, the store manager came out and gave out tickets for the Wii or the Wii Fit… we weren’t even close to getting one.

Feeling slightly dejected, I suggested that we head over to Best Buy to get a video camera that Jazz needs for school this semester. Best Buy didn’t open until 11, but neither of us wear watches so we just guessed that it would open soon. We sat down outside the door, and all of a sudden people started streaming out of their cars. The girl behind us said that she (and everyone else) was waiting for “the first person.” So we waited in line as more people came and followed behind us.

We found out from people in line that Best Buy was expecting a shipment of Wiis. When the doors opened, I walked straight to the video games where an employee was saying, “Everyone who wants a Wii come here!” Meanwhile, Jazz made a crazy dash about the front of the store like a bee on narcotics, spotted some Fits behind customer service, asked them if they were for sale, and frantically ran toward me saying, “They have them! Come on! They’re over here!” not realizing that I was already first in line for the Wii Fits. Oh, Jazz, I love your enthusiasm.

When you start up the Wii Fit, you have to select your Mii and then they go through some basic questions and do a body test. The body test includes… dun dun DUN!!! … your weight. Your Mii then gains weight to be approximately your height and weight, relatively speaking. (Mine is quite the chubster, but I think she’s rather cute.) If you’re obese, like mii, the Wii will say, “That’s obese!” really lightly as they’re showing you where you fall on the BMI scale.

This brings up an interesting point. Weight is a funny issue for many people. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t want to lose at least 10 pounds, and the scale tends to be the slap on the face for most people, affecting moods and all that. Yes, the Wii will tell you that being at the far end of the obese range is not good, but I do think Nintendo did a really great job making the entire experience a good one. Doctor’s offices could really learn a lot here.

Within Wii Fit training, there are four different types of activities: yoga, strength training, balance, and aerobics. When you begin, you have maybe four or five different activities in each category, and all of them are at the lowest setting (i.e., reps, time, distance, etc.). You “earn” more activities and higher settings by working out and performing better.

One of the difficult aspects of the Fit is that there is a lot of fluff time that you need to build in. It’s not like you can set it up and play for 30 minutes straight through; after each activity (they start at 1-2 minutes for the “easier” ones), you have to go back to the menu to choose your next one. It would be nice if you could somehow string them together to, for example, do all of the yoga positions one after the other. The first time I worked out, it took me an hour and 20 minutes to do 45 minutes of workout. I think this will change as I open longer exercises, though. Yesterday it only took me about an hour.

I hate the strength training part, but that’s because my arms and abs are ridiculously weak. On Sunday I focused on strength training, and my abs were killing me yesterday. Last night I tried to do the same ab exercises but could not finish. The Wii Fit was actually pretty nice about it, telling me it was okay that I didn’t finish, but that I need to keep trying to get stronger.

So I’m going to try to track any “progress” that is made (maybe I’ll get results like this guy). I know I make this big declarations on my blog and don’t follow through, but what the heck. I’m already (still) training for a 5K, and I want to workout more (especially strength training), so let’s try. Ok?

I’m going to take the Wii body test every morning when I wake up (unless I can’t for some reason, like when I’m in San Diego). I’m going to work out for at least 30 Fit minutes everyday. Every other day, Jazz and I are going to run. I’ll track my progress here at least two times a week, hopefully more. Maybe I’ll track my food too. In fact, I think I’ll add a sidebar. See on the right?

Ready?! OK!