Two months ago, Mike and I combined our belongings into one new love-and-boogers filled house. When that happened, I got access to some new things I have never had access to before: a fondue pot, a meat thermometer, and a Nintendo Wii are the three things that I am the most excited about.
At first I thought that the Nintendo Wii was a little lame and a little scary, so I was avoiding it at all costs. Also, using it meant learning how to use all those scary remote controls that suddenly have taken over the coffee table. But, I realized that it was worth it the day that Mike downloaded Dr. Mario for me on the Wii. Since then, I have educated myself in the basics of entertainment-center functions. Then, Mike and I one day played Wii Bowling and Tennis and a few other things. Yes, it was fun. It was fun enough to want to play again. But it wasn't great enough to make me daydream about it, and pine for it.
I heard about the Wii Fit just like everyone else in America has... because I only live under a rock four or five days out of the week. I had no interest in learning more about it, because hi, I'm obese, and obese people usually don't like anything that has "Fit" in the title.
But I was at Brian and Kim's the other night, to pump iron (ha, ha, ha) with Brian and Ricky and I found myself sneaking out of the room in search of Kim when the testosterone in the room became too much to handle. She was just taking a break from playing with the Wii Fit, and insisted that I try it out.
First of all, it is incredibly user-friendly. Once you have established that you are a new user, it takes you through a tutorial. The Wii Fit comes with a balance board that you stand on, and it weighs you and measures where the most pressure is. It then tells you how your posture is, and where your balance is. Then it tells you a little about how posture and balance effect your body, and takes you through a few excersizes where it shows you how to correct your posture and stand correctly. I am totally shocked that a little board like that can tell if your hands are resting on your hips or not. It's crazy!
Then, once you get into the game, there are options: strength training, balance games, yoga, and aerobics. I did the balance games first. The first game I tried was a ski-jump game. You have to lean forward and get your center of gravity lined up with what they want. The closer you get, the faster your character goes. Then once you get to the bottom of the ski jump, you straighten your legs quickly to mimic a jump. Then you get scored. After a few tries, I was "ranking", and it was so much fun. Then there was another ski game where your character is going down a mountain and you have to lean to the right and the left to get your character to move on the screen and go between certain markers. Next I tried a tight-rope game, where you have to stand up perfectly straight and stay balanced, and take small steps and walk across a tight-rope that is balanced between two buildings. If you're not balanced, your character splats on the road below. It's harder than it sounds, but tons of fun. Also there is a hula-hoop game where you have to rotate your hips as fast as you can to keep your character's hula hoops going, and you have to lean to the right and the left to catch hula hoops that someone is throwing at you. There was another game, a soccer game, where someone is throwing balls at you and you have to lean to the sides and hit the balls with your head. But as the game goes on, they start throwing shoes and disembodied panda heads at you, and you have to duck from them. Under aerobics, there is a step game that is slightly reminiscent of Dance Dance Revolution, but with no jumping, just stepping on and off of the board in time with the screen. I even tried yoga, and let me tell you, that shiz is difficult! The more minutes you play, the more features get unlocked. The best part of all is that I played for 41 minutes and then all of a sudden realized that my heart was pounding and my muscles were a little sore, and I never realized I was working out - it was just fun. I wasn't even trying to break a sweat, since I wasn't in the comforts of my own home and technically just trying out a friend's game. I also like that the game tracks your weight for you and tells you if you've lost or gained.
I need one. Like, now. Only, I don't have $100 to spend on it. I am totally broke.
My birthday is April 4th. Hint, hint.
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