Wii Fit 25 day Challenge

Monday 05 May 2008

To those who may be in the dark, let me bring you up to speed. At the recent launch of Wii Fit in South Africa, Core Gaming issued a 25 day Challenge to members of the media. The bottom line is that Wii Fit is being put to the test…will this game deliver the goods? Check back daily to track our progress as we develop our “deep muscles” and search for our balance.

Each day Monday to Friday we will complete the body test in Wii Fit as well as undertake some of the exercise routines. We know that playing games is hard work, but hey somebody has to do it!

This is a challenging task moving from the couch to the Balance Board so we would appreciate your encouragement to help us secure one of the top five places in the competition. It’s a worthy cause in that the five individuals who lose the most BMI get to donate their Wii Fit units to a charity of their choice.

In the meantime, check out more details on the challenge as well as our first impressions of Wii Fit. Our review of the game will follow shortly.

Wii Fit Tracker

Click here for the most recent entry (Days 12 - 18) or here for Days 8 - 11.

Week one

Despite being tired after trying the game out at the press launch and a return flight to Durban, Wayne and I could not restrain ourselves from setting up the Wii Balance Board the moment we stepped in. It was great to set up our own Miis in the game and calibrate the Balance Board to our individual weight and height.

Since only a handful of games were open in each of the four categories, the first week saw us mainly unlocking games and difficulty levels. The FitPiggy keeps track of how long you spend on the game each day, but quite simply the longer you spend the more you unlock. The unlocked games are greyed out so it is really an incentive to play for longer, unlock the goods and see what else lies in store for you.

While I was eager to try the games in each of the four categories (Yoga, Muscle, Aerobic and Balance), Wayne seemed to be comfortable in the Balance section. In particular he has grown fond of Tightrope Tension which he now seems to zip across while I plod along behind.

So far I have attempted a few Yoga poses. All of them have been challenging but fairly easy to perform. Even the simple breathing pose will leave your heart rate higher while the Half Moon will stretch your limits and the Tree pose will see you doing things you never thought were possible.

I must admit I have not yet tried any of the Muscle workouts but since Peter looked particularly tired after doing press-ups and lunges, I will have to save it for a day when I am feeling more energetic. The balance games seem to be the most popular with my friends.

If you like a challenge, head into the aerobic section. You will be surprised how much of a workout you will get from doing hula-hoops and the good news is that a more advanced level of hula-hooping awaits to be unlocked!

With thoughts of teenage girls jiving to Dance Dance Revolution in the arcades, I was a bit daunted by the Dancing Steps at first. Once you have the rhythm not much will hold you back, but be warned that leg kicking, clapping and sideways stepping is on the cards in one of the unlockables (I hope I am not giving too much away). This is not much different to a gym step class and if you turn the volume right up you will be so caught up with watching the Miis strut their stuff on stage that you will soon forget you are actually working out. Remember to dust off your sweatband for this one.

The jogging is also sweet and sees you taking in the sights while your friend’s Miis and dogs roar past you. Don’t do this after having just eaten a hotdog. For this game you just pop the Wiimote into your pocket and jog on the spot (no Balance Board).

And so we arrive at the balance games. Ahhh, the balance games. This section of Wii Fit is particularly addictive and will see you trying to beat your best time as well as that of your friend. I have to point out that I did at one stage hold the record for longest jump in Ski Jump and Ski Slalom, but have since been robbed of the title. Never fear, vengeance will be mine, soon.

At first I shyed away from Table Tilt, it just did not look like ‘my cup of tea’ (as the Balance Board likes to remind me). However, when I did give it a go I managed to finish this puzzle-like challenge and still am top of the scoreboard. I recently unlocked Balance bubble which has proved to be the most challenging game to me yet. The age-old gaming motto ‘just one more level’ has really rung true here.

The real beauty of all of these games is that most of the time you are having so much fun you forget that you are actually doing exercise. Sometimes I have been so swept up in the game that my aching muscles the next day are a stark reminder of the workout.

Days six and seven

Yesterday I finally unlocked the Balance Ball game which Wayne had been taunting me with for the past couple of days. I must admit that my excitement was short lived as this turned out to be the most challenging game I have played so far. Challenging but fun and really annoying when you don’t complete it which leads to many, many attempts. Today I can proudly say that I negotiated my Mii to safety, past rapids, ragged rocks, bees and even my own impatience. Now if I could just beat Wayne’s time!

After trying out a couple of the Yoga exercises again, I decided to give the muscle workout section a whirl. A couple of single leg extension’s later I was feeling the burn. I have unlocked quite a few muscle exercises and am looking forward to giving them all a go in the coming weeks.

Right, left…block

After working on my fish catching skills in one of the balance games (I obviously was not meant to be a fisherman), I unlocked a new game in the aerobics section. It turned out to be boxing and one of my favourite games so far. Most of the games in Wii Fit are either one or two minutes to begin with, but as you progress in the game the unlocked games are longer to challenge you more.

Boxing is four minutes and rivals the Step Plus routine which weighs in at five minutes. This is the first game in Wii Fit which I have used the Nunchuk for. You connect the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk and follow the lead of your boxing trainer as you punch first left, then right and finally block in different combinations. Apart from being fun, this is a promising workout routine and I look forward to working on my Million Dollar baby moves tonight.

Since Wayne has been preoccupied with balance games since we started, I decided to shake things up a bit. With me in charge of the Wii Remote he had no option but to try his hand at Yoga and Aerobics. I let him off easy, I mean he only did the Half Moon, not the Tree! After some complaining following the stretching that yoga inflicted on his unsuspecting body, it was off to the aerobics section. Despite the evil glint in my eye, I did not select the Hula-Hoop but instead settled for the Step Basic routine.

Breaking records

After he unlocked the boxing game, how could I not let him step into Rocky’s shoes and his session ended by trying to save his dignity after Peter walloped both of our Ski Jump records. How he managed to record a jump of 348m is still beyond me but practice makes perfect so more Ski Jumping is definitely still on the cards for the rest of the week.

Before I finish off today’s entry I would like to discuss something with you who may be reading this article. Have you any tales of mirth which you would like to share with us? What is your distance record in Ski Jump and how many hula-hoops have you managed to complete? We would love to hear from you and if you make us laugh hard enough or astound us by beating our records we may scratch around in the lost and found box and see what we can send you.