dianaschnuth

I’m still regularly checking in with Body Tests using the Wii Fit Channel, although I don’t actually “play” Wii Fit every day. It’s been helping me notice and start to correct posture flaws and habits that I hadn’t noticed before — for example, I tend to put more weight on my heels than on the balls of my feet. My center of balance also tends toward the left, presumably as a result of (or at least related to) a long-ago drum corps injury.

The balance tests that Wii Fit uses in the Body Test can be… well, they can be learned, shall we say. There are certain tests that start out challenging, but your reaction time can be increased once you learn the pattern (lean to the right to anticipate the first stage, then tweak your balance slightly until you clear the stage, then lean to the left to anticipate the next stage, and so on). There are other, more random tests that I haven’t yet found the pattern for, though. The combination of predictable and unpredictable tests makes my Wii Fit Age volatile sometimes; if I get two predictable tests together, my Wii Fit Age can be as much as 12 years younger than my actual age. If I get two challenging tests, it can be several years older. Usually, with a reasonable mix of tests, I end up either at or just below my actual age.

I have noticed that my tricky left knee (again, from that old drum corps injury) has been acting up lately, and I’m guessing it might be from either playing Wii balance games or from tweaking my balance during the day. I’m thinking that it’s a combination of both, as my knee doesn’t take well to being put in different weight-bearing positions than it’s used to. This will likely improve as I strengthen my leg muscles (and lose some weight, too).

If I wasn’t already an anal-retentive bastard about recording my weight on a regular basis, the Wii Fit weight chart would be a new and swell thing. As it is, the Wii Fit chart is but one more weight charting tool in my arsenal, added to my multiple Excel graphs (tracking over the past five years) and the widget on my iGoogle page. Even so, it is nice to stand in front of my giant HDTV and see a slowly-declining weight plotted before me.

In other fun news, Wii Fit asked me yesterday how Aaron’s doing. Not rhetorically, either — it had me answer whether I thought he was losing weight, gaining, or staying the same. Aaron did create a profile in Wii Fit, so it knows that he exists, even if he hasn’t actually “played” Wii Fit. That makes me wonder what kinds of questions and comments it would throw out there if Aaron were actually using the game regularly…

When I do play actual mini-games in Wii Fit, I tend to stick with the balance games, and sometimes aerobic games like Hula Hoop. I’ll do the occasional yoga pose, but I rarely delve into the strength training (although I probably should, judging from my performance on the push-up / side plank exercise).

Overall, I’d still give the game a B. It’s not the awesome breakthrough hit that I thought it might be, but I’m not disappointed that I bought it.

And, finally, here’s the difference a set of balance sensor extenders can make.

Before adding the extenders:

And after, with my correct weight (and Mii proportions):

Sigh.