User Reviews (31 - 41 of 307)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Simple Fitness for Ordinary People

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: May 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is the sort of product for people who feel like they should be going to the gym, but don't want to spend the time commuting to and from the gym in addition to making sure they're working out long enough to make the commute worthwhile. If you're already fit and healthy and doing fine, Wii Fit isn't for you -- it'll probably say you're overweight just because you've actually got a noticeable amount of muscle. But me? I'm not quite motivated enough to seriously stay fit on my own so having a fascinating toy to give me feedback on stuff I should be doing anyway is quite spiffy.

The activities presented are all simple, diverse, concise and *optional* -- there's a good starting range of things you can do such that you can skip anything that just isn't going to work for you. There's a strong emphasis on posture and balance since those are two skills that pretty much everybody can use more of, but there's also some cardio and strength training exercises. As you spend time doing exercises, new exercises and longer routined become available -- which is usually an annoyance, but there's enough starting diversity that it actually feels like a measure of progress here.

The weaknesses of this program (within it's "for average people" scope) would be that it doesn't have a muscle-stretching cooldown routine -- which would simply be a matter of reviewing what all a user did during a session and offering a step-by-step stretching cooldown, akin to the on-demand yoga poses. (Put another way, on day 3 I was noticing how tight my legs were.) It also ignores diet as a key contributor to achieving fitness goals. On the one hand, diet is a huge thing to tackle so I'm not surprised they didn't even touch it -- but it's also a huge omission that they really could've stepped up to, especially for those of us who have our Wii hooked up to WiFi.

Some small irritations - but overall very fun & effective!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Our Wii Fit came on the 20th and we have used it every day since. It's very easy to get started on, with intuitive controls and prompts. Both my sons (11 & 14) love it and I (46) love it as well. It's a lot of fun and can give you a vigorous workout (or not) depending on which exercises you choose.

As a physical therapist, I was impressed with how they teach good form on the strength and yoga exercises. Of course, the board cannot possibly discern some of the things you may be doing wrong - so I wouldn't say that it takes the place completely of a professional instructor or trainer. But it does instruct correctly, and also it often provides a visual feedback ('keep the red ball in the yellow area') to monitor your weight-bearing, balance, and posture throughout the activities.

I like the Body Test, the BMI, the scale function and the graphing. It's useful information and a good motivator. It's great that it keeps track of everything for you (including how many minutes you have exercised)so you can see any progress you might make. The Wii Fit "Age" is fairly misleading because they base it on balance. My 11 year-old son who is very active and competes in several sports came out with an Age of 41 - because they base it on your balance and he couldn't quite master the balance test. Similarly, as commented on (and this is even mentioned in the manual), a very muscular person could get a false high BMI. But as long as you realize that this is a game, not a doctor, and you can't take everything it says as gospel - it's no big deal.

One thing I do not like is the time between each exercise - pressing "A" over and over while the Wii Fit 'talks' to you is annoying and brings your heart rate down. (ETA: As advanced versions unlock it is possible to have a longer uninterrupted workout... but the wait between activities is still irritating.)It is not a smooth transition at all to go from one type of game to another (you must click 'quit' and then 'back' and then 'aerobics' - or whatever - and then on the game you want, and then 'okay' and then 'start'), and transitioning between players is really cumbersome and annoying so forget you and someone else each trying a certain game back and forth to see if you can beat each other - unless you have way more patience than I do. For this reason I would give it 4.5 stars if that were an option.

Right now (3 days old) there is a lot of variety but I wonder if we'll be bored with all the available games in a few months. It's nice that it gradually unlocks games but it doesn't look like there are enough to keep unlocking to last a year. ETA: 10 days in and haven't even gotten to all the balance, strength, or yoga activities... but am getting bored already with the cardio.

PROS:
-A lot of fun - we have been laughing and laughing
-A vigorous workout is possible if you choose challenging activities (instead of games)
-Keeps track of weight, BMI, balance scores, days exercised, and minutes exercised
-Instructs carefully and teaches good form, providing helpful visual feedback to help you monitor your form
-A nice variety of activities
-More activities are gradually unlocked - as well as advanced and/or longer versions of the same activities, which enables you to have a longer uninterrupted workout
-Simple to operate

CONS:
-Too much time is taken between activities, even when re-doing the same activity
-Even more time and button clicking is necessary transitioning to different activities
- While there is more than enough variety in the Balance Games (so fun), the Yoga (I haven't even gotten to them all), and the Strength - the Aerobics is already boring. There's Hula Hoop / Advanced Hula, Step / Advanced Step, Boxing / Advanced Boxing, and Running. I wish there were more. How about dancing?
-It's only a machine and therefore can give inaccurate feedback for example with regard to your BMI, or your exercise form.

All in all, definitely worth it! I can't believe you get all this for under $[...].

Far more than just exercise and entertainment!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

One of the things I like best about the Wii Fit exercises is that, by clearly showing on the screen your balance point and by scoring you by how well you keep in those highlighted areas, you are directed to do the yoga poses and the other exercises correctly.

So it's not just stand on the board, lift a leg, breathe in breathe out. While doing this, you must also maintain balance. And when you maintain balance, you very subtly involve more muscles, thus strengthening more of the extremely important muscles supporting your back, hips, waist, and legs.

It shows an expanding and contracting circle to visually guide you to breathe -- at the right times of a yoga pose, too.

I was immediately impressed when it showed, by just standing there and "measuring" your balance, how a person should stand, where their weight should rest, if you favor one side over another, and so on. My girlfriend who has back problems, instantly noticed that this minor correction in stance immediately relieved the pressure on the lower back.

In fact, after just 2-3 days of use, she no longer sleeps in pain. She noticed a change almost immediately and now it's been just 7 days of use and she says she's been sleeping so much better - right hip doesn't hurt, less lower back pain, etc.

One of the Wii Age measurement tests is simply walking in place. It can tell you if you favor one side over another. Just by making people aware of this lack of balance dramatically improves overall muscle development and reduces aches and pains accumulated throughout the day.

What I found interesting is that our 8-year-old boy asks to do his exercises in the morning before school. Before, it was always a mild struggle to get him to finish getting ready. Now, it's get ready, then, "Can I play Wii Fit?" Also interesting is that his favorites are NOT the games, but the yoga poses and the jogging.

So, now before school, this little boy is doing yoga (he actually likes the first exercise which is simply breathing while maintaining balance) and jogging for 6-10 minutes. THAT is impressive. (We started exploring the Mii Channel and have imported many characters for fun. Now, as we jog, Einstein turns and waves; Jack Black and Will Smith run past; even Jesus sometimes joins in.) In the last few days he has wanted to do the strength exercises and proudly states to me whenever he bests my score, "Rob, I did the lunge and I was balanced better than you!"

All this so far and I haven't even commented on the games! Or the way they help track your progress!

I'm really impressed, to say the least. After seven days of use, I have found myself more and more compelled to exercise, even if it's just for a quick 10 minutes and then do the Body Test. I doubt this will be shelved like the many other games that are collecting dust.

love it, but...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I've been using it for about 3 weeks now. I've lost about 7 lbs. I love my Wii Fit. I also love reading all the bad things people have to say about a product in reviews, so here goes:

- The Wii Fit Age is such complete bunk. Mine's constantly bouncing up and down, depending on the particular tests given and how balanced I feel at that particular time on that particular day. One of the Wii Fit Age tests is to take 20 steps on the Wii Fit board, walking as you normally would. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm unable to walk in place the exact same way I normally would walk. They might as well just get rid of Wii Fit Age, since it doesn't really tell you anything.
- It would be awesome if the short-distance run had a couple different options for scenery. I like doing multiple short runs, and the repetitive scenery is incredibly boring.
- A broad-shouldered male would have problems doing pushups using the Wii Fit balance board. The board is just not wide enough.
- The aerobics section needs more variety. There's really only 4 options, despite the 9 activities in that section: hula hoop (& super hula hoop), steps (basic, advanced, and free step), run (1-person, 2-person, and free run), and boxing. That's just cheating on the Wii Fit makers' part, to make these 4 options look like 9.
- Some of the yoga and strength exercises need more audio guidance; the exercises that need it are the ones that make it really difficult/uncomfortable to watch the trainer on the tv and do the exercise at the same time (because of the way your body needs to be positioned for the exercise).

All that being said, the Wii Fit is phenomenal for a first-gen product. It works the way it should (not buggy, *cough* iPhone *cough*), it's user-friendly, seems durable, and is all around an extremely well-thought-out product. It's well worth the $[...] purchase price.

I'm Sold

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: May 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm in my early 30's, out of shape, work long hours and have an infant. That makes for little or no time to do much of anything physical and when I do finally get home, eat and the baby goes down it's usually straight to the tv. I can still do that now but not sitting down. Can't make any excuses anymore with the Wii fit. Takes 2 seconds to set up and you are moving around and doing something in minutes. Certainly the weigh-in and wii fit age portion were a smack in the face, but it wasn't like I didn't see it coming. The balance games are fun and a good distraction but the other sections are what really get you moving. My wife and I were having a blast alternately doing the step program and trying to top each other in points. She's in the same boat physically as me and has really enjoyed the yoga and strength exercises. Those aren't my forte at the moment but the aerobic section has been great. Running in place has never been more entertaining, the hula hoop is a riot and the step is also fun. Would like to be able to organize a quick morning workout with less popping between menus but considering it has gotten my behind off the couch at 8:30 as opposed to sitting on it it's hard to complain.

Brutally honest with a bit of an attitude - but fun anyway

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: May 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you are a bit overweight, you need to have a good sense humor (or a thick skin) because the Wii Fit is very honest. It also has a hint of a smug attitude. It did call my daughter obese and suggested to everyone that tried it that "balance wasn't their forte". If you aren't overly sensitive about that bit of attitude, you will find the Wii Fit a fun way to do light exercise.

My kids and their friends have found to Wii Fit to be a lot of fun. Wii Fit has displaced Guitar Hero III (at least for now) as the preferred game to play. Even with its "attitude" issue.

It appears to have been a good investment. Time will tell if it can really compete with Guitar Hero III. A little extra exercise certainly won't hurt my kids (or me either).

I think the Wii Fit designers could have been a bit more sensitive. The goal is to get overweight people exercising, not put them down. However, once you get past that, it's a pretty fun way to do light exercise.

Things to know about balance board

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: May 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

You probably have heard enough about the balance board to know its many stengths, but you should also be aware of some of its flaws. For one thing the wii fit game that comes with the board only allows one player to play at a time so you really can't challenge each others scores on a particular activity right away. Instead you have to switch to the other mii on the main screen which is a time consuming and annoying process. You also cant design a workout program which I think is the biggest flaw in the game. It would be great to go through 5-10 different exercises or games without having to go to the main screen each time. The other thing is that if you buy wii ski in the hopes of beginning your library of games for the balance board, you may be dissapointed. Like the wii fit, only one balance board can be played at a time. So if you purchased a second board like I did in the hopes of being able to challenge people, you will be really dissapointed. I am not sure if the board is designed such that only one can be used at a time or not, but its something you should be aware of if you want to buy 2.

Fun, but it's no personal trainer

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 18 / 34
Date: May 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

For those out there looking to have a personal trainer in your house, this isn't quite it. Sure it's fun, there are interesting ways to interact, but I get more of a workout playing Wii Sports Tennis.

The reliance on BMI is a bit disappointing as it has been shown that this is not a good reflection of health. BMI only accounts for your age, height and weight. If you are muscular your BMI will be artificially high. Also the board has a built in scale but seems to be slightly inaccurate compared to my body fat scale that I've used for years.

Regarding gameplay, it can be frustrating just to get to the actual game as the game constantly wants to talk to you and you have to hit the A button after each sentence for it to continue it's long rambling sentences. If you could skip this altogether I'd bump it up a star as you wouldn't have to hold the Wiimote the entire time.

The other oddity is that if you step off the board, it has to recalibrate itself before you can get back on it (of course accompanied by having to push the A button on the Wiimote first). Also, if you get on the board and wobble a bit, it makes you get off so it can recalibrate again.

All in all it is more of a game than it is a terrific workout but at least you are on your feet and it tracks how much time you do different activities.

Not for those in pretty good shape

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: June 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I finally got my Wii Fit! I have found the game to be entertaining and good for a few basic exercises, but I do not find it a good replacement for the gym or other usual workout. If you are just getting into exercise or are looking for something different to supplement a workout it is fine, but it will only get you so far. The aerobics are too short and easy for someone who can go out for a nice quick walk around the block already. Running in place is a drag (and short) but I found that I can use my treadmill as part of the workout. The longest run is about .25 miles at a quick walking pace.

The balance games are a blast! The strength and Yoga exercises are decent, but a little uncomfortable in conjunction with the required board. Perhaps the yoga mat (sold separately) would be a good investment.

I love the progress chart and tips.

Fun for one, Worthless for family play

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 18
Date: July 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First, I bought this last weekend at Best Buy. They had plenty in stock and it cost around $90. I mention that, because the price currently listed here (almost twice that) made me gasp.

At the time, I had guests and naturally we all wanted to hang out and try the board, which brought its biggest defect immediately to light. It is extremely slow and clumsy as a multi-user platform.

To start with (as others have said) there is an involved setup process where the Wii offers threadbare exercise advice, grunts in pain when you step in the board (I'm not kidding), tells you you're too fat and, should your balance not be perfectly on center, asks whether you trip a lot.

So, OK. That part was fairly amusing. At the end of it, you get a Wii age based on balance, actual age and BMI. Of the five of us who tried it, four came out 15-20 years older than their actual age, and one 13 years younger. I'm not saying which one. Just that all those years of yoga have apparently paid off. :)

That part was amusing too, and it was a one-time investment, so so far s'ok. Now to the games. In this, the WiiFit is very much like the Wii sports package that came with our set originally. The games are slow to load, waste a lot of time in explanations that you can't completely skip, offer one or two quick rounds of play, and then make you wait for cheering crowds, scores to tally, etc. One minute of credited play on the clock (there's a clock-bank tracking how much you've worked out) amounts to about 15 seconds of activity on the board. Personally, I found this tedious. I don't need cheering scores and a hall of fame with little Pikachu noises. I want to reset the game as fast as possible and play again. Can't do it.

That said, the balance games were fun. We tried the tightrope, the soccer (watch out for flying pandas), and the ski-jump, and liked them all.

But here we hit on a nearly insurmountable problem. My sons and I wanted to have fun together. Perfect, right? No. YOU CANNOT USE THE WII-FIT AS A MULTIPLAYER GAME. At least, not with one board. To change players, you have to exit the game, go back to the Wii plaza, change Miis and then do a quick recalibration of the bord. This takes 3-4 minutes, which is just nuts. I thought I'd FINALLY found a physical activity for my family to do together in the home, and we can't do it together!

There is no provision that I found for switching quickly and easily between Miis, a problem that destroyed the fun of the games for us. This is a product killer, as far as I'm concerned. I probably wouldn't have bought it, if I'd known. I doubt we'll take it off the shelf very often.

However, I had some interest in the personal trainer aspect of the Wii, so I gave that a shot, too. I didn't try the strength training. I hate lunges, and don't imagine doing them on the board will make them tolerable, but I did try the yoga, and...sad to say...didn't like it at all. The pace is slow, slow, slow. There is far too much dead time, spent getting lectured by the machine. Conversely, holds on postures are rather long which, I believe, would make them very difficult for beginners. As balance training, the yoga might be OK, but as an asana practice, it's nothing near as effective as a good DVD.

I probably would have given the Wii-Fit 5 stars if they had built in some way for me to use it for group play. It's small, easy to store, and it's a joy to see the kids move something other than their thumbs when playing video games.

As things stand, it's nothing more than a 15 minute novelty and I can only hope somebody will come along and design more multi-player friendly games.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions