FIGURE A


My weight graph for the last two weeks shows the patterns but not the actual weight numbers. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The exercises
After doing your body test -- or without doing it if you'd rather not know on a particular day -- you have four choices of activity types: yoga, balance, aerobics, and strength. The exercises in each section, with a few odd exceptions, progress from easier to more advanced. Not all exercises are unlocked at first, which gives you something to look forward to.

Each exercise takes between one and ten minutes to perform. However, there is time lost between each exercise while you go back to the menu and select the next exercise. As a result, I find that accumulating thirty minutes of actual exercise time takes anywhere from forty to forty-five minutes.

Unfortunately, there is no option to set up an exercise program that strings a group of exercises together. To my mind, this is the biggest failing of the system. You'd get a better workout without the pauses between exercises, and it would also take less time.

Yoga
The yoga exercises begin with a simple deep breathing exercise and culminate with a challenging shoulder stand. In between are some typical yoga poses (triangle, warrior, cobra) and some I hadn't seen before. Success is determined by how steadily you can hold a pose.

The balance activities are games, ranging from ski jumping and slalom skiing to an amusing "lean left and right to bounce soccer balls off your head without taking a shoe or panda head to the face" that's probably the most fun of the entire system. The Balance Board's sensitivity is so high that a shiver shows up on screen, and it can be difficult to hold the perfect position, but with practice it does get easier.

Aerobics
In the aerobics section, we have running in place, basic, and advanced step classes, hula hooping, and eventually boxing. My cardiovascular endurance is such that only the advanced boxing and hula hooping raise my heart rate.

For a newer exerciser, these aerobic activities are a great way to get started, especially for someone who's uncomfortable exercising in public or at a gym. Both running and step have an unlockable "free" mode, in which you receive instruction through the Wii Remote and can watch television while working out.

Strength
The strength section is where I spend most of my time, and I in fact cancelled my gym membership because of it. Figure B shows the selection screen for the strength exercises, which work all the major muscle groups.

FIGURE B


The Wii Fit offers a wide variety of strength exercises. Roll over picture for a larger image.

While some exercises are pretty easy, some are a distinct challenge, and it's here that Nintendo has made their strangest order decision. The first exercise is a fairly simple leg lift. The second is a gruelling "push up and side plank", in which you do a single push up and then shift your body weight to your right hand and foot while raising your left arm to the ceiling, then do another push up and switch sides.