I did a little experiment today. I was not excited about walk/running for an hour on the treadmill so I procrastinated by hopping on the Wii Fit Plus. I had my Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor on and I was just going to see if my heart rate ever actually got up high enough to give me any type of workout.
I hopped on and browsed through all my choices of workouts. I have done many of them in the past so I knew what most were like and I was trying to pick which ones would get my heart rate up the fastest. Here is the breakdown of my workout:
- Bird’s-Eye Bull’s Eye – HOLY ARM WORKOUT!!!! With this activity, you flap your arms like a bird and lean into the “flight” to make your bird go in a certain way! You land on these big bulls eyes and rack up the points. I LOVED this one. Yes, I looked like a fool but don’t you look like a fool doing most of these? Yep! Also, my heart rate got into Zone 2 with this one so I know my heart was workin’! And, I can already feel it in my upper arms and shoulders. I did this “game” at least six times throughout my workout.
- Obstacle Course – This workout is one of my favorites and it got my heart rate up pretty high depending on how much I put into it. With this workout, you go through an obstacle course and try to stay away from the moving objects. You “run” on the Wii board and do little jumps. I tried to run most of the time and I noticed my heart rate stayed up. Yes, I still looked awfully silly!
- Snowball Fight – I wasn’t so good at snowball fights. Maybe it’s because we don’t get snow in Georgia?!? I don’t know. I did this one probably 12 times (only because I was trying to get a higher score) but the heart rate didn’t get out of Zone 1 on this one.
- Segway Circuit – HOLY LEG WORKOUT!!!! With the segway circuit, I leaned forward to get this little segway to go forward and hit these balloon targets. This one was super fun but it was similar to sitting in a squat so I could feel it in my legs. I did this one at least 3 times!
- Island Cycling – The cycling is nice because you aren’t timed like most of the other ones. You are “pedaling” a bicycle by stepping your two feet in an alternating way. You are constantly “pedaling” so the heart rate gets up there.
- Balance Bubble Plus – With the balance bubble, you are inside this bubble and moving it very carefully in between obstacles. If you hit the sides, your bubble pops and you are out of the game. I only did this one a few times because I wasn’t very good at it at all and I wasn’t moving much so Id didn’t feel it was beneficial. You have to have REALLY good balance to be successful at this one.
- Hula Hoop – The hula hoop was one of the best for getting my heart rate up. You have to sway your hips and keep these hula hoops moving. The fastest you sway, the higher score you get. At one point I thought my head was going to fly off because I was swaying my hips so much! When I finished this one, I was truly out of breath. Cha-ching! Great workout!
Most of the games were super fun and I actually burned quite a few calories. Check it out:
Wow...It actually burns calories!
Yes, I went almost an hour and a half, burned 527 calories, earned 5 Weight Watchers Points Plus, and most importantly, the time flew by because I was having FUN!!!!
If you ever need to mix up your workout to keep from getting bored, I would recommend the Wii Fit Plus. It really does give you a good workout. Just don’t let anyone see you because you will look really silly doing some of the workouts!
Do you own Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus? Have you ever used it as a workout?
