Weekend Beat: Breathing Space: Writer finds Wii Fit a fun way to shape up--if you use it

I recently realized how easily I could be sucked into a commercial frenzy when I found myself buying Wii Fit--and then watching it collect dust much of the time.

For those of you who've spent the last four months on another planet, Wii Fit is a Nintendo video game that helps users shape up with exercises at home--yoga, simulated skiing, jogging, soccer, boxing and more.

Almost every weight-conscious person in Japan has lusted after one, ever since the product hit the market in December. The supply shortage led an electronic megastore to post a big sign around Christmas that read in effect: "Don't even think about buying one anytime soon!"

However, a month later, I managed to buy both Wii Fit and Wii, the game machine necessary to use Wii Fit. They weren't cheap. The machine cost about 25,000 yen, and the video game about 8,000 yen.

Ironically, just owning the highly coveted item satisfied me, and I didn't set the machine up for two weeks. The main problem was to make room for exercising in my cramped apartment. On a snowy Sunday last month, I finally opened the boxes, hooked the machine up to my TV and worked out.

My first reaction was that, compared with Billy's Boot Camp, which I also bought and actually used, it's rather lightweight. Each Wii Fit exercise typically lasts only two minutes, at least for beginners.

My second reaction was that it's quite well-made. After every 10 minutes or so, you get a new exercise to try. I ended up working out for 90 minutes on the first day (though, I admit, nearly a month passed before the second day).

Wii Fit comes with Wii Balance Board, a device the size of a small pillow that not only weighs you but also evaluates your performance as you work out on it. After an exercise, the TV screen shows your score.

Among Wii Fit's four main training categories--yoga poses, aerobic exercises, muscle conditioning and balance games--my favorite items belong to the aerobic group, such as hula-hooping and step aerobics. In hula-hooping, I twist my hips and catch hula hoops thrown at me on the screen. It's quite fun.

My least favorites are balance games, including tightrope walking. I fall off every time.

One similarity I found with Billy's Boot Camp is that you get a trainer on Wii Fit, too--with a selection of a male or a female. Both are nice, but sometimes they get on my nerves. If I struggle with a yoga pose, they make a "helpful" comment: "Oh, you are unstable. You won't be, if you train your inner muscle more."

Another annoying Wii Fit moment is when the machine finds I have gained weight. It demands to know why I'm heavier now: "Choose an excuse from the following: ate too much; drank too much; didn't exercise; constipation; can't think of a reason ..."

Nosy, nosy, nosy. But I guess it's only doing its job, trying to get me fit. Perhaps I will be--but only if I use it more.

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Breathing Space is our first-person look at recreation. If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, please contact us at < wbeat@asahi.com >.(IHT/Asahi: March 22,2008)