Morning Edition weighs in on Wii Fit

NPR's Morning Edition weighed in this morning (pun is sadly intended) on the effectiveness of Wii-based workout games. They specifically reference Wii Fit and Dance Town. It was a short fluff piece in another bad news day, and the upshot was that while these games are a good start, you really can't substitute Wiirobics for "real" workouts. On the other hand, these games can lead to positive lifestyle changes and get you integrating workouts into your daily routine.

I agree largely with these findings, but I have two things to add. First of all, I worked out with Wii Fit daily for 30-45 minutes almost every day between February '09 and late December '09, and it really made a difference. Of course I supplemented with nearly 3,000 miles on the bike, but I can't imagine anyone who would work out with Wii Fit once a day, then spend the rest of the day popping bon bons while watching daytime TV from the comfort of their barcalounger. Any daily workout routine leads to the desire to work out more, whether it's running, cycling, or poking around in the garden. So there's certainly nothing wrong with Wii Fit, especially when they upgraded to Wii Fit Plus, which allows a more seamless workout routine with less down-time between activities and calorie counting, not to mention the ability to customize workouts and flap your arms like a giant chickadee.

Secondly, EA Active totally works, and it burns calories twice as fast as Wii Fit. You really can get winded  in the running and the lunges and squats are pretty brutal, especially when you're starting out. I've found that I burn around 200 calories for a 30 minute EA Active workout, and I've been supplementing that with cycling on the trainer once or twice a week, and I also do some EA Active two-player sports with my 9-year-old, which is really a blast. Tennis is my favorite, but volleyball, dancing and baseball are a pretty good time as well.

Tomorrow I finish my 30 day EA Active workout, and I look forward to starting another round on Friday. Next on the wish list is EA Active More Workouts, since it addresses a weakness of EA Active, the lack of abdominal workouts. The price is right, coming in at around $40.