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.

Mid-Winter Assessment

It's time for a mid-winter assessment, even though I am fully aware that it's not quite mid-winter yet. The January warmup has me thinking about the upcoming road biking season, but I am no longer stressed about  keeping in shape. Back in November I was a bit worried about keeping up the level of aerobic fitness that I achieved over the 2009 cycling season, but fortunately the workout cocktail of indoor cycling with the trainer, daily workouts with EA Active for Wii, and downhill skiing is really working for me.

Back in February, when I separated my shoulder in a skiing accident, I weighed in at just under 220 pounds. For the last decade or so my weight has ranged between 220 and 230, and while I wasn't happy with my weight, I wasn't working very hard on weight loss. I don't believe in diet or exercise, and I still don't, but my stellar year of road biking changed my attitude about the importance of maintaining better aerobic fitness, and now that I have reaped the benefits of significant weight loss, I am fairly obsessed with keeping in good shape.

Starting in February, a daily regimen of Wii Fit and my regular visits to a physical therapist got me primed for the cycling season. My new road bike got me attacking the hills,  and between February and November I was able to lose over 30 pounds without really trying. I cut cheese out of my daily lunches, substituting sunbutter and jam sandwiches, and pretty much gave up alcohol and desserts. I wasn't aiming to diet—I just responded to my body, which was sending me some strong signals about what nutrition worked best for rides.

I've been off the roads for two months now, and I ride on the trainer two or three times a week. This may not seem like much, but a typical workout lasts between 35 minutes and an hour, and I can burn between 700 and 1000 calories, which turns out to be pretty significant. I don't love the workout bunker, but I think of it as an investment in another great cycling season from the get go.  The 1up USA trainer is absolutely fantastic! I can easily get my heart rate into the 160s and keep it there for a long stretch. The new Shimano 105 pedals and Louis Garneau road shoes are a substantial improvement to my drivetrain, and I feel more sure-footed.

After some predictable weight gain over the holidays, I started working out daily with EA Active for Wii. The 30 day challenge is really something, and while the attempts to motivate are beyond annoying, I have nothing but good things to say about the results. I have so much more energy than I ever remember having during the winter, and I have been able to keep my weight between 185 and 186 for the last several weeks. With only a few more days left in the 30 day challenge, I look forward now to the 60 day challenge. I don't even mind getting up at 5:30 any more!

The ski season has been tremendous thus far. Greek Peak has had some stellar conditions, and all of the lunges and squats demanded of me in my EA Active workouts has really improved my form.

The January thaw may last a while longer, but surely we'll be back to arctic conditions before too long. Fortunately the days will be getting longer, and I can start really getting ready the cycling season. My new brain bucket is on the way, and next up will be some new road tires. Suggestions, anyone? By the way, I chose the Giro Atmos (red and black), after finding it on eBay for $120. Good price for a helmet that routinely sells for $175. I guess I avoided the Lance tax, but I'll know for certain when I take delivery. Look for the Atmos review coming up soon.

Winter Distractions

It's another beautiful winter day in Ithaca, and snow drought seems like such an aughts concept. The ski conditions at Greek Peak have been terrific and the season looks promising, with lots of snow on the ground and no warming trends in the forecast for the next two weeks at least. If you're a winter sports enthusiast in the Northeast, there's nothing to complain about.


This time of year, I look at the messy, snow-covered roads, littered with potholes and contaminated with grit and road salt and am having a really hard time imagining what it was like to bike up the magical hills on my road bike only a few months ago. Sure, I could get the old beater mountain bike out of the garage and do some sloppy winter cycling, but it's just not the same. Winter cycling in these conditions is a much different aesthetic than road biking, and it just isn't as appealing as it used to be. A few years ago I turned a pair of mountain bike tires into studded tires, thanks to a helpful online tutorial. While I can't find the exact one I used, this one is essentially the same. The trick is to screw sheet metal screws into the tire so that the tips stick out, and use tire liners or just old tube rubber to prevent the screw heads from poking into your tubes and giving you a flat. It turns out that you really only need to have a studded tire on the front wheel, though it doesn't hurt to have the rear studded as well.

I think I'll just stick to skiing and the trainer, and keep following the latest crazy experiments of Lance, as he swallows thermometers to measure his core temperature and experiments with cooling vests and other high tech silliness, as Team Radio Shack looks for whatever competitive edge they can find. And then there's the snide hilarity of Bike Snob NYC, my favorite bike blog by a mile. Oh yeah, and there's EA Active, which continues to be a fantastic way to burn calories in the living room. The 2010 road cycling season is only a few months away...

Choosing a Helmet

A new helmet is on my upgrade wish list for the new year. My current mid-range Bell helmet is merely adequate—it's a bit heavy and on hot days it's quite stifling. I've been browsing roadbikereview.com and other review sites to get a sense of my choices, and it's pretty tough going. On RBR, there are a few helmets that get a large volume of reviews (Giro Pneumo and Atmos and Bell Sweep and Eclipse), and then the number of reviews drop off substantially. I like what I read about how like and cool the Atmos is, but the price is pretty steep. What is the cooling effect worth? That's the big question that I need to figure out. Atmos is all about having as many vents as possible, while helmets like Lazer have a different approach, with few vents that are much larger, and a seemingly innovative Rollsys system with a rolling wheel on the top of the helmet to secure it too your head. The Lazer Genesis is around $150, the Atmos is around $135, and the Bell Sweep is $120. I can't imagine spending over $150 on a helmet...seems so much to spend, but I'm open-minded.


If you have any suggestions, I'd love your input.

EA Active vs. Wii Fit Plus

EA Active for Wii has introduced yet another workout alternative to cycling, and judging by how sore I am after three days, I'm loving the alternative. When will I have time to get back on the bike, considering my very real time limitations for working out?

After working out on Wii Fit and then Wii Fit Plus for almost every day starting in February when I dislocated my shoulder in a skiing accident, I'm absolutely convinced of the value of Wii as part of a personal fitness regimen. EA Active takes daily Wii to a new level. In Wii Fit Plus, even the most intensive combination of workouts get me burning just over 100 calories in 30 minutes, whereas EA Active allows me to burn over 200 calories in 30 minutes. It's not just the calories, however; EA Active has a much greater variety and range of exercises because of the use of the resistance band and nunchuck, and I'm convinced that I'm getting a much better all-around workout. Then there's the 30 day challenge, in which new exercises are introduced at a reasonable pace, and different muscle groups are targeted on different days, allowing those other sore muscles some down time for a day or so. Lots of jumping, running, leaping, bicep curls, kicks, cardio boxing, dancing, and my personal favorite, tennis. I love tennis so much that I created my own high-intensity tennis workout that lasts around 10 minutes and burns about 100 calories. I've done that tennis workout four times in two days! Who cares about the calories—this is the most fun I've ever had with Wii. Tennis in EA Active is surprisingly realistic and challenging, particularly the overhead smash.

The only frustration so far is when Wii doesn't seem to understand what my movements. Both Gail and I have experienced this problem. The other annoying thing is trying to simultaneously hold the resistance band handles and the Wiimote and nunchuck. Oh, and then there's learning the exercises properly and having the patience to sit through the introductory videos. Finally, there's the lame motivational component. "You OWN this exercise!" "You are poetry in motion!" The male workout companion sounds like a Canadian surfer dude transplant to SoCal. Just shut up already, dude. This isn't inspiration, it's intrusive and annoying. One more thing: the music sucks.

These small complaints aside, EA Active makes Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus seem like child's play. Don't get me wrong, I'll always love Wii Fit, but I don't anticipate using it for much more than the bicycling and a few other fun activities like downhill skiing and skateboarding, after the results derived from Wii Fit.

Drivetrain Upgrades

As anyone who has ever shopped for cycle components can attest, there are so many choices to make that you can easily get psyched out, especially if you have as tight a budget as I do. Tonight, after several years of contemplation, I finally made the choice to upgrade shoes and pedals. What a relief to finally arrive at a decision and feel good about it.

For those of you living in or near Central NY, Glenn Swan has a fantastic shop on Mt. Pleasant Rd., just outside of Ithaca. It's certainly off the beaten path, but well worth the trip. You'll come back again and again, and just marvel at how much great gear he keeps in his modest shop. Great prices, but more importantly, incredibly knowledgeable and no-nonsense advise.

I've been riding clipless pedals since around '84, around the time when Shimano's SPD pedal system came on the market. What a difference it makes to be one with your pedal, but as with all technology, improvements keep on coming. I never kept up, and have continued to ride with the original SPD system, even after the introduction of SPD-SL, the Look Keo, Speedplay, Egg Beaters, etc. Yeah, I'll admit to some serious pedal envy, but until this year it didn't matter that much to me. Now that I have a road bike, every component choice matters more. For example, Ultegra shifters and derailleurs were an important choice, as was a carbon crank and the Selle San Marco Aspide saddle, which I love.

My new bike came with generic one-side SPD road pedals, so I couldn't justify spending even more right off the bat, and since my Shimano shoes were the old school two-bolt system and wouldn't accommodate a three bolt cleat, I was overwhelmed by the sticker shock of new shoes AND pedals. However, after a year of very intensive riding with a less than satisfactory shoe/pedal combination, I finally was able to justify the upgrade.

My pedal choice was the Shimano 105 SPD-SL pedal. In a way it was a conservative decision. I toyed with the idea of Speedplay, but something about the complexity of the cleat had me a bit worried, particularly the thought of cleat-related problem while riding far from home. Yeah, it's unlikely, but also Speedplay has so many products with such a range of options that I was overwhelmed by the decisions just within one type of pedal. Then there's the price, not only of the pedal itself, but of replacement cleats. I briefly considered Look Keo Classics, but I wasn't so sure about buying a polycarbonate pedal. It just didn't seem like it would hold up as well as the Shimanos. I feel like the steel Shimanos just seem more robust and are likely to be more reliable and last longer. You can't really argue with their track record or the extensive testing process. Also, Shimano has only three flavors of this model; the 105, the Ultegra, and the Dura-Ace. There's a $60 price differential between the 105s ($75) and the Ultegra ($135), and enough online reviewers and serious cyclists opined that the weight differential was probably not worth the big price jump. Since Dura-Ace was just out of the question for my budget, once I decided on Shimano, it wasn't hard to chose the 105s.

Shoes are a whole other torturous decision. Ratcheting clasp or straight-up velcro? Carbon fiber soles or nylon with steel reinforcement for added stiffness with a weight penalty? Buy online and return several times until I land the right fit/price combination or buy locally and be assured of a good fit? I chose to buy locally with no regrets. The Louis Garneau Ergoair 2 don't have a ratcheting clasp or a carbon sole, but they fit nicely, are plenty stiff, and cost less than $100, so I'm very pleased with that choice as well.

After testing them briefly on the trainer, I know I made a good choice. Yeah, $175 is not insignificant, but it's a huge performance and comfort upgrade for the price. (I'm not sure if comfort is the word I'm looking for...perhaps stability is a better term.) The concept of float (how the heel can have wiggle room to pivot a little bit without losing firm contact with the pedal) was only an abstraction until now. Yeah, they only allow 3 degrees of float, and Speedplay offers much more, but after so many years of having essentially no float and frequently accidentally forcing myself out of my pedals, any amount of float feels luxurious. Even more significantly, the larger platform feels so much more substantial, and the stiff soles will certainly translate to less wasted energy and more power heading directly to the drivetrain. I can't wait to test this out on the open road, but it'll be a while.

Organizing the Resistance

Thanks to my friend George, we are now the proud owners of an early '90s vintage NordicTrack Skier exercise machine. It took me a while to decide whether or not to adopt this odd looking torture equipment resistance-based exercise unit, but I'm very glad that we chose to be its new parents and add it to our growing resistance movement. After one quick and very fun workout, I'm sold. Brilliant design...very simple and very effective, just like the 1UP USA resistance bike trainer. It just works, and it does a fairly decent job of emulating the real nordic skiing experience. I just have to figure out why my heels occasionally hit the back stop thingermajigger.

While the bike trainer certainly won't be gathering dust, this seems like a very nice companion activity to cycling in place. I haven't been cross-country skiing in many years, and who knows, maybe this is the year to get back into it, especially if we can convince the boys about how fun it truly is. Maybe I need to organize a ski party in the north country. Millions of Scandinavians can't be wrong! Soon it'll be time to build a sauna, dig a pond in the backyard and ferment some vodka. Oh, and how about some raw, salted herring?