In a new study conducted by Scott Owens out of the University of Mississippi, the
Wii Fit was loaned to eight families and the usage and
fitness impact was tracked over time -- three months before they got the Wii, and three months after. The verdict? "No significant changes" in family fitness from the Wii. Interestingly, over the period of three months the daily Wii Fit usage declined a staggering 82 percent, from 22 minutes a day for the first half of the time all the way down to an average of four minutes a day for the last six weeks. The biggest winners here were the children, who did display some "significant" increases in the specific area of aerobic fitness, but we get the feeling that with a bit more stick-to-itiveness the whole family might've been able to raise its game here. Or maybe Nintendo could invest in making some more motion-controlled games that don't become repetitive and shallow after two playthroughs.
posted Dec 17th 2009 2:11AM
How can they be bored when Wii Fit can do this??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr3NEF0kIAg
not a rick roll, i promise
Well, if you get bored by exercising, you can't really say how effective it really is. A scientific experiment has to have AT LEAST repetition. It would be like deducing gyms don't work based on the amount of dropouts or diets don't work because people go back to their eating habits a week later.
Maybe if the experiment was looking to find if "Wii Fit is boring for adults" it would have been a successful scientific method.
@(Unverified)
That WAS the whole point of the experiment, what do you think they were testing?
The whole claim with the Wii exercise bullshit is that it would make exercising fun, this study shows that Wii usage rapidly declines (i.e. fun factor doesn't work) and that naturally there are no health benefits.
There are two layers to the test: "the usage and fitness impact."
The first order question is whether Wii fit actually engages people enough that they keep using it.
The second order question is -- if people are using it -- does the exercise regime the Wii Fit promotes work?
To my mind the second order question is much less important. Even mild physical activity like yoga helps your health, it's not like we really need another study to prove that. The real question is whether or not Wii Fit can actually engage people enough for them to keep using it, which it obviously doesn't.
Well, any kind of sports can be described as "repetitive." So this simply reflects the nature of people being lazy. Not news at all.
@pika2000
Couldn't agree more. Talking about exercise and repetitiveness... there's a reason why weight lifts are measured in "reps".
I lost 60lbs in a week with wii fit
@(Unverified)
...while I'm 40lbs short.. meat just doesn't grow on me..
@(Unverified)
It took you a whole week? -1 for stick-to-itiveness
@tamosius
.....That's what she said
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Actually, I do have an idea. How about a Wii fit game that turns the amount of calorie you burn into money for facebook's Farmville. That could lead to something. :P
@pika2000
like a lawsuit from an american mother whose kids died of starvation
@mrqs
not the amount of weight you lose, the amount of calories you burn. There's a big difference. If you're starving, you probably don't have much energy to burn calories.
welll duuuuh!
@psycros
Wii Fit.
@matthiasak
Wii 'Explitive' Fit. For those that LOVE to burn calories.
The nintendo wii got old quick, the whole motion with the wrists got old as well. Its just a gimmick
@psycros You shouldn't single out Muslim terrorists. There are terrorists of many ethnicities that people would love to beat. Glenn Beck for example.
The Wii and Wii Fit make great dust catchers.
IMO, Konami already had the sector nailed with DDR, they just had to go and get Disney to cosponsor some games. They also lowered the difficulty level a crapton, no reason really, it's not that hard once you get over the initial learning curve.
Just get Beatles Rock Band, I can easily work up a sweat screaming to the tunes and frantically mashing guitar buttons all while pretending I have talent...
Nintendo: "Hey guys, lets make a piece of fitness equipment for the Wii... OK, how about a board that forces the player to stay in one place, wiggle a little and burn off no calories!"
... GENIUS!
Okay lets put things into perspective here a little. I know the Wii gets a lot of bashing in the tech circles, perhaps with good reason. It is technologically inferior, and doesn't cater to the FPS crowd. (Pretty much every big title on Xbox and PS3 are shooters). The Engadget team, and most of the readership are obviously in the FPS crowd...but honestly for those of us who aren't Xbox's offerings are sparse...and PS3's titles so far are few (Little Big Planet, upcoming FF...can"t think of much else). Perhaps I'll get slammed down, but thought I'd throw this out there...
i'm reading your comment a bit late, but +1. i do wish more of the wii games were for people older than 12 and younger than 67, though.
How about include in the box a cable that is capable of wide screen display? Who still use composite with their HDTV nowadays?
This is an interesting article but surely the headline here is misleading? The introduction of a Wii Fit to these families didn't improve their fitness, but not through a failing of the Wii Fit itself, but because the famillies didn't stick with the plan?
I dunno, I would say that being boring and repetitive to the point that it can't keep your attention for more than 6 weeks IS a failing.
the problem with the wii fit (at least for me) is that it is so slow and going between exercises can seem to take forever. i wanted to work out, but i mostly just stood around waiting. the other big problem is that the exercises offered are very repetitive and seem gimmicky. it's much, much easier to get any sort of real work out doing anything else.
@jecks
I felt the same way about the wii fit. My gf picked up EA Active a few weeks ago, and that is a good work out... you can choose from many different pre confirgured workouts that last between 15-60 mins. There is a video that shows you how to do everything, but after seeing them once, you don't watch them again, and it only takes a couple seconds to switch between workouts (there's no going back to menus... it just goes to the next workout in the routine). I've done it a few times, and I struggle to finish the easy workouts... and I consider my self to be in OK shape.
My workout regimen consists of warming up with doing 3 yoga exercises, doing the max Jackknife challenge (100 reps), doing 20 rep push up/side plank, then doing a 20 minute run (4 stars). I've lost 10 pounds in the past 4 months. Not an amazing loss of weight, but I'm still eating horribly like I always do.
The trick is making a workout regimen that works for you and push yourself to the limit doing the harder exercises. The Wii Fit board won't lose the weight for you.
@Coufu You don't need a Wii to do a 20 minute run.
@slimjim316
No, you don't, but I'm just trying to make the point that it is what you make of it, like any other home exercise machine.
@Coufu
Everybody wants to lose weight, nobody wants to work for it. There's no secret to weight loss. Generally, if you burn off more than you put in, you lose weight. The most difficult part is finding something you can stick with, because once you start taking breaks it all falls apart.
Congrats on your results.
@psycros
Can we just beat the general jerks and idiots with the bat as well? Or create Miis of the people we hate and beat them?
Finally one of my tips made it into the feeeeeeeed!
nooooo, Ya think!?
Like so may other fitness contraptions bought as "incentives" to get fit, e.g. Thigh Master, Iron Gym, treadmill, rowing machine, etc, the Wii Fit loses it's luster within days of removing it from its packaging. Iwata-san, meet Suzanne Somers...
Actually the problem here is a combination of laziness and apathy. Why does anyone think Americans (or any other modern humans) will exercise if it's dressed up as a video game? It's still gonna require more work than playing Halo on your 360. Everyone knows the Wii Fit falls victim to "new toy syndrome" really quickly. Unless you're raised to respect and satisfy your fitness needs, exercise is not an inherent part of your nature. Extinction can't be too far off now...
I am SHOCKED to discover that spending less time exercising leads to less improvement in fitness.
Why the heck wouldn't you control for time spent exercising in this study instead of tossing it into the conclusions? I mean, other than being able to write an inflammatory abstract for the study...
I'm adding Nintendo to the list of companies who Engadget doesn't understand (right after Microsoft and Nokia). Then again we should probably be happy Apple didn't release a game console yet.
@Pies
Isn't that the truth. If they did, it'd cost $2000.00.
@psycros It just sounds like you want to ridicule or hate Muslims. As it was mentioned above, there are all sorts of terrorists.
Even the US high officials agreed on this fact. The ones that didn't, a.k.a McCain, didn't get elected.
@scratchfury
Oh yea, Glenn Beck is definitely on the same level as terrorists. You stupid pos. have you even ever watched his show? Or just listen to the rest of the mainstream media when creating your opinions.
@Abdel
There are all sorts of criminals, but I am just worried about the ones who live near me.
There are all sorts of diseases, but I am just worried about the ones that I might catch in my everyday life.
There are all sorts of terrorists, yes, but I (and many) are just concerned about the ones out to kill us at the moment. The main group of people out to kill us at the moment are radical islamic terrorists.
It is ok to discriminate in certain circumstances, and it is ok to profile.
Sorry, but eight families definitely is not enough to prove anything. That's a tiny sample.