If Only…
A British woman lost 112lbs exercising on the Wii fat.
Because, you know, she had self-discipline and stuff.
Sigh.
http://www.gossipgamers.com/another-wii-fit-miracle-woman-loses-112lbs/
Criticism of BMI for Measuring Bodily Health
NPR posts an interesting article criticising the use of BMI to indicate obesity. This is relevant to this blog, since the Wii Fit uses BMI extensively to track obesity, or the lack thereof.
I can say with conviction that when I step on for the “Body Test” and the cutesie little voice says, “That’s obese!” I hate it with a passion. Nice to know that science bears out my aversion!
BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a mathematical formula that incorporates height, age and weight to determine whether one has a healthy physique or not. The higher the BMI, the greater the degree of obesity. The article points out that BMI is a formula developed 200 years ago as a short-hand to help the goverment of Belgium determine what percentage of their population is obese. But it fails to take into account people who are big and very fit – because muscle outweighs fat. In other words, a large man who has very little body fat would have the exact same BMI, indicating obesity, as a very fat man of similar size.
BMI is the default data point of the Wii Fit, though you can switch to pounds by clicking on a button. In my case, it’s actually an okay indicator – every obese person will have a high BMI, but not every person with a high BMI will necessarily be obese. For my part, though, it’s not excessive musculature that’s causing me grief.
Should I ever reach a very low body-fat percentage, and yet remain ripplingly buff, I suppose I’ll have to stop considering my BMI. In truth, I’m quite a bit more worried about my waist size than I am about pounds or BMI, but it’s much easier to track the trend on those numbers, which change more rapidly.
Nintendo’s Sports Resort, which makes use of the Wii MotionPlus accessory (also talked about in my Tiger Woods Review) is getting an early preview at some Six Flags Parks.
Six Flags, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SIXFQ), the world’s largest regional theme park company, announced today that it will expand its partnership with Nintendo and provide theme park guests with the unique opportunity to play the upcoming Wii Sports Resort™ video game. The game features 12 different fun sports activities like archery, basketball and table tennis that everyone in the family can play and comes with the new Wii MotionPlus™ accessory, which makes games even more precise.
Wii Sports Resort will be showcased daily in the Wii Experience in nine theme parks across the country. In addition, Wii Sports Resort will be featured in an extensive in-park media program including commercials on Six Flags TV and its Jumbotron Network as well as signage and online presence on www.sixflags.com.
Sports Resort comes out on July 26th (I’ll be sure to review it) but if you’re itching for a preview, one of the selected parks is Six Flags Magic Mountain, here in the LA area.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Review
Obviously Tiger doesn't need to worry about getting in shape.
The most immediately interesting thing about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is the fact that it incorporates the Wii MotionPlus, an add-on to the existing Wiimote that gives more precise haptic feedback. The promise of the Wiimote orginally was that it would let you really “be” the game, and like many nerds I immediately imagined light-saber duels. In practice, the accelerometer in the Wiimote wasn’t quite that sensitive, and so motion control had a bit of a delay. It was fine for “gamey” controls, where learning the right move to make is part of playing the game well – like knowing all of Ryu’s combos on old-school arcade games. But for a game that tried to be realistic, it didn’t work. So the Wii MotionPlus adds a gyroscope into the mix, which not only give more immediate and fine-grained input, but also means the player isn’t as dependent on the bar at the top of the monitor. It’s a little brick at the bottom of the Wiimote, and a plastic sleeve that keeps it all together, picture here:
Wiimote with Wii MotionPlus, and my hairy mitt.
Golf is a natural implementation of this new gadget, and Tiger Woods does it really well. I’m not an expert golfer, but I did go to a summer golf camp one year in high school, and used to play fairly regularly when I was in the Army. In fact, I can say that I’ve been banned-for-life from most of the courses I’ve ever played on, but that was because the Scout Platoon Annual Golf Outing was one of the more severe man-made disasters ever to occur with regularity. I’m nominally a lefty, though I do nearly everything better with my right than I do with my left. I know, that means I’m a righty, right? But in my head, my left feels more dominant, and it’s the hand I write, throw and … yeah, write and throw best with. Otherwise, I’m either completely ambidextrous, or even right-hand dominant. So golf has alway been a bit of a muddle for me. Since I don’t own my own clubs, I always have to rent or borrow, and can almost never get left-handed clubs. As a result I have zero muscle memory of the correct swing. The Wii MotionPlus picks this up with alacrity. In fact, my golf stroke sure looks like I’m swinging a baseball bat.
Tiger Woods is a benevolent golf-god, however, and has built a number of functions into the game that compensate for my lack of actual prowess. There’s the “all-club” mode, which basically selects your club, then lets you pick where you want the ball to land using a big glowing circle. Then all you’ve got to do is give it an even, smooth stroke and Bob’s yer uncle. As it happens, my uncle’s name is Rob, not Bob, so you see, I have a bit of difficulty – demonstrated here in this video:
After a few rounds, though, I’ve gotten the hang of it. Enough to equip my golfer with some pretty swanky duds – check out my kilt and pirate-hat!
Those socks are sexy, no? Ladies, please form an orderly queue to the left.
Using the cheaty mode, I’ve even managed to get a hole-in-one from time to time, which feels way more awesome than it really is. See, the virtual announcers don’t realize there’s a gigantic glowing circle out on the course for me to aim for. This is good, because the virtual announcers may celebrate my accomplishments, but they also scold my failures in that quiet voice that means either golf, or NPR. If they DID know I was cheating, I’m sure there criticism would be even more pointed. “Hmm, that’s a disappointing shot, considering there was a huge glowing target to aim for. He’s picked a fine week to quit sniffing glue!”
Here’s my try at a hole-in-one. I didn’t sink it, but my virtually kilt-clad self (with awesome porno-moustache!) does do a highly amusing sack-dance after putting it nicely on the green.
There’s tons of options – you can quick play a round, manage a career and play at lots of different courses on the PGA tour, buy new clubs, clothes, and other doodads. In fact, apparently golf is a shopper’s delight – the variety of brands, clubs, and clothes is dizzying. But it’s all about getting you onto the course, and schwacking away, and that’s what it does well. Any faults you may have in your real golf game will be replicated virtually. But if you really blast one down the fairway, it sounds like a cannon and goes in all Matrixy bullet-time slow motion, which again, is way more awesome than real life. No sunburn or aching feet, either! On the other hand, no celebratory beers at the… hmm, well, maybe celebratory beers are entirely possible after all.
Does this kilt make my butt look big?
The real question for me is, how good a workout is it? Real golf is a pretty gentle day’s exercise – walking and lugging stuff if you do it the hard way, but more likely you’re on a golf-cart and not carrying your clubs. (Hint: do not try golf-cart jousting, or to get your cart into a hull-down defilade position in a sand trap. This is from personal experience, folks.) Virtual golf is even easier. You’re standing up instead of sitting down, and you really do have to give it a solid swing if you want to put the ball anywhere down the fairway. But there’s no club-weight, and basically you’re just standing there swinging your arms around. So, an hour of Tiger Woods is better than an hour of World of Warcraft (Hey, Proudmoore server, look for Camlost or Tinooviel!) but it’s still not going to make you break a sweat or get your heart pumping. For my purposes – which is to say; actually losing weight and getting back into shape, it’s not really going to cut the mustard. (What the heck does that expression mean, anyway?) Maybe after a more vigorous workout, I can “cool down” with a few holes of golf, but as a form of exercise it really doesn’t suffice.
For fun, I give it a 4 out of 5. For novelty, it scores a full 5 points with the addition of the Wii MotionPlus, but for fitness, a paltry 1 out of 5.
A Daily Routine
Last night after getting home from work, I tried something that I hoped would work as part of a daily routine. Obviously and advantage of the Wii for use as a fitness tool is that it’s fun, and something to look forward to, as opposed to quietly dread. Or maybe loudly dread.
So I warmed up with Wii Fit’s Body Test and about 15 minutes of yoga. (Short story, slight decrease of BMI, Wii Age still 47) Then I played Nintendo Punch Out!!! until I got too frustrated and stopped.
This is not what it looked like:
On the whole I discovered that this will not be sufficient for a daily routine. The exercise that the Wii Fit has is geared more towards stretching and good posture than anything else. And Punch Out!!!’s implementation of the balance board is too flawed for it to really work as exercise. I suppose if I were a more accomplished gamer it would work, but as it is I just can’t get past certain opponents using the balance board, and it’s the ducking and weaving that gets me sweating and huffing, not throwing air punches.
My lesson learned – for now I’ll have to rely on EA Active for a real workout. I can throw in Wii Fit for stretching and getting a sense of my progress. The other sports-themed games are still better than sitting on the couch, but they’re insufficiently intense to be a part of a real workout.
I’m still discovering how this will all work – stumbling through it like a fat kid in a cake factory. Actually I have no idea what that means. Also I doubt there are really “cake factories” – I’m fairly sure that’s just a bakery.
Now I want cake. Thanks, brain. See? This is how it starts.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
Tiger Woods Golf
Unlike the other fitness-related Wii titles that I own, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 uses the WiiMotion Plus. This means that it tracks motion with an accelerometer much more accurately than the regular Wiimote. Practically speaking this means the controller doesn’t just track you schwacking the “ball”, but it also knows how you’ve angled your wrist, whether your swing is smooth or not, and when you last called your mother.
So, in short, if you suck on the links, you’ll suck on the screen. Fortunately Tiger has provided a series of tools to make it easier to make the right shot.
I’ll post a full review later, but for now, here’s a picture my lovely girlfriend took.
Starting From Zero
So, I’m making an assumption, and it’s a hopeful one – that this condition in which I find myself is and will be the worst shape I’ve ever been in. With the obvious exception of say, before I could walk (though I was notoriously badass as a toddler. Just sayin’…) this is a personal low for me. Onwards and upwards!
I’ve got to establish a baseline though, and towards that end I’m thinking about getting a fitness assessment at the 24 Hour Fitness that I, in the sort of desultory nod towards activity that keeps them in business, am still a member of. If ever there was a temple to shallow self-absorption or hopeless self-deception, surely a West Side Los Angeles gym is it. Never the less, I’m sure they’re qualified to tell me just how far out from “fit” I currently am. Then in a month I’ll compare my results after diligent exercise using the wii. Hopefully six pack abs and glory will follow.
I’ve certainly been more fit in the past – in the Army I could do 79 pushups and 86 situps in two minutes, as well as running two miles in about 11:50. Not a super-stud by any stretch, but also a fairly respectable score given then I was always a little older than my peers. (I enlisted at 22, rather than 18.)
I’ll also be posting reviews of the fitness-oriented games I try, as well as generally keep track of fitness-related activities. Hopefully there will be pictures of progress and whatnot, too.
From Faat to Fiit
I’m six feet tall, utterly out of shape, and obese. This is a fairly recent development.
Most of my life I’ve been fairly well fit. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a nerd, and more likely to read a book about exercise than actually do it; but I had physical hobbies that kept me active enough. That, and six years of military service in my twenties meant I had a long-established habit of fitness. When I moved to California four years ago, I was exactly 200 lbs (90.7 kg) which is a little overweight. But I was regularly running, doing Aikido, riding my bike, and basically fit. I could run five miles without a hitch, wasn’t especially tired, and all my clothes fit.
Flash forward to now. I”m 246 lbs (111.8kg) almost all of which I’ve gained over the past year. About two years ago I got plantar fasciitis, a painful condition in my feet. It started while I was in a play doing a bunch of dance numbers in what are basically slippers. Over the next year it got worse until finally around Nov. of 2007, while square-dancing no less, I managed to simultaneously rupture both my fasciia ligaments. I’ve spent the time since going through physical therapy and eventually a surgical procedure. In the mean time, my physical activity was severely curtailed, and I put on a lot of weight.
I’m still in the process of post-procedure recovery, so I’m not 100% clear to get out there and run, surf, Aikido, yoga, bike – and do all the stuff I used to do. But I can ease my way back in. In the mean time, I’ve become very self-conscious about my weight and lack of fitness, and have spent a lot of time playing video games. That’s what nerds do when they’re feeling insecure – play video games and eat cookies. Or ice cream. Man, I have some words for Ben and/or Jerry – as well as Mr. Stephen Colbert, if he is in fact responsible for the eponymous “Ameri-cone Dream” flavor. That alone probably accounts for five pounds.
To make a long story short – nerd eats too much and doesn’t exercise enough. Sure there’s swimming, but … that involves being mostly naked in front of strangers! Plus I get that horrible feeling at the gym of people staring at me, wondering what the fat dude is doing in their temple to fatlessness. This is LA, after all – everyone is beautiful but me.
Along comes Nintendo, and their Wii, and its attempt to get people to play games – but out of the comfort of their couch. Heresy! But maybe a brilliant sort of heresy that I can turn to my advantage. So that’s what this is – this is me, reversing a disastrous couple of years of poor physical fitness with a simple plan that involves lots of active games, better eating habits, and a slowly increasing course of exercise outside the house. My goal, when I’m being pie-in-the-sky optimistic (Why yes, President Obama, the war is over, Guantanamo is closed, and we all have health care!) is 185lbs. (84kg) A more realistic goal (Ok, President Obama, the war grinds on, healthcare is a dream, and Guantanamo is still open for business, but we’re TALKING about changing all that!) is to be back to moving-to-California weight, 200 lbs.
Or, to make a longer story short – more exercise (through video games!) less eating.
