Research suggests Wii Fit is no flab fighter
Not for adults, at least
Adults should think twice before considering Wii Fit as a way of shifting those post-Christmas pounds, a University of Minnesota study has hinted.
After measuring the impact of in-home Wii Fit use by eight North American families over a six-month period, researchers concluded that the game failed to produce any “significant changes in daily physical activity, muscular fitness, flexibility, balance or body composition” for the families as a whole.
The study, conducted by Scott Owens, an Associate Professor of Health and Exercise Science at the university, also found that the families used the console for significantly shorter periods of time as the study neared its end.
Owens’ study was broken into two three-month sections: one with Wii Fit in the house and one without. The families used Wii Fit for an average of 22 minutes each day during the first six weeks of it entering their homes, but for less than four minutes per day by the end of the three-month period.
Owens concluded that “modest amounts of daily Wii Fit use may have provided insufficient stimulus for fitness changes”.
But the results weren’t all bad for Nintendo’s multi-million unit selling console.
Kids in each of the eight households studied did display significant increases in aerobic fitness after three months with Wii Fit, Owens said. ®
COMMENTS
Wii Fit in barely working up a sweat and not losing weight shocker
"The families used Wii Fit for an average of 22 minutes each day during the first six weeks of it entering their homes, but for less than four minutes per day by the end of the three-month period."
Anyone who has ever done any sort of exercise will tell you 22 minutes of exercise is pretty much a waste of time. 4 minutes? you'd lose more weight sneezing.
Was a useless bit of research "We got together 8 very lazy and fat families and saw what happened when they didn't use a piece of equipment correctly over a period of 6 weeks"
Shock new
Sticking an bike in your garrage and never riding it dosen't make you fit either.
What a crock of Americanised junk.
I do martial arts and use the wii. If you put the time into the work outs I get the same feeling of muscle and aerobic workout despite actually just being a muppet in time with a tune or a silly game. It isn't a replacement for exercise but certainly helps improve it.
Patients at my health clinic are shedding stone with using them. When asking some how they lose weight, the reply "I got this Wii..." Is the usual response. All adults, none of them kids.
It's time taken on it and effort put into it. And any amount of time moving round is better than an amount of time infront of a TV or twiddling your thumbs on an XBOX.
Try the bike ride on advanced, or the rhythm kung fu and then the boxing exercise on advanced for half an hour and tell me you ain't sweating.
From Memory, 4 minutes is EITHER 1 calorie or 4 calories on most of the games. (20 on some) hardly going to equal the VAT of Coke you have after.
as others have said....
hardly a proper test.... 22 minutes a day - seems to be set up to fail. Not exactly a scientific study...
For a more thorough testing; checkout:
http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2008/04/02/the-great-experiment-wii-fit-%E2%80%93-final-report-or-how-i-lost-10-pounds-in-7-weeks-by-playing-video-games/
Shock result
Not using fitness equipment for more than 4 minutes per day doesn't magically make you fit.
Obviously, this is not proof one way or the other, but it does show what we all know - exercise is boring and most people stop doing it after an initial period of enthusiasm.
