From the first time I glanced at Nintendo’s Wii system — with its games that involve swinging a wand to play virtual tennis, holding the wand and jogging in place for a virtual foot race, and grabbing the wand with two hands and swinging for baseball — I’ve thought of it as the perfect exercise system for both adults and kids. I’ve wanted one, and I’ve needled my husband with promises that I’d play the Wii daily for exercise if he’d just cave in and approve the $300+ expenditure. Thus far, unfortunately, I’ve had no success.
My case may just have grown stronger now that Nintendo is planning to release “Wii Fit”, a game that uses a balance board (included in the game package) to combine aerobics, yoga and a core workout while gamers simulate ski-jumping and playing soccer.
Sure, I’ve got a Dance, Dance Revolution game and dance pad that encourage just as much physical activity, at least in theory. But as any Chubby Mommy knows, fat girls can’t move their feet all that fast. Try as I might, I can’t get my left and right feet on the correct spots and more often than not wind up in a tangled, sweaty heap on the floor swearing that I’ll never — ever — play that dang game again. (My 7 year old son, meanwhile, gleefully boasts that he’s once again beat me. It’s demoralizing!)
Exercise fanatics claim that the best way to stay fit is to find a physical activity you love doing. Apparently aerobic eating does not count, nor do the footsteps between fridge and desk really do much to whittle the waistline. But virtual bowling — where I don’t have to worry about my pants splitting in public and my scores aren’t posted for a room full of strangers to laugh at? I can do that. Tennis in my family room where the A/C is set to a pleasant 72 degrees and I can play in my favorite ratty tank top and shorts? I can do that, too.
We want a Wii! We do, we do. And by “we” I mean me and my thighs. I figure with each of them as big around as a small toddler, they ought to each have a vote, right? So let’s see, that’s my son, myself, my left thigh and my right: four votes in favor of getting a Wii.
Why, I do believe my husband’s outnumbered!
