Study: Wii Fit is Not Making Your Family More Fit

[LePhuronn]

Funny...I'm 31 and I've lost 3 stone playing Wii fit, and continuing to do so. My posture is better (although apparently it was very good to begin with) and my centre of balance is greatly improved (left foot doesn't ache as much after walking for 30 minutes or more).

Cardio improvements? Of course not because the cardio games don't last long enough and when things start becoming actual work people will switch off. That being said, a lot of my friends (as it the trend it seems) work up more of a sweat playing boxing than Wii Fit.

Wii Fit Plus intrigues me - it's a lot more structured and geared up towards actual exercise than the gimmick "game health" the original was built on.

 

[LePhuronn]

The point being (premature posting) is that everybody is different and the key to exercise ALWAYS is motivation - I was motivated to lose weight, Wii Fit was a good enough idea to get me started (I'm doing more traditional exercise now I've shifted sufficient weight to move properly) and I'm addicted to exposing the timing flaws in the Ski Jumping game.

The study as a whole, as many others have said, is just flawed and doesn't mean shit - my results alone disprove the data collected.

 

[kravmaga]

[citation][nom]dingo27[/nom]8 families is a really small sample size. You need at least 30 to make it statistically valid, plus an equivalent control group.[/citation]

Agreed.
I don't even know why they are even being taken seriously with such poor rigor. It sounds like they were just trying to get attention by pointing fingers to the fad of the month.

Doing the same study with a gym threadmill would probably also show the same lack of interest after the novelty of the new toy fades off of the subjects.

 

[bak0n]

My mother (In her 60's now) dropped 3 sizes by religiously working out on the fit balance board. She didn't loose weight, but she looks a hell of a lot better than she did with much more muscle tone.

Does the fit make a family more fit? It depends on the family.

 

[bak0n]

Tell that to my mother who lost 3 dress sizes doing the fit balance board daily.

 

[Guest]

Well, my girlfriend lost over 4 kilo's over about 2 months time. It's not huge but...
It all depends on what u eat and how serious u take the exercise. My girlfriend trains at least 5 times per week, but mostly 7. Also, every time she does it for at least an hour and mostly 1,5. Other than that, ofcourse if u keep eating fatty foods and stuff, this is not going to help u.

It's not a miracle fat burner, but it stimulates people to exercise longer and more frequently. It works, but it's not a miracle product...

 

[Guest]

Ummmm... Worhtless Study... Of course if you only exercise 4 minutes a day you won't get any more fit... Don't matter if you were doing Wii Fit or running... This study just showed that the Wii Fit might not be interesting to those who want to work out.

 

[mofogo]

So because they got bored its considered not effective at reducing weight? I guess the guy that was running a strict regimen on free weights, treadmill, rowing, and other exercises is doing nothing because he decided he didn't feel like it. No exercise is effective at 4 minutes per day. Useless study.

 

[830hobbes]

Pretty flawed study. There's a big difference between a family that chooses to buy a Wii Fit vs. a study group in which a Wii Fit was "introduced." I'm guessing the family that bought it because they want it uses it more often.

 

[zak_mckraken]

"Hey m'ma, look at me! I can stand on one leg on the Wii thingie while holding a bucket of KFC!"

 

[o0RaidR0o]

[citation][nom]Honis[/nom]Give something to someone that isn't interested in buying it themselves and expect them to be interested in it? I think the basic premise of this study is flawed.Also, this study breaks many of the rules to scientific experiments, like having a control while you test. This study assumed the people kept the same lifestyle before and after the Wii. In an 11 month time span you change your lifestyle drastically just to accommodate weather, let alone holidays based around eating and fasting.To be a true study of the life changes any exercise device can bring to a household, you need to find households that are incredibly similar and introduce the device to a group and leave at least 1 household without the device and under observation. You will actually have comparable results, unlike this study of assumptions.[/citation]
You hit the nail on the head Honis. I'm a physically man, but like most creatures I too slow down during the holidays and gain a few extra pounds, nothing drastic I admit but nevertheless its not my summer body. Like anything else in life if it doesn't become second nature then you will lose interest. Any regular 20 minute hyperactivity is better then nothing as long as you stick with it, and maintain a balanced diet. You don't have to go to extreme measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Its like a boxer in training, through repetition, when a boxer enters the ring he doesn't have to think about his combination's they just flow naturally.

 

[chronosjf]

Your article is titled "Wii Fit is Not Making Your Family More Fit" but your study was not whetther the exercises worked, but that people didn't do them.

What you need to do is a study that has people actually do the exercise regime as it's supposed to be done for three months and then find out if it makes you more "FIT"

Your study didn't prove or disprove whether or not the Wii Fit was an effective exercise tool, it just proved that people don't use it.

 

[lowguppy]

So the shocking news here is that if you don't exercise, your fitness does not improve, and Wii Fit does not magically reshape your body by its mere presence. This study is useless.

 

[TheOnion]

Wii Active is a much better purchase. You will sweat your ass off doing Wii Active work outs.

 

[eyemaster]

Someone that's not fit already without the Wii Fit, is not going to change their habits just because of this thing... The change comes from one's own motivation, otherwise they change is temporary at best.

 

[Yoder54]

A sample size of 8? What does that represent....001% of Wii users? Increase the sample size, compare Wii Fit users who did little or no exercising prior to the Wii purchase, to those who work out in a gym before and after the purchase, to those who don't own a Wii, etc., and then you may have a study worth printing. This is a joke.

 

[bildo123]

It's a stupid gimmick for stupid people. Go outside and jog a mile. Notice I said jog, not run. In that easy mile you probably do the equivalent of 2 hours, if not more on this waste of plastic.

 

[foxyg]

Anyone actually play Wii fit for fun? I played at friend's house, it is not fun, and it can hardly be described as a game any way. Just another gimmick by Nintendo

 

[masterasia]

I got mine last year before the holiday season and I played it twice. Then I got the new Wii Fit Plus game and played it once. So far I've only played it about 3 times. My son just plays the games. My wife doesn't play it all. It is very dusty sitting under my TV. The thing I don't like about is that I hate waiting. When you finish a game, it takes some time to tally up the scores and the time and then it asks you if you want to play again. I want to keep on doing the activities without having to wait every time I finish a 1 or 3 minute game. If I want to ski jump for 10 minutes then I should be able to do so without touching the Wii remote.

 

[socrates047]

did we really need a study to prove this!
still the CEOs of Microsoft and Sony are probably banging their head wondering what they are doing wrong, since Nintendo has been leading console sales for a really long time.lol