| loadedstatement said: Is it good for weight gain? Im currently 6'0" and 126 lbs. I just started going to the gym but im wondering if WiiFit would help even more. What do you guys think? |
The strength training exercises on Wii Fit are not the fastest or most efficient way to build mass for someone like yourself who is extremely thin for your height. You're technically borderline "malnourished" with a BMI of 17.1
The best thing you could do is simply eat better. Quality proteins, whole grain carbs and unsaturated fats. Really, when you're that thin, virtually anything you eat will do so long as you eat enough consistently.
If you're trying to put on muscle fast, and are doing the appropriate amount of muscular strength exercises to build up, I'd recommend eating at least 1g of protein per lb of body weight every day. If you can't get that much through regular food (beef, fish, poultry, soy, dairy, etc.) you can always resort to supplementing with whey protein used by most bodybuilders.
As for what is the appropriate amount of MS exercise, for someone who is not actively doing strength exercises and hasn't been for an extended period of time (or has never done a dedicated strength training program), Wii Fit is actually not a bad program to start with since it eases you in very slowly. There is almost zero chance of injuring yourself doing these exercises unless you are completely uncoordinated or accident prone (accidental wii remote Chuckers qualify).
I did about an hour and a half of exercises on it (every exercise/activity available at least twice) during my initial trial and if you are already in reasonable shape, it just doesn't cut it for an intense workout that could be packed into a much shorter period of time. It's play, but it's active play.
The duration you are doing each of the typical exercises is simply too short initially. Additional reps open up the more you do the exercises, but there is no option to do multiple sets beyond re-doing the activity muliple times. I'm sure the idea is to allow for maximum variety, but anyone who has ever done serious MS training has never used a program that only required one set per exercise. Not if they expected solid results.
The Yoga exercises are too brief as well, much like the strength training exercises. Once is not enough for any of them, but it is still a good start.
You could do a more efficient, more intense MS workout just with basic crunches, dips, pull ups and various types of push ups (all body weight exercises) than could be done through Wii Fit. Without waiting for evaluations and the menus, you'd be done in much less time.
And time is a big factor with Wii Fit because I can't see most people using it for an hour a day, every day, which is almost how long it takes to do the recommended "30 tokens" a day for significant exercise. Of course anything is still better than nothing, and if Wii Fit makes activity entertaining enough that you'll stay with it, it will produce better results over time than an intense program that can result in injuries, or the simple lack of desire to stick with it.
Some of the aerobic exercises are pretty decent though. If you did the running in place (a poor man's tread mill, but more entertaining because of the reactive visuals) multiple sessions in a row on the long run option and the 6 minute sparring exercises multiple times in a row throwing real punches (as you would with a heavy bag not "Tae Bo punches") on a daily basis, you'd raise your metabolism considerably over time and lose weight.
