June 24, 2009

We all need to exercise, and now you can find technology-related items that can help monitor your fitness and even make exercising fun.

Nintendo Wii Fit (www.nintendo.com/wiifit, $90) is a fun fitness video game for the Nintendo Wii video game system. Wii Fit is extraordinarily popular and has sold more than 18 Million units since its introduction in the United States barely one year ago. The heart of the game is the Balance Board, which contains multiple sensors that are very sensitive to any shift in weight, side to side and front to back. When you stand on the Board your center of balance and motion are tracked and used by the more than 40 different included activities encompassing elements of strength training, aerobics, Yoga, and balance.

You can approach using the program in two ways: structured, which requires discipline on your part, or random, which allows you to pick and choose the elements you think would be best for you or even the most fun. One way or another, the system can help make a difference in your overall health and fitness if used regularly.

First you need to choose or create a Mii, which is an on-screen cartoon-like character to represent you in your activities. Then the program asks you to input your age and height and stand on the Balance Board for a weigh-in. From this data, a BMI (body mass index) score is calculated, and you are tagged as being underweight, normal or overweight. Since the Wii makes no compensation for general body type, this should only be considered a reference for future measurements. Next comes a series of simple balance tests requiring you to first stand still on the board and then shift your balance to match an on-screen marker. From all this data, the program assigns you a "Wii Fit Age." This age serves as a marker to track your progress as you use the program, and your "Wii Fit Age" can be retested at any time.

Now it’s time to get moving. We had a tendency to gravitate to the balance games, since they’re fun. The first one we used was the Tilt Table, which requires you to tilt an on-screen table by shifting your weight on the Balance Board. If you tilt the table correctly, you can get a ball to roll to and fall in a hole. As activity progresses, you get to roll several balls on various shaped tables, requiring careful balance to keep the balls from falling off the edge. This activity is timed, and the number of balls you get in the hole is tracked as part of your overall progress. Another of the many fun balance games is the Ski Jump, which requires you to carefully hold your balance (an on-screen gauge helps) as your Mii whizzes down the jump (the slightest miscalculation sends you head over skis) and your jump length is scored. Other balance games include Soccer Headers, Ski Slalom, Balance Bubble, Penguin Slide and Snowboard.

Also included are games that stress aerobics, such as Hula Hoop, where you spin a virtual hula hoop by rotating your hips. Your on-screen character matches your rotations while you catch and spin additional hoops. The activity is timed, and rotations and number of hoops spinning are scored. Other aerobic games include Dance Step, Rhythm Boxing, Free Run and more.

More serious, studied (read less fun) categories of exercises use standard yoga poses to work on balance and flexibility. There’s also strength training using standard lifts, push ups and such for improving muscle tone. These two categories are guided by an on-screen instructor (male or female--you choose) whose moves you match.

Total time spent doing any of the games or exercises is tracked, and you’re awarded Fit Points that you can use to unlock new activities or levels of difficulty in current activities. Various graphs chart your progress.

Although Wii Fit may not be a complete fitness and exercise package, it’s an easy, gentle and fun way to help improve your health by getting you moving. We love it.

Heart Rate Monitors are another health-related technology item. These monitors provide a readout of your heart rate so that you can tell whether you are in the recommended heart rate range, or "zone." Sports medicine physicians, sports trainers and physiotherapists mostly agree that the best "cardio" exercise for the average person occurs when you can keep your heart rate during exercise within your ideal range or "zone."

Popular heart rate monitors are worn on the wrist and even double as a wrist watch. One type provides a continuous readout of your rate, although this type requires wearing a chest strap to pick up the heart rate and wirelessly transmit it to the wrist monitor (some models use a wired connection). Depending on the feature set, your monitor tracks your rate over time and will calculate how much time was spent in your zone. Alarms can be set for rates outside your range. Polar F6 (www.polarusa, $90+) is an example of this type of heart rate monitor. There are also strapless wrist heart rate monitors. These do not record continuous rates but show only an instantaneous rate when you touch a tiny surface electrode on the watch.

So, get in shape and let technology help.