Health Care 4 Me » fitness

Wii Fit – Nintendo Health Entertainment

admin — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:42:48 +0000

Wii Fit takes the whole concept of games as exercise to a new level with the inclusion of a balance board peripheral that can tell you on the fly exactly how well–or how poorly–you’re doing with its various activities. As such, Nintendo is heavily marketing this innovative title as a mixture of fitness and fun, and for the most part it works. It’s a decent alternative for those bored with the repetitiveness of going to a gym or too self-conscious to join a yoga or aerobics class. Unfortunately, Wii Fit is hamstrung by some odd omissions (such as not being able to create your own program from the available exercises) and questionable health advice, limiting its effectiveness both as a fitness tool and as a game.

At the core of the Wii Fit experience is the new balance board, an elegant-looking yet surprisingly sturdy peripheral which features several internal scales that can detect changes in weight and pressure as you’re standing on it. The board–which is also quite hefty at roughly 8.8 lbs (4kgs)–interacts wirelessly with the Wii, and takes four AA batteries (which are included). The board has four rubber feet to help prevent it from slipping on smooth surfaces (and even comes with four extra feet that can be used to raise your balance board higher should you have thick carpet on your floors). Like the Wii Remote before it, the balance board is intuitive to use once you get into an exercise or game in Wii Fit, with its extreme sensitivity allowing it to pick up even the most minute shifts in weight. Its sensitivity only goes so far, however, with the board able to take only 330lbs (150kg) maximum weight, locking out the particularly robust from joining in on the Wii Fit fad.

Not that plus sizes need worry that they’re missing out on a prime weight-loss opportunity. Despite its moniker, Wii Fit isn’t a total fitness solution, with its included exercises focusing more on improving muscle tone and balance than on cardio and weight loss. What it does offer is a better way to track your weight, body mass index (BMI), and time spent exercising both within the game itself and from any other external activities, giving users a clearer picture of how their health is progressing over time. It’s no more going to make you super-fit than Wii Sports is going to make you a tennis pro, but it can provide a strong anchor for a more expansive fitness regime should you have the motivation.

As a title focused on health, Wii Fit makes some fairly significant judgments about its users’ fitness. This happens right from when your Mii is first registered with the game; after inputting a date of birth and height, you’re asked to step on the balance board for a weigh-in (all guided onscreen by a cartoon version of the board). From the height and weight data, a user’s BMI is calculated, with the user tagged as underweight, ideal, or overweight depending on the BMI score. A simple balance test then occurs (usually involving having to shift your balance to certain areas within a time limit) before your Wii Fit Age is displayed in large numbers on the screen. Only one Wii Fit Age result can be recorded daily, although you can practice the variety of balance tests as many times as you want.

It’s here where Wii Fit could possibly become problematic for some. Judgments such as BMI and fitness levels usually come from doctors and health care professionals, not cartoon versions of a computer game peripheral–and Wii Fit frankly doesn’t do a good enough job of explaining the science behind its measurements. While BMI, for example, is a well-established tool for measuring a person’s ideal weight, Wii Fit fails to make players aware that variables such as muscle mass and age can significantly affect a score (giving an otherwise healthy person with more muscle an overweight rating, for example). The title also throws the term “metabolic syndrome” around quite often, stating people with poor balance and low health can suffer from it without ever explaining what it actually is. Although most users of Wii Fit will probably not take the game’s BMI or fitness age calls too seriously, but there’s bound to be some overanxious player who does.

In structure, Wii Fit is most reminiscent of the various Brain Training games on the Nintendo DS, with the title broken down into a series of exercises that players can do regularly to improve their health. These exercises are split into four different categories: yoga, muscle, aerobic, and balance. The yoga and muscle categories feel the most like traditional exercise, with 15 yoga poses and 15 muscle-toning moves to work through. Yoga poses range from the absurdly simple (standing still and breathing–yep, that’s all) to the quite difficult and possibly lawsuit-in-the-making shoulder stand. It’s a similar situation with the muscle-toning section, with basic lunges mixed in with more strenuous activities such as the parallel stretch and push-ups. Virtual trainers (you can choose from either male or female) guide you through the yoga and muscle exercises, offering praise or criticism depending on how well you’re doing.

The aerobic and balance activities represent the fun side of Wii Fit with 18 games to choose from. The aerobic games include hula hoops, Wii Sports-like boxing, step dancing, jogging, and more. The balance activities are what most casual users of Wii Fit will first gravitate to, and include ski jump, ski slalom, snowboarding (where you have to turn the balance board sideways), a table tilt game where you have to use your shifting weight in a Mercury Meltdown-style challenge, and more.

Wii Fit’s included exercises do have the potential to positively impact your health, but thanks to its lack of exercise options, poor support for multiplayer, and shallow health advice, this title isn’t a gaming fitness revolution. What it does do is serve as a great introduction to the very impressive balance board, a peripheral which is already being lined up for use in other games. But for a game that’s being marketed so heavily on fitness and fun, Wii Fit is a little underweight in both.

5 Tips For Taming Your Trouble Spots

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:00:13 +0000

Let’s face it as a woman you always have different areas of your body that you dislike. Even if other people tell you that you shouldn’t worry about it and it’s not a big deal. Well, it’s a big deal to you and that’s all that matters. It’s true that you can’t spot reduce a particular area of your body, but you sure can do a couple things to target those spots that haunt you in your dreams. Here’s How:

Don’t Get Too Focused.
To control a certain area of your body you must not neglect the rest of your body. For example, if you want to have slender arms, don’t just do tricep extensions and forget about doing cardio or working different muscle groups in your upper and lower body. If you focus on your whole body, not only will you see more results with the location that you want, but you’ll also become fitter in the process.

You Have The Power Of Choice.
It’s important to do exercises that you like because that motivates you to actually do them. If there is an exercise that you dis-like, try to modify it or replace it altogether to do one that’s more enjoyable. This is great because after a while you’ll be to mix and match certain exercises to come up with a customizable workout that suits YOUR needs.

Kick It Up A Notch.
When you do start off with an exercise program you can do the exercises without added weight at first. However, as you progress, it’s a good idea to incorporate some added resistance by using dumbbells or cuff weights.By adding this extra weight you’ll increase the intensity of the exercise which will give you better results. Adding more weight is totally up to you as well as your fitness level. You should start off with a weight that you can do 12-15 times comfortably. Once that gets too easy up the weight by 3- 5 pounds on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Dollar Saver!
Look for quality ankle/wrist weights in sporting goods stores. The cuffed ankle weights, with a pouch to insert various weights are much better and gives you better control of how much load you place on your muscles and joints. In terms of saving a few dollars, there also great because if you want to increase the weight, you simply insert more weight into the pouches.

The Importance Of Reps.
When you do your exercises an important question that always come up is “How much reps do I do?”. Here’s the breakdown:

For Muscle Growth: 3-6 reps of a heavy weight

For Strength and Toning 10-12 reps of a moderate weight

For Toning and Defining 12- 15 reps of a light weight (recommended for women who want to get that feminine and lean look)

Remember that these values act as a guideline, sometimes I have my clients do an exercise for 1 minute. So within that minute they end up doing 20+ repetitions of one exercise.

Sleeping Your Way to Weight Loss

admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:07:20 +0000

I was speaking to someone recently who made an interesting observation. She went away for a long weekend having weighed herself before she left. She then weighed herself on her return and found that she had lost a couple of pounds. As usual, she weighed herself a few days later and noticed that the weight had returned. I asked her what had changed over the period and she wasn’t sure. Although she had been in a different environment, she’d followed her regular routine with food and exercise. When she thought about it in more detail, the only thing that was different while she was away was that she slept better. She slept for longer and had a deeper sleep resulting in her feeling more refreshed when she woke up.

Had she slept herself slimmer?
And could the return to a sleep deprived routine account for her weight gain?

The answer is yes, it could. Research has shown that lack of sleep can make you fat. If we consistently fail to get enough sleep, our bodies release less leptin into our system. Leptin is a hormone that signals the state of fat stores. Sleep deprivation also causes our bodies to release more ghrelin, a hormone that signals hunger. The result of these changes in the balance of our system increase the likelihood of overeating which can, in turn, lead to weight gain.

Even if your tiredness doesn’t lead you to overeating and gain weight, not getting enough sleep can cause problems with your weight loss progamme. Feeling tired can be stressful and when we’re stressed we produce more of the stress hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. The presence of these hormones in your system can force your metabolism to slow down and hang on to fat. This can impact on your fitness workout, making it less effective in burning body fat than the same routines performed when you are feeling calm.

Remember this if you ever encounter a period when you’re not getting the results you want from your fitness programme or diet plan. There may be no need to change your exercise or your food routine but instead look at your sleep pattern.

Here are the golden rules of getting enough sleep:

1. Work out how much sleep you need and schedule the ideal hours for getting this sleep

2. Stick to a routine and stick to it. Establish a bed time and a waking time and you’ll sleep well in the hours in-between

3. Clear out your sleeping environment. Bedrooms are for sleeping so get rid of the TV, computer, any exercise equipment and put all clothes away every evening.

Isn’t that refreshing? The key to effectively managing your weight is to sleep! Okay – maybe just in part. There’s no escaping the fact that diet and fitness are the greatest contributor to losing weight but it’s worth bearing in mind next time you let your weight worries stress you out and keep you awake.

6 Ways How to Get the Best Out of Your Workouts at the Gym

admin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 06:56:37 +0000

So, you want to maximize the time you spend in the gym. Here are some ways to make sure you are getting the most out of your workouts.

1. Hydrate – drink plenty of water before, during and after you work out. Being even slightly dehydrated will reduce your strength and endurance, increase muscle soreness, and delay your recovery time.

2. Eat some lean protein within 45 minutes after working out. During the first 45 minutes after working out your body is hungry for protein. Give your body what it needs and you’ll recover faster and develop more lean body tissue.

3. Get enough rest. Contrary to popular belief your body does not get stronger or fitter at the gym. Your workouts only produce a stimulus for your body to change. The positive changes that happen to your body happen afterwards. Get 8 hours of sleep and enough down-time to keep refreshed.

4. Unless you are training for a marathon or other distance event – keep your workouts short. For strength, aerobic, and muscular endurance gains – 45 minutes to an hour is enough of a workout. During that time you can focus on making your workouts intense without overdoing it. You should strive to be “fresh” every workout.

5. Do some kind of progressive resistance exercise. Many people avoid weightlifting and stick to cardiovascular workouts to try to lose fat. Resistance exercise builds lean body mass – which increases your metabolism and helps burn fat. It also keeps your bones, muscles, and joints strong – and can create a more shapely body for men and women.

Worried about looking like a bodybuilder? Unless you spend 6 hours a day in the gym and take $100 a day worth of supplements – this is very unlikely to happen by accident. Bodybuilders tend to be genetically gifted individuals that train very differently than you or I ever would.

6. Keep a positive mental attitude. Setting reasonable goals for yourself will help you stay motivated to keep up your training. Find ways to enjoy working out.

You could go with a friend, listen to music, or take up an activity you enjoy – like kick boxing. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you have to miss a workout – but get back in the game as soon as you can. Stay positive!

I hope that this will help you Come back tomorrow for more healthy tips and tricks!