The Wii exercise program

What's all the hype about the Wii Fit? People have raved about the Wii, about how it gets you off the couch to play all sorts of games, like tennis and bowling. It uses the motion of your body to control your avatar on the screen, meaning to make it move, you've got to move. You've got to get your heart rate up if you want to get your avatar's heart rate up.

From this story in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/fashion/15fitness.html?ex=1211515200&e...

Is this excerpt:

"Wii Fit is not meant to replace a gym. But in a world of $3,000 elliptical machines and $150-an-hour personal trainers, it has at least a chance of becoming a global, affordable, mass-market interactive home-fitness system."

This takes Fonda-esque TV aerobics to a whole new level. You're controlling the avatar. You're responsible for the movements on the TV screen. If you want your avatar to do the workout right, by golly, you've got to do it right first.

There have been downsides to Wii programs. People who do the tennis game, for example, have complained about getting "tennis elbow" from using the hand controller. And these things, while cheaper than buying workout machines or gym memberships, do come with quite a price tag. The Wii costs $90, plus $250 for the basic console.

But look at the upside.

Maybe this will work. Maybe this will motivate people to get off the couch and workout, in the privacy of their own homes, without the stares of the skinny, bronzed people at the gym. Maybe it will give game-crazy kids a healthier alternative to your basic sit-on-my-butt-and-get-fat Nintendo, PlayStation or XBox.

It's worth a shot anyway. And the Wii systems have been out long enough now that you can probably find them on eBay rather than paying full retail at the store.