wii fit

Routines

I discovered this fantastic routine generator (you have to sign up to use it but signing up is free and easy) and it’s really helped me get into doing a variety of the exercises on a regular basis. Before I found the routine generator, I felt a bit lost about what to do.

Sundays and Thursdays I do yoga. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I do weight loss (aerobics). Tuesdays and Saturdays I do strength. For now I’m keeping the routine generator set to easy since I’m still quite weak from the cancer. Some days I can’t do any at all but I try not to skip all of one type of routine in the same week.

Addiction

The latest craze in video game addiction psychology (the side of things where video game makers are actively trying to get you addicted to the game) is achievements. Achievements are awarded for completing a particular task and are typically awarded with special graphics and sound effects that are pleasing to our brain chemistry.

The Wii Fit awards a variety of achievements:

• Earn 30 minutes worth of fit credits each day. Each day that you actively spend at least 30 minutes working on exercises, you get a 30 minute sparkly banner and sound effect. Mentally this is very rewarding and I am now aiming to earn that banner every single day. (I do wish is would award another on at one hour but it doesn’t).

• High scores and personal bests. Complete a particular exercise with better balance, precision, or speed (depending on what that exercise calls for) and get a better score than you did previously or a better score than anyone else who has used your Wii Fit game and you’ll get a different sparkly banner and sound effect. Certainly keeps you aiming to do your best.

• Fit bank trophies. At 10 hours (which I reached just yesterday) your Fit bank (which keeps track of how much time you’ve spent that day, calories burnt that day, and time spent overall) turns bronze. At 20 hours it turns silver and at 40 hours it turns gold.

• Unlock new levels and exercises. You can’t access ever exercise right off the bat. Certain exercises require unlocking. You can unlock them by earning a certain amount of fit credits total or by doing certain exercises a certain number of times. You can also unlock new levels (length of time or numbers of reps) inside exercises by completing them a specified number of times. Again this is rewarded with a special banner and sound effect along with something new to try and a new place to get a high score or personal best.

I think the Wii Fit is more addicting than the average video game because in addition to the way achievements affect our brains, you also add it the standard positive effects on brain chemistry that exercise provides.

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