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Wii Fit
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I've decided to write this review on the Wii Fit as I believe it to be one of the best forms of exercise you can do without leaving the house, how many times do you go to work and say to your colleagues I've been for a jog around the island this morning! As usual they look at you daft and think you've been drinking too many sherbets - Problem is I now have my friends wanting to come around and join me because until they get their own Wii Fit (so many retailers are out of stock) they come to my house and exercise in comfort without paying gym fees.

I'm not a big lady, to be honest I'm what you call "out of proportion petite" for all you men reading this review it means I'm tiny in height - a mere 5 foot tall, weight approximately 8½ stone but most of that is around my bum! So guess what skinny top large bottom, large thighs and slim waist and skinny legs. It's what we women call pear shaped which I hate.

I don't eat junk food but I don't always have 5 fruit and vegetables a day so if I were to eat like a rabbit my figure still would not change but I have genuinely toned up and feel loads better and less tired everyday.

I work shifts so I'm unable to do the Wii fit exercises everyday (unless I do them at 1 o clock in the morning) but I do attempt to carry out the body test daily - this takes between 2 and 10 minutes depending on whether I carry out the balance tests or not. My average Wii Fit Age is 24 (I'm 32) so I am quite impressed.

Using the Wii fit in the comfort of your own home you can decide what time to do work it. If you have more then one television in your house you can decide where to exercise. You are not restricted to any membership gym fees, opening or closing times and does it matter if you make a complete twit of yourself - who's going to see you in your home?

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What is the Wii Fit and How to Use It!
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The Wii fit comes in a neatly packaged box complete with the Wii fit work out disc game, 4 batteries for the balance board, an operations manual for the board and a Wii Fit instruction booklet. When you see the size of the manual's you think oh no, but the book has 11 different languages in so you only need to read about 12 pages at the most.

The Wii fit is a balance board designed by Nintendo you will require a Nintendo Wii console (around £180.00) to make the Wii fit balance board work, without the console the board is useless as it will not work with any other games console.

You will need to synchronise the board to the Wii console to make it function correctly - instructions on how to do this come with the board but it is very easy to do.

Make sure you place the board on a flat service as this can give you an incorrect balance measurement.

Once you are up and running you go to the Wii Plaza (where you already have your Wii Mii set up from playing all your previous games before the Wii fit came out).

Once you have selected your Wii Mii, you will then go to main menu screen; here you will see a calendar and options to use the body test or the training. On this screen you can also change your user settings - see below, visit the Wii Fit Plaza, see your BMI (body mass index) graph and change the month so you can view your previous results.

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User Settings
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Here you can change your profile details, your height, date of birth and put a password on so it stops other prying eyes knowing about your activity etc. We can also change the colour of the calendar with a choice of 8 colours to choose from and we get 8 stamps to stamp our calendar each day - you have one stamp to start with but as you progress you get to unlock more stamps up to the total of 8 (I've unlocked 5 so far).

We can change our trainer too to either the male trainer or the female trainer (mine's the male).

And if we get really fed up we can delete the data!

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Fit Cash
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Throughout the game you see a fit piggy which brings a smile to my face as it acts like a piggy bank. Each exercise or Yoga Pose etc you complete you get the accumulated time posted into your piggy bank like cash. On the fit cash section you get to add extra time you have done through some other form of exercise, examples are light, normal and hard exercise. Examples are anything from gardening, swimming, bowling, walking and housework. You get between 0.5 minutes and 2 minutes added to your piggy bank depending on the additional exercise you have done.

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Body Test
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The body test is the one you are advised to carry out daily, on here you have the option to receive today's top fitness tip, you will then be asked to step on the balance board where you will be weighed and your BMI (body mass index) given. So do you weigh more then yesterday or not?

If you can you are advised to weigh yourself the same time everyday because apparently throughout the day our body gain/loses around 2.2 lb so if you happen to weigh yourself when your body is on the gain size you will feel disappointed thinking you've gained weight instead off losing a little.

If you decide to continue with the body balance you will be asked to do two balance exercises this can be anything from walking 20 steps on the spot to balancing on 1 leg - the exercises vary each day.

You will be then presented with your Wii Fit Age - mine goes up and down between 24 and 43 - that's on a bad day when my balancing is not too good.

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Training
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Now for the training exercises - there are four training categories which consist of Yoga, Balance Games, Muscle Workouts and Aerobic Exercises. To start with most of the games, Yoga poses, Muscle workouts are locked so the more you exercise or advance a level the more the games become unlocked. I've yet to unlock some but here is what I have done or completed so far.

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Yoga
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Deep Breathing
Half Moon
Warrior
Tree
Sun Salutation
Standing Knee
Palm Tree
Chair
Triangle
Downward Facing Dog
King of Dance
Cobra
Bridge
Crocodile Twists
Shoulder Stand

A lot of the Yoga poses are simple to do, you can watch the your trainer through the mirror and view him or her as a front pose or a back pose, you get to practice first before trying it out for real.

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Balance Games
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Tight Rope Tension
Ski Jump
Ski Slalom
Heading
Table Tilt
Balance Bubble
Zazen
Snowboard Slalom
Penguin Slide

The balance games are designed to be as little inactive as active, The Table tilt (my favourite) you hardly move but the ski slalom you find your arms and legs going everywhere (well mine do).

Until you get use to the Heading you can do nothing but laugh and you cannot take it serious - the reason being, you are meant to hit the footballs and avoid the trainers and the panda heads hitting you but once you get smacked by one of these you are laughing that much it's impossible to concentrate.

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Muscle Workouts
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Single Leg Extension
Press up and Side Stand
Torso and Waist Twists
Jack-knife
Lunges
Rowing Squat
Single Leg Twists
Parallel Stretch
Tricep Extension
Arm and Leg Lift
Single Arm Stand
3 Challenges - I've yet to unlock

Again you practice and view your trainer from either the front or back angle before trying out for real.

This is where you use muscles you never even knew you had.

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Aerobic Exercise
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Hula Hoop
Super Hula Hoop
Step Basic
Step Plus
Free Step
Rhythm Boxing
Jogging
Jogging 2 players
Jogging (Game Still locked so not sure)

These are for the more challenging among us, the hulu hoops are great but what I find even funnier is the Wii Mii's hulu hooping in the back ground.

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Favourites
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On the Favourite screen are stored the 10 most games/exercises you have played the most often so when you decide to go on the training mode rather then click through each section you can just click on your favourites and take your training from there.

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My Favourites
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Most of the aerobic exercises are very challenging but some are very easy, I love the table tilt and the step plus however if I complete the free step each day which is stepping on and off the Wii board for 10 minutes you average around a 1000 steps which is quite a lot and you do feel your legs aching the next day, I'm trying to get to 20 minutes which is around 1600 to 2000 steps but I will be honest I can't quite do it yet.

My other favourite is jogging around the living room swinging my arms in large circular motions - this is the only time anyone walking by my living room window realises I'm at it again.

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Health
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The Wii Fit is suitable for most ages but as with young children it is advisable to supervise them to ensure they do not fall off the board. Again with older people they must be careful not to fall off the board as they may risk breaking a bone if they were to slip awkard.

As with most products used today the balance board comes with several health warnings. The usual are slip/trips and repetitive wrist strain injuries. However Doctors and Hospitals are seeing a large increase in accidents caused by the Wii Fit so please take care when using this.

If you are pregnant or have any medical conditions you are advised to consult a doctor first.

Maximum Weight limit to use on the balance board is 150kg or 23 stone 8lb.

You can do as little or as much exercise as you like, I'm averaging between 10 and 20 minutes per day depending on my routine. My silly friend however is doing a back breaking 2 hours per day and is now complaining about her back and legs.

You are advised to take a 15 minute break every hour and drink plenty of water in between.

Remember it's your health and your decision so if you only want to do a few minutes then go for it.

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Overall Conclusions
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Will the Wii Fit work for you? Yes it will I started at 8½ stone and I now weigh a little over 8 stone. My goal is to tone up and feel more refreshed and not to lose weight. My bum is starting to look more toned and so are my thighs and I know this because I can now pull my jeans over my wide angled hips without using a shoehorn.

I do not feel as tired as I use to and I wake up most days feeling refreshed, my skin is having more of a glow about it and I've been spot free since I got this at Christmas - is it a coincidence? I don't know.

I do not do the training everyday as I don't always have the time but I do make the effort to do the body test, some days I have thought I will do the body test and not the training and when push comes to shove I find myself doing the free step and wow and behold ten minutes later I've done 964 steps - that's without leaving the house!

The Wii Fit is expensive to start with but when you consider gym membership fees and the monthly direct debit - around £30.00 depending on the gym the Wii Fit turns out over a period of time to be inexpensive. The downside it goes behind the settee after using it a few times so you have to look at the pros and cons before purchasing one.

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Where to Purchase & Price
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Because the Wii Fit is so popular the manufacture's can't make them fast enough so even though the Recommended Retail Price is around £69.99 some Cowboys are taking advantage of overcharging for the Wii Fit by charging about £150.00. My friend was so desperate for one she landed up paying £90.00 for a second hand one from Ebay and that was 2 weeks ago - however she has been training hard and overdoing and now complaining her legs ache.

Viking Direct £99.99 (but are now priced at £97.87)
Game (in store) £99.99
Amazon £98.99 to £134.99
Argos £69.99
Play.com £97.99

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Additional Extra's
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If you want to be different you can purchase additional equipment for the Wii - here are some examples

Wii Fit Work out kit - Price around £39.99
Rechargeable batteries and USB kit Price around £6.99
Wii Yoga Mat Price around £12.99
Cushion Mat (slips on your board to help keep it clean) Price around £9.99
Storage bag for your balance board and 2 games - Price around £9.99
Wii Fit Skin's price around £9.99

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Finally
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The photographs I have attempted to take are too poor to use on Ciao so I have used the ones shown on Amazon. However I will post some as soon as I get my camera sorted out.

Thank you for reading my review.

I'm now off to go for a jog around the island. ;-)