As January comes to a close, the stock resolution of working out starts to fizzle. Life takes over and the gym is forgotten. Some students, however, are taking a twist on the standard gym routine, using electronics such as the WiiFit to work out.
Junior Toni Rodano uses her WiiFit to play the popular dance workout Zumba.
“It’s a lot more fun to play Zumba as a game getting points for it than it is to go work out,” Rodano said. “Dancing to music is more fun than going on an elliptical for 30 minutes.”
According to Rodano it was the convenience of owning a WiiFit that kept her going with Zumba.
“I’m in my own home and I don’t have to drive anywhere,” Rodano said. “I can just get off the couch and play Zumba instead of having to drive to the gym and get ready to go there.”
Freshman Emily Bonin said that while she still goes to the gym to work out, she prefers to play the hula-hoop game on the WiiFit.
“I like doing the WiiFit because it’s more fun and I get to see my progress on the screen,” Bonin said. “I don’t think of it as working out, I think of it as having fun.”
According to sports medicine teacher Kristi Odom, using the Wii to work out provides just as good of a workout as going to the gym.
“As long as you’re getting your heart rate up it’s a positive thing,” Odom said. “If you go to the gym and you don’t get your heart rate up, you just walk around and do a little bit of lifting and you’re not working very hard, then it would benefit you to play the WiiFit games where you’re jumping around and getting excited.”
Despite the benefits of using video game technology to work out, Bonin said that during the summer keeping a workout schedule became difficult.
“School kept me on track of working out,” Bonin said. “I had a schedule to work out right after school and then during the summer I didn’t really feel like doing it.”
Rodano on the other hand, said that while she generally stays motivated to work out, her extracurricular activities can get in the way.
“If I’m busy with theatre and stuff I won’t play Zumba because I won’t have time to, but if I have nothing better to do I do it all the time,” Rodano said. “I’m pretty motivated because it’s fun, upbeat and intense.”
For both students, the clearest difference between a gym workout and the WiiFit was in the personal trainers.
“The trainers on the WiiFit help you and give you little hints at how to do better,” Bonin said. “A real trainer at a gym is more in your face. You can just push the Wii trainers aside.”
Despite this, both Rodano and Bonin said that the WiiFit provided a more enjoyable workou’t that brought results.
“After playing Zumba since October, I’ve gotten more flexible,” Rodano said. “I can take the higher intensity workout for a longer time. Instead of doing it for 15 minutes I can do the entire workout for 30 or 45 minutes.”