Wii not the way to lose weight

If you’re serious about getting fit then the Wii’s sports games will get you partly there, but they’re no substitute for traditional exercise, according to a group of Canadian students. Duh. The 28-strong band of testers from Dalhousie University in the East Coast city of Halifax, Nova Scotia each played the console’s Wii …

[Paul Talbot]

Again?

I wish these kinds of surveys would stop now. Nobody's ever said that the Wii was a good substitute for proper exercise. All that's been said is that's it's much better than the traditional sitting-in-one-place-on-the-sofa style of gaming.

That's it. Anyone who thinks differently is pretty dumb and we don't need regular studies and surveys to prove the point. Want to lose weight or keep fit? Try real sports or the gym. Want a fun game that's better for you than sitting around watching TV? That's where the Wii comes in.

[GettinSadda]

You're missing the point...

The issue here is not which form exercise is the best per session, but which is likely to succeed.

Sure, a few people may happily "work out to a boxing video for 30 minutes" for a couple of days, but unless you are the sort of person that naturally finds exercise fun (so you probably don't need to lose weight) that's about as far as you could be bothered to go.

If the alternative is an addictive game that only gives, say 75% of the exercise, but keeps you doing it week after week, which is better?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lose Pounds instantly with Wii!!!!

Simply buy one right now.... advertised at £400 with 3 games on one website....... *gulp*

[Daren Cutland]

boxercise

Anybody know what the boxing exercise video was?

[Matt]

Stop it!

Get a dog, walk it and buy whichever console you like!

[Anonymous Coward]

Calm down, calm down

It's not like this was a sponsored study or anything. I could probably put money on the fact that, since it came out of a university, it was a student's project or group project with a report at the end. One of my projects was about how to design a robot that could explore Mars - made out of Lego. It didn't change the world but was aimed at developing the students ability to a) work as a team, b) learn generic skills at how to run a study.

Besides - a study like this allows us to use it in arguments with people who think the opposite as it's now been scientifically proven! And Paul, you do need studies to prove "the point" or any established fact. It's how we *know* that it's fact.

[Graham Jordan]

Am I missing something?

"Nova Scotia each played the console’s Wii Sports boxing game for 30 minutes. They also walked around a park AND worked out to a boxing video for 30 minutes each, as a comparison exercise"

And being the operative word there. No shit sherlock, if you're going to walk on top of a like minded exercise your bound to loose more weight?!

Who pays these people?! This isn't even GCSE material...

[Doug]

boxercise

Boxing is apparently in Wii Sports - which comes with the Wii as well as one controller for 249euro in Holland / off to Dixons after work.

[Tim Fischer]

Yes!

You are missing something...

[Keith Williams]

@Am I missing something?

Yes, you are missing the point that the 3 exercises, Wii boxing, VS. Walking in the Park VS Boxing Video, were compared, not Wii boxing vs Walking in the park and the boxing video.

[Bunglebear]

Personal research

All I can say is after 30 mins of Wii boxing I was bloody knackered.

[Anonymous Coward]

Do people read the article before commenting?

@ GettinSadda

75%??? I think you're deluding yourself. Playing Wii sports will never get you fit no matter how long you play it.

@ Graham Jordan

As Keith has pointed out, "and" is not the operative word. And nobody pays them, they're students.

[J]

Er...

The article text is never to be taken as a trustworthy indication of whatever was done in any study, or even "study", so I guess applying truth table thinking to this is not of much value...

"your bound to loose more weight?!

Who pays these people?!"

I'd suspect nobody does -- students they were. But I'd be totally for not paying anybody who writes "loose" when they mean "lose" or, even worse, "your" instead of "you're".

Are you at least a legal alien, like me?

[Ed]

What the hell?

Wii not the way to lose weight. No kidding. And masturbating five times a day won't cure cancer.

Maybe I'm just having a bad day but I read part of that article as "The 28 Strongbad testers from Dollhouse University..."

[Scott]

No, you're missing the point...

As a student project this comes under education expenses which means all the students in this study just got themselves a tax deductible Wii

[Andy Worth]

Re:What the hell?

"Wii not the way to lose weight. No kidding. And masturbating five times a day won't cure cancer."

But it WILL give you hairy palms?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wii sports

The boxing title certainly *can* get your heart rate up into decent CV rates. Like any form of exercise, it's about the effort you put into it. You can use an ergometer for half an hour and not break a sweat, or you can push it and get some benefit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Further Research Required

"And masturbating five times a day won't cure cancer."

I think the results are inconclusive, and with the aid of a Government research grant I intend to prove you wrong.

[Rob Gemmell]

Re:Andy

It doesn't give you hairy palms; I've done the study. And it was official because I had my lab coat on at the time.

With losing weight in general, it comes to your intensity while doing the activity. If you're playing the Wii and moving around and using your entire body, its more likely that you are getting slightly fit then someone who sits on the couch waving their arm around.

Note: I accept the captain obvious nominee in advance.