Corey Pierce

I may be wildly out of shape now, but ‘twasn’t always thus. In a previous life — 20 years was a long time ago — I was quite the athlete. I played soccer and football and was playing hockey at a competitive level right up to university.

It was only a grudging admission that I probably wasn’t going to play in the NHL — but maybe I could end up there another way — that led me to Arizona State in pursuit of a degree in sports psychology. I played for the ASU Ice Devils, too. (Don’t laugh — the hockey was pretty good because there were so many guys from Wisconsin, Minnesota and New England at the school, looking to escape winter. Playing hockey in the desert is an interesting experience.)

In pursuit of my degree I ended up taking courses in subjects such as exercise physiology in addition to my core classes. One of the things I learned is that it is fitness, not weight, that is the important measure of a person’s health. Athletes, for example, tend to be heavier because muscle mass is more dense – and therefore heavier — than fatty tissue. The best way to measure a person’s fitness — or lack thereof — is to have them take a VO2 Max test. This gauntlet involves a subject having their oxygen intake and output measured while running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike. It establishes how efficiently a person’s body can send oxygen to the muscles.

Now, it’s not reasonable for Nintendo to build a VO2 Max test into their new Wii Fit video game platform. Instead, Nintendo designers decided to use the BMI index to measure the progression of users. It’s a game, after all, and games — at their core — are about achieving goals. The problem with the decision made by the developers is that BMI doesn’t measure fitness, but the ratio of a person’s weight to height. BMI is a reasonably effective tool to note obesity problems in groups of people, but as a measure of an individual it is too blunt an instrument.

Which is why the Wii Fit is labelling scores of average, athletic people as “fat.” People with more muscle or a greater bone density are not necessarily fat, even though they weigh more. Most adults are able to critically assess the accuracy of the game’s claim. It’s the kids I’m worried about. There are enough problems with body image and social stigma for kids to confront without having to worry about a video game calling them fat. Instead, players should ignore the benchmarking aspect of Wii Fit and instead just enjoy the games for what they are.

Nathan Mellalieu, president of Studeo 55 in downtown Vancouver and its head trainer, installed a Wii in his club 18 months ago and started using Wii Fit when it was released at the end of May. His trainers don’t even use the diagnostic tool that is built-in to the Fit. Neither is the Fit the core component to a client’s program. Instead, it is used for things like active rest, a way to keep the body moving — and the blood flowing — even when catching one’s breath after a grueling exercise. It may seem counterintuitive to be moving while trying to rest, but blood flow to muscles helps the body recover from exertion.

What is a video game doing in a sports club? “It fits,” puns Mellalieu when I meet him at Studeo 55. Having watched his nieces and nephews get out of breath while playing with the Wii, he considered bringing the console into the facility. But all equipment, he explains, has to meet three criteria. “Is there a risk to clients? No. Is there a health benefit? Yes. Is it fun? Yes,” he says.

Mellalieu says he operates his health studio differently than others. “Our recipe is based on the experience, not the ability to move members through.... None of our clients want to be treadmill champion or bench press champion. Our clients are training for a healthy lifestyle.”

I was invited to Studeo 55 in order to test out the Wii Fit. The $100 game — it ships with a balance board, a small step that can measure pressure — is in short supply, and I never did receive a copy for review purposes. But before getting to the game play, Mellalieu starts me with a proper warm-up that includes treadmill activity, dynamic stretching, and medicine ball exercises to get the blood flowing. It takes 25 minutes before I even see the Wii Fit.

Studeo 55 has installed the game system in a virtual room with an eight-foot screen, a projector and surround sound. Mellalieu calls it a “healthy, active distraction” that his trainers use with clients as a small part of an overall exercise circuit.

When I finally get to step on the Fit balance board, I’m warm, limber and ready for some gaming. I start with a recreational jog that has me running in place in reality while the virtual Mii jogs through a park. The Wii Remote, in my pocket, measures my pace and the amplitude of my stride, and translates it into my Mii’s speed on the screen. The jog feature can’t set intervals, or provide pacing assistance — something I really need when jogging — but I expect those features to be future enhancements.

I’m surprised by how difficult some of the tasks are. I’m able to eke out an average performance while doing a push-up/side-plank exercise — I hope my yoga instructor takes note — but the only reason I reach the end goal is because I’ve done the movement before, while being guided by a professional. I can’t imagine someone in their living room, especially a novice, being able to figure out how to move from push-up to side plank and back again, let alone become proficient at the skill.

Mellalieu says he’s glad Nintendo developers included an aerobics component to the Fit, and didn’t rely solely on balance and strength games. The major drawback, he says, is that while the Wii and its balance board is able to measure a push — using the pressure sensors on the board — it cannot measure a pull, which is half of any movement.

What it is very good at, though, is providing accurate feedback about balance. While doing a series of rowing squats, the Fit is able to get me to adjust my weight onto my heels simply by providing a graphical display of a point of light, and telling me to keep it in a particular region of the screen. The biofeedback is able to refine my movement and body position faster than an instructor or coach could have.

My workout session ends with a series of light weights, some final aerobic exercises, and stretching. I leave the one-hour workout feeling the endorphin high I’ve missed so much.

One of the other lessons I learn at ASU is that a person’s efficacy — the measure of how skilled they believed themselves to be in accomplishing a task — is an important indicator of how likely they are to continue attempting that task. The Wii Fit is an important addition, not just to the oeuvre of gaming but to our constantly transitioning society, because it will increase a person’s self-efficacy for jogging, or doing push-ups, or learning proper posture. And that might get more people doing those activities away from their television.

The Fit is a fun, engaging way to get some activity. It will not turn anyone into an athlete, but it is a — pun intended — step in the right direction.