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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wii Fitness for Dummies not dumb at all!, February 23, 2010
This review is from: Wii Fitness For Dummies (Paperback)
I was not sure what to expect from a book called Wii Fitness for Dummies, but I decided to take a chance on it. I'm glad I did. As the busy mother of teens, I have not played video games in years. A friend of mine told me the Wii had several new exercise games and suggested I give it a try. The problem with the games is that they have so many options and for someone inexperienced, it was frustrating to try to set up your profile with all the information before getting started and to understand what the different measures mean. For example, in the setup, the Wii rates your balance. Why? This book explains that.
It was also helpful to have the detailed verbal descriptions of how to do the exercises. I found it difficult to pick up on some of the exercises watching on screen (like the step routines). The step-by-step (no pun intended) instructions in the book were very helpful for many of the exercises, particularly the ones for Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010, which uses the Wii remote for some of the strength training exercises. The authors are personal trainers, so I felt comfortable following their recommendations on how to do the exercises correctly. The book also includes a lot of photos to show correct positioning.
Before getting the book, I was a little concerned that because they were personal trainers, it would be geared toward people who were already avid exercise enthusiasts or fitness experts, but it really addressed people with varying fitness levels. I do have some health concerns and I also appreciated that the authors took time to note when an exercise might not be appropriate with someone having a particular health problem. This likely spared me a lot of joint injuries!
Another good thing about the book is that you don't have to read it from cover to cover to get started. The chapters are broken down by game and include a "getting started" section for each game, so you can just turn to the game you have and get started. I also liked the bonus chapters at the end, with the list of accessories available for the Wii fit and suggested "free style" type routines. A lot of the accessories would have been hard to find without the book.
It was also well written, which is more than I can say for a lot of Dummies books. (I bought one on Pressure Cooking that was terrible.) I've been trying to convince my mother to get a Wii so she can do some basic exercise in her home that might also be fun for her, and for her, even turning the Wii on would be a challenge, so I like that the book has instructions on how to navigate through the different menus.
Exercising with the Wii is not quite like exercising at a gym (for one thing, it can actually be fun), and it helps to have a book that addresses the complexities of exercising while standing on a small rectangle, for example! I do question the editor's choice of a cover photo. The authors go out of their way to stress the importance of wearing the right clothing for exercising, and those loose sweatpants with the strings at the bottom are not in line with their recommendations at all.
It is also very cool that you can get it on your Kindle.
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10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Information, Great Value, March 23, 2010
This review is from: Wii Fitness For Dummies (Paperback)
Disclaimer: I'm friends with both Bill and Christina and have worked them often on a variety of projects, including Armchair Arcade.
First off, I couldn't imagine a better team to write this book. Bill is the managing director of Armchair Arcade, a PC Magazine Top 100 website and one of the net's best respected sites for game and computer history. He has a huge collection of systems and accessories from all eras. Christina is is the editor of Oncology Net Guide and both of them are certified trainers. In short, you're getting a book authored by people who know the technology as well as physiology.
The style of the book is informative, with a great emphasis on action and movement. Most sections are prescriptive, telling you how to properly prepare for an exercise as well as the actual execution. The tone will be familiar to anyone who has worked with a personal trainer: "Relax your shoulders and hold still--think mime or statue." While the authors don't shy away from precise terms (such as coccyx), they explain what they mean (in this case, tailbone!)
I assume you're familiar with the For Dummies style. There are many, many sections and subsections, usually worked towards a numbered list of 1-5 steps. There are also many handy charts, tables, and screenshots. The authors have also included many photos of themselves doing the exercises. It's nice that they are a husband and wife team. They are in shape but not "ripped," so it's easy to picture yourself (whether male or female) performing the same moves. I like this aspect; I would have been intimidated if the book had photos of roid-raging body builders or oiled up beach babes. Bill and Christina, by contrast, are real, down-to-earth people, and that comes across very well in these pages.
There is also quite a bit of humor here. "Ever want to walk a tightrope? Now you can do so without going splat." Or: "Now you can engage in snowball fights without freezing your buns off." There are also funny cartoons. The humor is balanced, of course, with health and fitness advice such as "abdominal exercises alone will not reduce the waist or define this muscle group. Only in conjunction with a healthy diet and a drop in body fat will you be able to see a change in definition." Try telling that to the folks who shell out big money for all those 8-minute abs videos! There are even historical tidbits tossed in, such as the fact that boxing dates back to the ancient Greeks, or that Hula Hooping dates back to ancient times and was practiced in many cultures--a Hula Hoop made of grapevines? Who knew?
You might be wondering if you need this book to enjoy Wii Fit Plus. My recommendation: definitely. My guess is that you're curious about Wii Fitness because you want to lose weight. This book provides all of the extra information you need to create your own routines and get the most out of the exercises. It also covers important info about calibrating and setting up the equipment. I should also note that this book covers much more than Wii Fitness. You also get info about EA Sports Active and Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum, as well as brief overviews of ten other exercise programs.
The authors are happy to answer any questions you might have about their book and have released several bonus features at Armchair Arcade. All in all, this a heck of a value. If you're serious about using your Wii to get in shape, you'll be very thankful you bought this book.
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3 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
book review, April 13, 2010
This review is from: Wii Fitness For Dummies (Paperback)
Book arrived in good condition at the proper time. Will purchase from this sellar again. Love the book!
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