Nintendo Wii

I just got a Wii for christmas.  I am wondering if anyone knows the calories that may be burned using the wii.  I have to imagine that the Boxing, Baseball or Tennis would be decent activity for burning calories (especially the boxing).

Does anyone know, or have experiences with this.  It seems to my a couple of boxing matches every morning could set my day.

I don't know about calories burned, but I just thought I'd warn you to take it easy at first with the wii games.  We got a Wii when they first came out and both me and my husband suffered elbow and shoulder injuries.  Try not to over-exert yourself (it's easy to do with these games and you won't feel it until the next day.  But, you're right - it is definitely a good workout.  Unless you bounce/jump around during your boxing rounds, I'd add a walk around the block or some other lower-body exercises to the routine. 

take your pulse as you are doing it and see what percentage of your max heart rate you are working at...then find something from the list that most closely describes the activity...that would be what I would do...

I don't know how many calories that the Wii would burn, but go you for getting such an AWESOME Christmas gift. I wanted one but no luck for me! One of my good friends has one and when ever we play the golf game my left butt muscle always hurts. I won't replace normal exercise with the Wii, but it definitely does give you some work out!

hehe i love my bf's wii.  It's so much fun and im not even into gaming consoles! 

Totally agree on the taking it easy at first though.  The first day we got it we played for almost 3 hours on wii sports and i woke up the next morning with SUCH a sore shoulder!!! 

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/wii-sports -no-substitute-for-actual-exercise/

It's a pretty sad excuse for exercise.. but I suppose it's a little better than what most Americans are getting.

not sad excuse at all. My husband and I play wii tennis, and it has the aerobic potential of jogging, only THIS we will do because it's such fun. 

I don't care what anyone says about Wii Sports not being good excercise.  If you try boxing for 30 minutes the right way (meaning standing up, moving the way you would in real life) you'll be sweating your butt off and your heart rate will definitely be up there where it needs to be for a good cardio workout.  Of course, sitting around playing golf isn't going to do much for you.

We also just purchased the Wii, after trying it some months back and I agree the boxing is one of the best workouts I have had in a while.  I also agree that it should not be the sole exercise method, but is much better than other gaming systems, where your thumbs get the workout.  I do about 20-30 minutes on the boxing part of Wii sports, then 30 minutes on the treadmill and close it out with an ab workout.  I feel pretty complete after that. 

I think the boxing is good. Any of the others are okay as long as you are standing up. It's better than nothing. We got Guitar Hero III for the Wii for Christmas and that can get my hear rate pumping on the fast songs. I looked up guitar playing and supposedly that burns 197 calories per hour. I doubt the wii version is that much, but even if it's 100 calories per hour, that's unfortunately more than I usually get since I really hate exercising.

There was a great Wii Sports Experiment, can be found http://www.wiinintendo.net/2007/01/15/wii-spo rts-experiment-results/ .  It has really shocking results; he didn't change his eating habits at all, only adding 30 minutes of Wii Sports every day and lost 9 pounds in a 6 week period.

Here's a basic calorie-expenditure that he did:

"I just wanted to address a couple of the concerns brought up about calories I burned during my tests. I was using this to measure calories, http://www.biotrainerusa.com. According the instruction manual, it uses a tri-axis accelerometer with a patented super-microprocessor, the BioTrainer is able to measure the inertia of your body’s motion 40-times per second, process the data, and then accurately calculate energy expenditure (in either calories burned or activity units).

I used the BioTrainer three times per game, so I can’t say the results of the burned calories are 100% accurate. I just reported what device measured. For instance, if I kept my waist relatively still (that’s where I attached the BioTrainer) it may not count the calories of my arm motions as accurately as a more advanced heart monitored lab study.

- Tennis: Coming in a close second, Wii Tennis was the runner up in calorie burning activities for Wii Sports. I burned an average of 92 calories during a 15 minute period. Like most of my game playing during the experiment I played each game fairly aggressively and would perform full swings, move left and right, and not take any breaks.

- Bowling: One of my favorite Wii Sports games also clocked in at the lowest of the three games I tested for calorie burn. I burned an average of 77 calories during a 15 minute period. Again, I played aggressively, taken steps toward the lane and bowling with a full swing of the arm. No breaks were taken and I played the game fairly quickly.

- Boxing: The clear winner here. I burned and average of 125 calories during a 15 minute period. I would like to point out that I would punch with full power, move as if I were really dodging, and hoped/bounced around like a real boxer would.

- Baseball: I didn’t get a chance to run the calorie test on baseball, no reason… I was just pressed for time and didn’t get around to it, I love baseball don’t get me wrong."

i totally agree with the others abotu wii boxing. My Bf is playing it now and is getting a bit sweaty.. mmm and we're about to go to bed :P

In other news: Wii related injuries to date.

1: Number of times i've hit my boyfriend accidentally.
1: Number of times he'**** my LAPTOP MONITOR!
2: Self caused injuries for myself - wrist and shoulder
3: Number of times we've hit the light shade in the lounge.

hehehe.

I KICK ASS AT GOLF!

 

EDIT: arghhh i am trying to type He's (starts with an s, and rhymes with bit) my laptop monitor.. but CC thinks i am typing a naughty word hehe. HIT.

The wii totally rocks! We got one a year ago and it is totally awesome. the boxing is by far the best for a work out on wii sports. I would also recommend the raymon game (I only have the first one so I cant vouch for the second) it has a couple of "running" games that the faster you pump your arms the faster your charter runs. I got sore arm muscles from playing that game! It's awesome.