Six hours ago, I discovered that The Boyfriend had Wii Sports in his collection of games. I then spent the following six hours going from zero to hero on Wii Tennis, whilst annihilating my right arm to a lump of sore muscle. So, my verdict - Wii or non?
As a huge fitness fanatic, I always thought Wii sports and any other computer ‘sports’ were a total hoax, for fat kids in America lying on the sofa flicking their wrist every so often to bat the ball back. After lying in agony after spending an entire day hula hooping on the wii a few months ago did I realise that it was actually pretty good at exercising muscles you didn’t know you had, and without any actual sports equipment.
In tennis, I’m not afraid to run about the court like a lunatic, although I often spend more time running around than actually hitting the ball. However, on the Wii my mini-mii did the hard work for me, and so I only had to concentrate on the hitting. Without my body wearing out from the running I furiously batted my arm into a sorry state: now unable to pick up so much as my Blackberry, let alone an actual tennis racquet. I can hardly say it improved my technique though, as the skill to tennis is being where the ball will land, ready to hit it back, and balancing batting skills with the stamina to run about the court. Unlike other lazy people, I played valiantly - on my feet for the entire duration, darting forward and back and flailing my arms around like someone possessed, shrieking violently in true Venus Williams style - and only 100 points or so away from PRO level (I can’t believe it’s taken over a hundred matches in 6 hours to reach a score of 900!).
However, despite being at home and without forking out for a decent newly-sprung tennis racquet and comfortable shoes, I think I’d rather be out on the courts, sweating like Stephen Fry for two hours and return home for a well-deserved rest feeling rejuvenated and exercised. I am anguished that the Nintendo Wii is still better than me and with only an aching arm to show for all my hard efforts. Seriously, it’s like my bones have turned to play-dough.
The Wii is good for rainy or boring days, when your ‘to-do’ list looks as exciting as a 2,000 word essay on Linguistical Neutralization, although perhaps it would be better to vary your Wii games, so you don’t result in one highly muscle-defined right arm and a puny left. Yet again though, nothing beats a good run around the park and slogging it out on the tennis court.
