Fighting the flab is Job No. 1 this time of year, and an unusual array of new gadgets and programs can help you get the job done at home or on the go. Here are a few to get you started:
Wii Fit
($90; walmart.com and other sites and stores)
“Wii Fit” is a much ballyhooed exercise program for the Nintendo Wii.
Urged on by a fitness coach character, you will learn yoga poses, run through aerobic exercises, push yourself with strength training and watch a record of your progress.
Stand on the included pressure-sensitive balance board, and it will give you your weight and project your body mass index. While standing on the board, try one-legged yoga poses to calm yourself and improve your balance. Perform push-ups — the board will sense how hard you’re working — as your TV screen tallies your progress. Games ranging from slalom skiing to a simulated run (jog in place as the Wii senses the up-and-down movements of the Wii remote in your hand or pocket) help tone muscles and work on your cardio.
It’s not as arduous as a full workout, and I found the cutesy characters and ditzy music annoying, but I also found myself using “Wii Fit” regularly over the last few days.
Should you buy it? If you stopped using your old step board/treadmill/weight bench/aerobics DVD, then probably not. Motivation comes from inside, not from a cutesy character. And running in place is a poor substitute for jogging outside or on a treadmill. But for those times when you can’t get out of the house, “Wii Fit” will at least get you off the couch.
Let’s Pilates! and Let’s Yoga!
($30; for the Nintendo DS handheld video game system, at walmart.com and bestbuy.com)
From the people who’ve been making the take-the-pounds-off “Dance, Dance Revolution” video games for 10 years comes handheld Pilates and yoga instructional software for the Nintendo DS.
“Let’s Pilates!” has more than 40 animated Pilates exercises, but it can’t tell you whether you’re doing the routines correctly.
“Let’s Yoga!” shows you up to 80 poses via video and uses a built-in calendar to record your progress, but again, without a mirror or a yoga instructor, you don’t know how well you are performing.
Should you buy them? If you’ve had beginner Pilates or yoga instruction, here’s a way to keep the momentum going without the expense and inconvenience of scheduling your workouts around yoga and Pilates classes. But feedback — from a mirror or a human — is critical to maintaining productive form.
Nike Plus SportBand
($59; nike.com)
Nike Plus SportBand wraps around a runner’s wrist and gets distance and pace information from a thumb-size wireless transmitter worn in the shoe. The lightweight system shows distance, pace, time and calories burned at a glance. The Nike Plus technology was introduced a couple of years ago to work with the iPod Nano and to blast through your motivating playlist while you run.
The SportBand doesn’t play music — it simply keeps track of your stats. After your run, plug the detachable USB link into your computer and log on to nikeplus.com to see graphical results of your improvement — or lack thereof. An online coaching program helps you train for runs ranging from a 5-kilometer to a marathon.
Should you buy it? It’s not as accurate as a GPS watch or heart monitor, but those gadgets can’t hook up to an enthusiastic — and motivating — community of runners, as Nike Plus technology does. It’s so lightweight and comfortable I was barely aware I was wearing anything on my wrist or had a transmitter tucked under my insole.
The SportBand got me outside and working up a real sweat, and that’s more than I can say about the other gadgets I tried on this list.
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egwinn@tribune.com
