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WiiFit versus breast cancer
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Making Strides 3-Mile
On October 25, 2008, I will be participating in a walk to benefit Breast Cancer research.
The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event is sponsored by the American Cancer Society and will be held in Midtown Atlanta at Atlantic Station. It is a three-mile walk designed to benefit breast cancer research and breast cancer survivors.
It has been a very long time since I attempted to do any sort of extended walk such as this. When I was younger, I participated in other walks for charity, but ever since we started having kids, I haven't been able to do nearly as much charity work or fund-raising work as I'd done when I was younger.
One idea that I had was to try and hit the gym whenever I had free time. However, between kids, work, and being a full-time graduate student, that's easier said than done! Working out at home with plain videotapes or workout channels is generally boring and corny, and therefore uninteresting and not a very good motivator.
However, there's one option available to consider which was not available a few years ago. I'm referring, in this case, to the seemingly popular Wii Fit application. I don't have much time to go to the gym, and when I do go I don't really being observed as the out-of-shape guy trying to catch up to the muscle-bound freakshows that spend 10 hours a day at the gym. I'd rather do something which lets me exercise in some privacy, but trying to do so can also be a difficult motivator.
Screenshot - WiiFit Body Mass Index Graph
I had pledged to myself to take part in some sort of breast cancer event this year. I've had a coworker die from breast cancer in the past, and about a year ago my sister was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) which is a violent little bugger. She is fighting it and doing very well, all things considered, thank to a variety of medicines, some even in experimental stages because of the way this bug attacked her. Thankfully, since she is more stubborn and determined than me, she is fighting back hard and trying to recover a year after her diagnosis.
Wii Fit, however, seems like a product that would not only be engaging with its different format, but also something I can either do alone (after the kids have gone to sleep or after I'm done studying) or with the kids in playing a fun game together.
Wii Fit has four different exercise modes - yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance training. In preparing for a long walk such as this (and others I might do in the future) aerobics seems the best way to build up stamina so that I can make it through thee three miles without feeling a stitch, doubling over, or coughing up a lung. Within Aerobics, there is a wide variety of exercises to choose from:
- Hula Hoop - getting it spinning, and trying to "catch" other hoops being thrown at you by bending your body toward it. Definitely fun for kids, and it works the obliques for getting rid of a bit of a beer gut.
- Rhythm Boxing - not just the one-two, one-two, evenly-spaced interval moves, but actually reacting to the screen to earn points, forcing a combination of moves and punches so it feels more like a workout and not a boring class.
- Step - Using the balance board, it's more like Dance Dance Revolution than a step class. Again, good for keeping interest.
- Run/Jog - My least favorite of the elements, but good for people who want to run without banging it out on concrete or a treadmill at the gym.
We'll see how much weight I'm able to tke off before the 25th. Hopefully, by next year, I can take part in the 2-day or 3-day walk in Atlanta. In the meantime, I would like to ask for your support in this walk by clicking here for my donation page with the American Cancer Society to provide support for breast cancer survivors and help in discovering new treatments for this disease.
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