We resurrected the Wii…

...And this is the most I’ve sweat during quarantine.

After hearing that both of my younger siblings and I were all going to be at home for weeks, we decided to plug in our Wii. It brings back quite a few memories. My sister and I used to play for hours at a time when we were younger. 10 years ago, I could beat my little sister at every game. That’s not the case anymore! However, what makes me feel old is that my 9-year-old brother has never played on the Wii before. We’ve had loads of fun showing him what we consider the games of our childhood while he’s wondering if there are Fortnite dances available.

We started with Wii Sports. Tennis is a go-to favorite in my family. Bowling comes in at a close second. While we didn’t love boxing when we were younger, it is entertaining to try to put skills you’ve learned in real life in the game. If someone knows how to effectively throw a right hook on Wii Sports boxing, please, let me know.

Wii Fit, however, brought unprecedented levels of quarantine fun. We updated our heights (my sister had grown half a foot since the last time we played!) and redid our Mii characters. It’s interesting to see how as kids we only played the games on the Wii Fit, now my typical workout includes yoga and strength training! My pride was on the line as we did pushups.

But you know what game changed it all?

Just Dance 3.

The Wii Fit was made with the intention to exercise. It shows you how many calories you have burned. Just Dance does not. When we picked up those remotes, we didn’t know what we were in for.I’m a proponent of intentional exercise. I think it’s great to pay attention to how your body moves and how it feels when you do it. However, exercise as a result of learning a skill (i.e., a sport) is different: your mentality isn’t focused on the calories or the pounds lifted. Instead, you’re focused on performance, and the changes that are reflected in your body are secondary. In terms of Just Dance, we were so focused on hitting those “perfect” moves that we didn’t realize that we were exhausted until we had gone through almost every song! Feel free to laugh at the clip of us dancing.

Moving doesn’t always mean you have to do pushups or hours of cardio. During quarantine, I’ve been trying to find methods of movement that I enjoy. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to bring your Wii or Xbox Kinect back to life. It’s a great way to get moving while bonding with your quarantine mates. And if you don’t have one, no worries! This Youtube channel has fan-made dances to lots of popular songs.

Let’s stay virtually distance and socially close,

-Nikki

A second-year undergraduate student at The George Washington University studying nutrition science, Nikki is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the fitness industry. Her favorite forms of exercise include lifting, yoga, and walking her cat. She also runs a wellness blog www.instagram.com/livemashealthy.