The upcoming Nintendo Wii gaming title Wii Fit, which is scheduled to be released on May 21, should be one of Nintendo’s hottest gaming titles of this year.

The active-play phenomenon started by Wii Sports now spreads to your whole body with the help of the pressure-sensitive Wii Balance Board, which comes packed with Wii Fit. The board is used for an extensive array of fun and dynamic activities, including aerobics, yoga, muscle building and balance. Many of these activities focus on providing a “core” workout, a popular exercise method that emphasizes slower, controlled motions.

Wii Fit measures your physical progress the more you play it. All of this information is saved in a profile that is tied to your Wii. To benefit from this kind of progress tracking, you first need to establish some baselines for Wii Fit to gauge your development. After entering basic statistics, such as your height and date of birth, the game will calculate your body mass index (BMI: a statistical measure of weight scaled to a person’s height), center of gravity, and balance capabilities. Interestingly, after measuring how you stand on the pad, the game will let you know how you carry your weight and you’ll also be asked to test your balance by shifting your weight from foot to foot.

Once all of this is complete, your Wii Fit age is calculated by the game. Goals are an important part of achieving fitness, and you’ll be able to set specific goals in Wii Fit. You can choose to lose a certain amount of weight or achieve a target BMI within a certain amount of time. The game will help you keep track of your progress and even suggest when a goal might be unrealistic.

Once you’ve got your goals set, you can move on to the actual exercise events. These activities run the gamut from practicing specific yoga poses to playing fun games, such as walking a tightrope or skiing. For each minute you spend on a particular exercise, you’ll earn credits that will eventually unlock new, more advanced events. In addition to using frequent body tests to keep extensive records of all the time you spend on various events, Wii Fit will chart your progress on BMI, weight loss, your body age, and so on. You can even enter other exercise activities you take part in away from Wii Fit, which will also count toward your overall progress.

The Wii has made its mark using interactive and physical gameplay, requiring the physical involvement of the players instead of the couch potato thumb involvement of regular competitive game consoles. Currently selling out in the UK, the Wii Fit will surely have similar results in the US. And it will be interesting to see whether this physical gameplay will result in noticeable changes in the health and fitness of our technology-driven youth.

To find great deals on the Wii Fit and accessories, visit the Wii Fitness Depot.

For the first time, the National President’s Challenge is expanding from elementary students to people across the country to be active for at least a half-hour (an hour for youths under 18), five days a week, for at least six out of eight weeks, between March 20, 2008, and May 15, 2008.

So here’s how it works. First, you can go online at www.presidentschallenge.org and sign up to participate. You can sign up as an individual, or as a group. The deadline, by the way, for signing up is April 3rd.

Second, decide how you’re going to meet your physical fitness goal. In other words, you set a goal, and then you pick the exercise or activity. And there’s about a hundred different activities to choose from, ranging from gardening to skydiving.

Third, start exercising. Activity goals are based on age. For kids ages 6 to 17, the activity goal is 60 minutes a day. For adults age 18 and older, 30 minutes a day is all it takes. The activity is up to you.

Fourth, keep track of your activities. There’s an activity log on the website that will help make it easier to track whether or not you’re accumulating enough points to get an award. Individuals who meet their fitness goals can receive certificates and medals. Schools that meet their goals will be honored.

According to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle there has been an explosive increase in sports injuries in children that once were associated mostly with pro athletes. “The trend is a result of youth sports becoming increasingly competitive as children and teenagers face growing pressure to perform their best and win college scholarships or even a professional gig.”

Girls tend to be more prone to knee injuries. Tears of the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, which stabilizes the knee, can be career ending. This type of injury is more likely to occur in soccer, basketball and gymnastics.

So how do we minimize risk of injury? The article offers the following tips:

• Limit playing time, especially in sports that require repetitive motion.
• Cross-train.
• Build muscle. This is particularly important for girls to make sure their muscles are equally built so they don’t put too much strain on their joints.
• Learn proper technique.
• Rest. After an injury, allow the body time to heal.