Wii Fit is enjoying a great deal of attention right now, thanks to its innovative Balance Board peripheral and the admirable goal of getting our collective butts off of the couch. Here at GameSpy, the crew has definitely been working up a sweat -- as if our Editorial pit wasn't rank enough!

But Wii Fit isn't the only game to try to give you some interactive fitness pointers. It's got a lot of similarities to 2004's Yourself! Fitness, an exercise program for the original Xbox (ported in 2005 to PC and PS2). But the products take a very different approach. What if they were to go head-to-head, free weights flying? Here's how it might break down.

Personal trainers from the two programs look similar.
(Wii Fit left, Yourself! Fitness right)

Setting Your Baseline and Goals

When you start an account with either program, the first thing you do is establish your baseline fitness level. In either case, both Yourself! Fitness and Wii Fit will track your progress over time, which is one of the things that make the software helpful (and maybe even a little addictive).

Evaluation with Wii Fit takes just a couple of minutes and it's all done with the Balance Board peripheral, which also acts as a scale. You enter your height and the game checks your weight (so no fudging!) Wii Fit also checks your balance/posture by seeing how your weight is distributed on the balance board. You may be 26 but the game will give you a hard time if you hold yourself like an 80 year-old. Then you're done! Your overall fitness level is based on your height/weight ratio, also known as your Body Mass Index (BMI). This might not be the best assessment (see this interview with Dr. Judith Stern), but it's quick and easy and you're ready to move on to the game.

Yourself! Fitness has a more exhaustive set-up period. It also asks for your height and weight (there's no scale, so you're on the honor system). But it also measures your heart rate; the game acts as a stopwatch while you count your heartbeats. This is a little tricky if you don't know how to find your pulse. First you measure your heart rate at rest, and then it's off to the jumping jacks until the blood is flowing. Afterwards you measure your active heart rate.

But you're not done yet! Then come the standing squats, pushups and crunches. Next up is flexibility: The game has you sit on the floor and stretch forward as far as you can. It's not very scientific about this -- you bend forward as far as you can, then select an on-screen icon that approximates how far you could stretch. The game calculates your overall fitness level based on your height, weight, heart rate, performance on the pushups/crunches, and flexibility. It's a pretty thorough assessment, and twenty minutes later, the evaluation has given you your first day's workout. Pshew.